The 34-inch limit protects females, as few males grow bigger than 30 inches. Whittington said if their first spawning season isn’t productive, the 24-inch limit gives snook another year to spawn.
The 24-inch limit gives snook a chance to get through what Whittington termed a “critical stage of life.” Snook reach spawning age when they’re around 20 inches long. In addition, the season is now closed for five months - January and February are the other months - and snook must be a minimum of 24 inches in length, but only one can be more than 34 inches. Recognized as a good-tasting fish, the snook was protected from overharvest when it was made a gamefish and commercial sale of snook was banned. “Back around that time, people realized that if snook were filleted and skinned, the meat was valuable.” Whittington said snook regulations were first imposed in the late 1950s. “Snook are so easily caught during that time. Development along the banks of once snook-rich waterways has been among the biggest culprits. Whittington said closed seasons and strict bag limits have helped snook populations increase, but diminishing habitat is the biggest limiting factor. I think if we keep it the way it is, there’ll be a good number around.” It has shown it’s stable, and they’re catching a good number of snook. “The population has increased slightly over the last five years. “The snook population is at its carrying capacity,” said Jim Whittington, a Florida Department of Natural Resources biologist who is involved with a snook tagging program out of the DNR field lab in Tequesta. Unfortunately, snook populations will never attain the levels of the good old days, when it seemed that no one who went snook fishing ever came back empty-handed. South Florida’s snook population, which appeared headed for extinction less than 10 years ago, has rebounded nicely. Fishermen have been known to tell an occasional tall tale, but when local anglers say they’re catching more snook than in recent years, it’s no fish story.
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