Florida Snook Slot is a Hot Topic
By Mike Conner, Editor-in-Chief
In fisheries management, slot limits are a commonly used tool in both fresh and salt water. The main purpose is to allow a controlled number of specimens to be harvested by anglers while protecting breeding size females and juveniles so that they may reach spawning size. In many cases, these sub-slot juvies do get a chance to spawn at least once before going home in the cooler.
Anglers have mixed opinions on slot limits, and Florida's Atlantic and Gulf coast slot limits for snook are very much a hot-button topic, especially today, September 1st, as the 14-week fall season opens on the Atlantic coast. The Gulf coast harvest season will not open until September 1, 2013, to further protect stocks that were especially knocked back by the historic deep freezes of 2010 that killed millions of snook statewide.
The slot is definitely restrictive, at 28 to 32 inches on the Atlantic coast, and 28 to 33 on the Gulf. The bag limit is conservative, at one fish per person per day. It can be a tough nut to catch that slot snook during open season, and many anglers feel that a 27- to 34-inch slot would be more reasonable. Many go as far as to claim that the snook have recovered to the point that even more relaxed regs are in order. The slot stood at 27 to 34 inches as recently as 2009.
Today, my local newspaper's outdoor columnist, Ed Killer, covered the subject, titling his column, "Time to Widen the Snook Slot." He claims he likes to eat a snook every now and then, and with the 4-inch window, the odds are stacked against that. He is not wrong about that.
Anglers may have a better chance of a payout at a Vegas slot machine than catching that coveted slot snook.
I have to ponder: Would doubling the 4-inch slot to 8 inches jeopardize the chances of this fishery's rebound to pre-freeze numbers? Some say yes, others say no. Fisheries biologists definitely say the current slot is necessary, and say only future stock assessments will provide the tale of the tape.
Here's what I especially wonder about: Does the current 4-inch slot limit, which makes it harder to land a "keeper," in reality force anglers to fish harder and longer, and catch and release, and thus handle (and stress) more snook in the long run? This may have merit, when you think about it.
I will say this: On the surface, it would appear that snook are plentiful where they typically congregate, such as the spawning aggregations in passes and inlets, and around structure such as bridges, docks, jetties and the like. But, I will argue that there is far less "spill over," or the typically wide distribution to habitat such as grassflats, beaches and other places.
You can't judge the fisheries' health by observing a small segment of it. It is that simple.
In Martin County (Stuart/Jensen Beach area) many anglers I talk to say that they catch far fewer snook while fishing for seatorut, reds or other targets in the Indian River Lagoon since the freezes. I can attest to that--my personal fishing logs reflect that. And those smaller juveniles, which were especially hard-hit by the cold kill, are still thinned out. It is by no coincidence that we have had two of the best years of spotted seatrout fishing (both for numbers and size average) in this region in recent memory. When one predator declines in number, other predators flourish.
The snook will come back in time, though no matter how regulated the recreational snook harvest is, habitat health will probably be the ultimate deal-maker or breaker.
Visit the following link to read up on snook and current the stock assessment, and please leave comment here, or email me at mike@flyandlighttackleangler.com
--Mike Conner, Editor-in-Chief
