Cold Weather Snook Kill

From the Maverick Boat Company forum:

Thousands of Snook were affected by the extreme cold weather these past weeks; some areas were hit harder than others. Many dead snook have been observed and the worst might be yet to come. Larger Snook are hardier but may still succumb to cold. For the first time in a while, we were reminded that the Snook are limited in their range by water temperature. Snook are rarely found in great numbers in any waters that fall below 54 degrees Fahrenheit in winter. In Florida, the traditional line has existed from just below the Tomaka River on the Atlantic coast to a few points north of Tarpon Springs on the Gulf coast.

The Body count… At least 200 counted dead around Pineland Marina … Several hundred dead in a Pine Island Canal … Hundreds reported dead on the Cotee River in Tarpon Springs…Many dead snook at East Cape… hundreds dead in the Little Manatee River… and perhaps as many as a thousand medium to small snook in Bull and Turtle Bays in Charlotte Harbor. Look through the web and there is evidence everywhere of a cold water related snook kills. Newspapers from around the state have descriptive reports. Web site forums such as the Florida Sportsman Forum report observations of dead snook in every region south of the pan handle.

Snook stack up over dark shallow water where they canabsorb some heat in mid day after the cold snap. To date it appears that the South West coast of Florida took the worst beating with the highest numbers of snook deaths ranging from Pine Island south to the 10,000 Islands area. Up around the Tampa area kills have been noted, but so far it seems the largest numbers have taken place along the southern gulf coast.

This event has already been compared to a severe kill in 2001, and Ron Taylor, chief of the Snook Research Team at FWRI was quoted in a Naples newspaper as saying it might get worse in the near future. He intimated that as water temps warm up just a smidge over the next few days, more fish will float up and we will have a better understanding of just how hard the fishery was hit. Dr. Aaron Adams of Mote Marine cautions us to recognize that estimates are often skewed by impression.

Snook that are swimming near or at the surface over dark bottom moving slowly with equilibrium (not belly up) are more often survivors than not. He and his team counted 50 dead snook from the Mote Marine Pine Island Research Station Thursday. These fish were checked for electronic PIT tags and put back in the water, no Pit tags were found. Ron Taylor estimates that the total kill according to all available reports to date is in the range of 20,000 snook on the west coast. While this number represents fewer than 1.5% of the total estimated west coast snook population, we would like to respectfully suggest that anglers take a break from recreational snook fishing during these stressful cold weather periods.

In general, once the water drops to 54 degrees, a snook is dead. If the water temp drops very slowly, a snook might tolerate another degree or two. Conversely, if the water temp drops very quickly, they might die off at a few degrees higher. South West Florida seemed to be a victim of a combination of lethal factors – a rapid decrease in temperature, a strong north/northwest wind, and a resulting extremely low tide. These teamed up to reportedly drop the water temperature up to 20 degrees in some areas. All that on top of the fact that the temperature just prior to the front was unseasonably warm, so many snook were not in a safe winter hole and got caught in shallow water, was just too much for many snook to handle.

Oddly enough, some areas farther north where the air temperatures were actually colder have not yet seen the massive numbers of dead fish. Evidently, where the combination of factors didn’t stack up quite so high, the fish had the benefit of a less rapid temperature drop, or were already in safer water as the temp was a little cooler to start with. Although fish on the east coast seemed to fare better reports don’t hold much hope for the fledgling snook fishery in Jacksonville that was just published in the Florida Fishing Weekly – we will report on that intriguing situation as soon as we have more info.

At this point, it is unclear as to how this event will reshape the overall fishery throughout the state. Estimates are that about 1.25 million snook live on the Gulf coast of Florida, so a few thousand fish might not have much of an overall impact. However, we will just have to wait and see what the estimates of damage are at the end of the winter. There are a couple points of caution to keep in mind as you check the status of your favorite snook fishing hole. Snook that are stunned by a drop in temperature are easy pickings for poachers. Report any violations directly to FWC, and pass news of fish kills along as well.

Capt. Troy

Fins and Tails Guide Service

Florida Guides Assoc. Senior Vice Pres.