Thread: snook

this may be a dumb question but ive been wondering are there snook on the gulf

I swear on all that is holy, I caught a very small (around 15 inch) snook night fishing with my dad on Ono Island back in the 80's...Other than that, I have never heard of anyone else catching any this far north.

Maybe this will help...

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/7903...ou-catch-snook

They are "in the gulf".
Typical catch in SW FL up to about Tampa Bay and on the lower SE Texas coast.
For some reason (likely our chilly winter water) they are not usually found in the northern gulf of mexico.

They die in cold weather. I learned that in Tampa. I guess it was last year or the year before, there was a really cold winter. They said all the snook were just dead floating on the water. Right now, you are not even allowed to keep ONE, bevause they had such a bad fish kill.

They are in the gulf in the warmer months around the Tampa area, then when it gets cooler, they move into the rivers where there is thick black mud. Apparently it is warmer there.

Yeah, very, VERY sensative to temperature changes.

Our power went our during a storm in the winter time, and I had three snook in one of my home aquariums.

The temperature only dropped 7 degrees in the aquarium, but it was enough to kill them at only 84 degrees. The temperature of 84 is sufficient, so what killed them was the speed at which the temp dropped from 91.

All of my other fish survived with no problem, so definitely a snook thing.

how come they dont just migrate like the mackrel do?

They are not built for speed and distance like mackerel, more robust like a seatrout.
I wonder if God made them that way knowing that if we had them here we might not want to go to Heaven ;-)