Anglers must catch and release snook until Aug. 31, but it’s a good time to scout popular spots

Snook rank among the most popular saltwater species in Florida, primarily because they fight so hard and they are so delicious.

To protect such a valuable resource, the state closes the season during the summer, which is when snook are concentrated at inlets from Government Cut to Sebastian as they prepare to spawn, which makes them easier to catch.

While anglers can’t keep a snook from June 1 to Aug. 31 in South Florida, they are allowed to catch and release the fish. And the fishing is often fantastic, with some trips producing double-digit catches of big snook.

Two summertime trips stand out in my mind: Fishing with captain Sam Heaton in Stuart, Rich Schmidt and I caught snook 12 to 20 pounds on every drift we made past one of Heaton’s favorite snook spots inside St. Lucie Inlet.

I had a similar outing fishing in Jupiter Inlet with captain Steve Anderson and my friend, Harvey Shane. Drifting with live herring, we hooked a snook, and sometimes two snook, on just about every drift. We released more than a dozen fish, almost all of them weighing 12 or more pounds, including a bunch of snook more than 20 pounds and one giant that Shane caught that Anderson estimated at 33 pounds.

All those fish were released quickly and in good shape. The few fish I photographed were handled gently and carefully revived until they swam off strongly.

Ideally, said Alexis Trotter, you should take photos of snook in the water and release them in the water so you never have to handle them.

“If you are going to bring them out of the water for a photograph or to remove a hook, put one hand under the fish’s lower jaw and one under the belly,” said Trotter, a scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “If you’re going to use a net, we prefer you use a knotless net, which does less damage to their slime, which protects them against disease.”

When it comes to summertime fishing tackle, Trotter recommended using barbless hooks, which makes it easier to unhook the fish. You can either buy barbless hooks or mash the barbs down with pliers. If you’re fishing with live bait, use circle hooks, which catch fish in the corner of the mouth and virtually eliminate gut-hooking.

She also recommended using heavy tackle so you can get a snook to the boat quickly and not wear it out.

When releasing a snook, Trotter said to place the fish in the water, hold it by its lower jaw and pull it forward to get water through its gills. You can either hold the fish while the driver idles the boat forward or you can move the snook in a figure eight pattern.

“Pull the fish forward only,” Trotter said. “Never move it back and forth because that damages the gills.”

An effective way to hold a snook in the water is to place your thumb in its mouth. (A snook’s teeth are like sandpaper.) The snook will let go of your thumb when it is ready to be released.

When I fished with Shane and Anderson, there were only a few other boats fishing in the inlet. It was the beginning of the outgoing tide, so Anderson said drifting would be the best bet until the current slowed because it would help us avoid getting our sinkers snagged in the rocks on the bottom.

Although he prefers to fish the inlet during the last three to four hours of an outgoing tide and the first three hours of the incoming tide, Anderson wasn’t fazed by the strong current. He rigged a couple of sturdy conventional outfits spooled with 25-pound line and a 50-pound fluorocarbon leader with a 3/4-ounce sinker above the leader, which was attached to a 4/0 or a 5/0 circle hook.

Anderson cast the baits behind the boat, then watched his depthfinder as the boat drifted with the current toward the mouth of the inlet. As soon as Anderson saw the spot where the snook were on the depthfinder, he would tell us, then we could feel the baits become nervous.

A few seconds later, we’d feel the thump of a snook as it grabbed the bait. Thanks to the circle hooks, all we had to do was wind the line tight to set the hook, and every fish we caught was hooked in the mouth, which made for a quick and easy release.

Getting the snook to the boat wasn’t quite that easy, even with the beefy tackle. Shane, who had never caught a snook before and ended up catching five, marveled at the power of the fish. And that was before he caught his 33-pounder.