Guy Harvey

Wyland and I are good buddies. We have collaborated on several murals and have been on many diving expeditions together in various locations around the globe. One of the most memorable was not in the ocean but in the famous Homosassa River on the west coast of Florida. We were going swimming with manatees as part of a gig we were doing while painting a collaborative mural in the town, and the press wanted to gets shots of us interacting with the manatees.
 
OK. This was great. After thirty minutes of this I was becoming much more interested in all the fish life that was coming and going around the manatees. In the cool fresh water were a host of marine species, such as mullet, gray snapper, jack crevalle, redfish, sheepshead, tarpon and some of the biggest snook I had ever seen.
 
Typically snook hang out on the edge of mangroves and in river mouths where the water is usually murky, the fish are shy and as a diver you seldom get a good shot of snook in its natural surroundings.
 
Here was my chance. After we had done our gig with the press I spent another hour diving deep around the underwater viewing station to capture as many images of these magnificent animals as I could. Many were over 40 pounds, and would turn to face me before spinning around and seeking refuge deeper in the basin. They have a unique look, a signature appearance, with a longer lower jaw than upper jaw, a distinctive black line on their lateral line and bright yellow fins and tail. I was in snook heaven.
 
What was so interesting about this location was the number of species that were tolerant of the lowered salinity and were thriving. While there was apparently little food for these predators, I came to the conclusion they were shedding all their marine parasites in the fresh water, before returning to the estuary or the ocean. On the trip we even encountered a large bottle-nosed dolphin in the river, hanging out with the manatees, which gave me another idea for a painting.
 
I was delighted with the results, and back home in Grand Cayman went to work on some snook, manatee, jack and redfish compositions. I wanted to find out more about the snook habitat in Grand Cayman, and went fishing for them in some of the canals dug to drain the mangrove swamps in West Bay.
 
There were lots of juvenile tarpon, and a few snook. I had better luck snorkelling around the mangroves on the east side of North Sound, but the best spot was under the dock in the clear water at Rum Point. There are some big ones hanging out there together with bonefish, needlefish, bar jacks and mutton snapper. Snook seem to be quite happy in a variety of habitats.
 
In Florida, the snook is a prized game fish with an awesome reputation for giving a good fight and are great table fare. They are caught using a variety of live baits, lures and plugs, and the best time to fish for them is an hour before high tide and three hours of the falling tide. They tend to congregate near shorelines with some structure such as piers, docks, pilings, rock formations and reefs. In Florida they accumulate near the warm water outflows of power plants, particularly in winter. This last winter was particularly harsh and Florida experienced some of the coldest conditions on record. This took a heavy toll on snook and other inshore species such as bonefish, tarpon, ladyfish, jacks and snappers. Once the temperature drops below 60 F, snook become very lethargic, and can be found struggling at the surface. With temperatures this winter regularly dropping below 30 F, so many snook perished that the snook season has been shortened to accommodate the lack of fish in many Florida hotspots.
 
No other inshore species has as devout a following as the snook. Their numbers and accessibility have made them very popular wherever they are found. There are several species, the largest being the common snook. They range as far north as the Carolinas, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean and as far south as Brazil. In the eastern Pacific, several species are found along the coast from Mexico to Ecuador.
 
Because of their popularity in the USA, there are size limits, this being more than 28 inches but less than 32 inches long (so the juvenile fish and the larger brood stock are protected at all times). There are seasonal limitations, and catch limitations, plus this species cannot be sold. This sort of protection and enforcement allows a species to thrive in spite of the intense recreational fishing pressure through catch and release fishing.
 
The common snook feeds primarily on fishes and some crustaceans. Their spawning season is extends from June to November after first maturity at three years old. They may live up to seven years and to a size of 45 pounds, though bigger individuals are reported from the Pacific. They have many predators, such as barracudas, large jacks, goliath groupers and a variety of inshore sharks such as lemons, bull sharks and black tip sharks.
 
When next you are in snook country, wet a line and have a tremendous angling experience while observing all local laws and catch regulations.
 
It is our collective responsibility to conserve the marine environment and maintain the biodiversity of the planet.
 
Safe diving and tight lines!   WH
Guy Harvey PhD.
www.guyharvey.com