Is the fish you caught in Florida legal? Changing seasons can be hard to keep up with
As anglers, we are supposed to be aware of seasonal changes when food fishing for gamefish.
Unfortunately, that task has proved difficult in recent years as emergency closures for various reasons (red tide) and in season quotas have been met for offshore species (red grouper), causing confusion about what can and cannot be kept.
When fishing casually, you may not be aware if that fish at the end of your line is subject to being kept legally.
At the beginning of September, snook, redfish and trout became open along the west coast of Florida, to a point. Since 2018, there have been varied zones of legal fishing.
For Bradenton anglers, this point was previously State Road 64 going south, where most of the popular inshore species were not allowed to be kept after red tide. The closures proved effective as snook populations have flourished making them a popular catch and release target between Sarasota Bay and the southern end of Tampa Bay.
There remains a restriction to the south of our immediate area, where snook are still closed for the majority of the Charlotte Harbor area from a point near the Venice Municipal Airport south to Vanderbilt Beach Road in Collier County. Everything to the north is set to remain open until Dec. 15.
With a 28- to 33-inch slot limit, catching a snook in that range is still a difficult task. Angler Antonio Lopez has been fishing for a year, and in his case the snook he landed was over the slot fishing from a bridge at night.
“I was fishing a conventional shark rig with 100-pound leader and a 6-ounce weight holding the bottom with a whole whiting,” Lopez said. “The reel went off and I knew it wasn’t a shark. I figured I had a blue fish since I get those every night. It came out being a 40-inch snook!”
A big snook indeed, but one Lopez didn’t even truly get to know while using the heavy tackle. “I wish the fight would have been nice, but this guy stood no chance on a Shimano Speedmaster 16 with 100-pound leader. I had to walk it down the bridge to not risk losing it so I had it really tired.”
The snook, caught last weekend, was in no danger of being kept. If it were in the slot, Lopez would have found himself releasing it as he wasn’t even aware the season had opened.
This seems to be a common theme among anglers not fully being aware of what is in season and what is not. The next one he catches may not be so lucky.
“I love eating fish and really enjoy cooking for family and friends,” said Lopez, who has since learned the season opened. “If this fish would have been within slot and legal to keep I would have.”
With seasons constantly changing and shifting it can be difficult to keep up with.
Gone are the days of printing out or purchasing a sheet of year-long seasons and having it onboard. Now the options are to download apps and check websites to know what can be kept.
The best and most up-to-date method is the Fish Rules app which can be downloaded and taken on the go, but even then you might want to be sure what you’re throwing on ice is 100% allowed to be kept before you open up the fish box.