# Fort Myers Beach



## Ravbuck (Jul 29, 2009)

Had a pretty neat experience at Fort Meyers Beach a couple of weeks ago thought I would share. Group of us were sitting on the beach and a young mother and her two boys arrived. The oldest was 8 years old and the youngest was 6. The oldest pulls out a 7' cast net and heads toward the water. I thought to myself that this was going to be fun to watch. The boy loads it up in three different sections, puts one section in his mouth, twirls three times like a helicopter and throws a perfect pancake! He throws four or five times and catches enough bait to fish and feed the sea gulls.

He hooked a live green back across the gill plates with no weight and proceeded to cast the surf. After about 10 minutes his pole suddenly bent in half and he yelled I have a monster! I jumped up, put my wallet and phone on the cooler and ran down to help. I coached him to keep his rod tip up and went down to the water to secure the fish. He fought it for 5 minutes and finally got it to shallow water where I grabbed its tail and lipped it. It was a 36" Snook! The boy and his mother went crazy. I removed the kook and handed the fish to the boy for pics. He screams "This is the largest fish I have ever caught!" It was truly the reason why I love to fish. The expression on the families faces was priceless. 

He put the fish nose first in his 5 gallon bait bucket. He was then concerned that it did not fit and would flop out. I suggested that he get his knife and cut the gills to bleed the fish. It would quickly kill the fish and make the meat taste better. He said "Oh Yea, I forgot that", retrieved his knife and proceeded to cut both sides of the gills. 

His mother later told me later that the father was a scum bag and was not in the boys life. The boy lives to fish and learned everything he knows form You tube. I told her that as long as he has a fishing pole in his hands, you will know that he is not in trouble!


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Its amazing watching kids throw a cast net better than I have ever been able to. Hopefully no one else saw them. Snook season is closed, and even if open 36” is over slot. I don’t agree with it, but FL regulations have little or nothing to with biology and health of the species any more.


----------



## NewbreedFishing (Apr 15, 2004)

Wow that could have ended badly. The Florida FWC don't play when it comes to snook. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


----------



## loves2fishinohio (Apr 14, 2011)

Very cool story! But yeah, that snook was outside of the slot at 36". I'm glad the young lad didn't get busted. The slot is 28-32", and if it was after December 1st, snook season is closed as well.


----------



## Ravbuck (Jul 29, 2009)

He caught the fish the last week of November so he was good there. I had no idea about the slot but warned the mother that there were strict rules for snook. His Mom looked up the Florida Game and Fish rules on her phone and said he was good. I did not fish the 4 days we were there so I did not buy a license and review the rules. Glad it did not get escalated.


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Florida regulations are pretty confusing. She may have been looking at the Atlantic snook season or the Tampa Bay region. The Gulf side has been closed for years now because of a freeze in 2010. Snook weren’t affected as bad as initially thought, and have more than rebounded, but the guides keep pushing to keep it closed. Tampa Bay area opened back up this year, but from Sarasota to Gordon Pass are still closed. I think its supposed to open back up in 2022, but that could change I guess.


----------



## luredaddy (May 25, 2004)

M.Magis is correct. That family is very lucky, Snook are revered by Florida Natural Resources. Roughly from Bradenton, south to Naples, it is catch and release until late May of 2022. Snook are great game fish and delicious. Hopefully the Sheepshead bite will suffice this winter. John


----------



## loves2fishinohio (Apr 14, 2011)

Yeah, the FWC keeps a pretty tight rein on the fishing regs. Heck, they close red snapper season when the nearby state of Alabama keeps it open. Oh well, as long as it keeps a healthy population of tasty gulf fish available it's for the good. I swear if I lived in the Panhandle I could almost give up meat completely and eat just fresh seafood. Snapper, grouper, triggerfish, cobia, amberjack, all so darn tasty.


----------



## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Sad,,,, (" & THE SIGN SAYS")
Woulda coulda been a bad outcome,,,, maybe ruin a kid for ever.
Far as I'm concerned, KIDS, say under 12, & all military VETS,,,,, OPEN SEASON!
Anything goes. (in the cooler! ;>) (Ya, Yayaya,,, I know,,,, The 'grups' would be cheating with regs like that :<(



RAVBUCK,,, Thanks for that story,,,,, Felt Good Huh? 
& Thank You, for helping a kid out. Waytogo.

Many years ago, I was a YOUTH rifle, pistol & archery instructor.
I'm old now, but those were the best felt days in my whole life.
I can still see the smiles on their faces, when they hit that target for the first time!
THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. ;>)


----------

