FWC reminds anglers of changes for snook beginning Jan. 1

New regulations for snook in state and adjacent federal waters will go into effect beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

These regulation changes will:

• Establish nine snook management regions.
• Establish closed seasons as well as bag and slot limits for each management region, which are detailed below.

The new regions are part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) holistic management approach for Florida's most popular inshore fisheries. Through this approach, seven metrics are used to evaluate the fishery by region, adding a holistic perspective to management decisions and allowing the FWC to be more responsive to regional concerns. The seasons, bag limits and slot limits are set in response to evaluations of the snook fishery within each of the new management regions. This new management approach includes annual reviews of the fishery, and snook regulations could be changed each year in response to the reviews.

Panhandle, Big Bend, Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay
Closed season: Dec. 1 to end of February and May 1 to Aug. 31.
Bag limit: one fish.
Slot limit: 28–33 inches.

Charlotte Harbor, Southwest
Closed season: Dec. 1 to end of February and May 1 to Sept. 30.
Bag limit: one fish.
Slot limit: 28–33 inches.

Southeast, Indian River Lagoon, Northeast
Closed season: Dec. 15 to Jan. 31 and June 1 to Aug. 31.
Bag limit: one fish.
Slot limit: 28–32 inches.

For current recreational snook regulations, along with information about the new management approach, visit MyFWC.com/Marine and click on “Recreational Regulations” and “Snook.” This page includes the snook annual reviews that provide summaries of key findings from the annual evaluation of management metrics for each region.