Captain Paul Hobby prepares to release a big snook taken in the Fort Myers area. Photo by Capt. John Kumiski.

In March, the observant angler notices that the days are getting longer. The water temperatures are rising. The equinox is this month, and it's time to start targeting spring snook.

What have the snook been doing all winter, and where will we find them now? I put this question to three of Florida's best snook guides. I also asked one of the state's foremost snook biologists.

"Mature snook, especially those on the Gulf Coast, do not normally migrate great distances. However, in the late spring and early summer, they leave their over-wintering locations, which are usually in the low-salinity portions of the upper estuary, and move onto their spawning grounds where they spend the remainder of the summer."

That is according to Ron Taylor of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

"Sometime in late summer or early fall, they return to the upper estuary, where they remain during the colder winter months," he continued. "Because snook are tropical fishes, they become lethargic in water cooler than 65 degrees, and the upper estuary provides sanctuary from some of their major predators -- sharks, porpoises, barracudas."

From this, we can see that during the month of March, the snook are frequently in backcountry locations where they have spent the winter. They are only just beginning to move to their summer haunts, and that movement doesn't really get strongly under way until April.

The Treasure Coast
Marcia Foosaner, who guides the Stuart area, between the Fort Pierce and Saint Lucie inlets, agrees with the biologist's view.

"I ignore these fish in the winter. I usually don't think about them until at least April, unless some unusually warm water shows up," Foosaner explained.

"Once the mullet run is over in the fall, I think that plenty of these fish go to some nearshore reefs in the ocean, somewhere where the water has depth to keep them warm. I think the majority end up in the north and south forks of the Saint Lucie River, where the water is dark, deep, and warm. Many places in the channels and canals there have water depths from 14 and 20 feet. I have looked for them there during the winter, and I have caught a few on occasion.

"Storm's soft-plastic swim baits and the DOA TerrorEyz seem to be the best way to go. Fly-fishers should use a large Clouser Minnow in red and white or yellow and brown, tied fairly full, with a full sinking or intermediate line.

"Regardless of whether you use conventional or fly tackle, lures should be worked slowly, bumped on the bottom. Snook are warm-water critters and hate the cold," she noted. "They become very lethargic during the winter, so slower is better.