Boca Grande Florida Fish Kill???

[h hoskins]

Has anyone seen evidence of the massive snook kill in Florida first hand?

[Mike Anderson]

There is a youtube video out there somewhere. Sad indeed.

[Bob Riggins]

We have had a substantial fish kill, but not catastrophic.

[dave stocks]

We have seen quite a few dead snook in the Cape Canaveral area, some Tarpon as well.  To be honest my feelings aren’t hurt that they closed the spring season.  I think the effects will be felt years down the road though.  FWC recently lifted the ban on collecting dead fish until Feb 1. My friend sent me this today Just look at this. Apparently, this was part of the legal cleanup of dead carcasses in Vero beach. Supposedly, the same kind of thing could be seen in Sebastian.
I hope the picture shows up it’s my first picture I have posted.

[brad karczewski]

I drove over the Courtney Campbell (Tampa) today and it was absolutely horrible.  The smell was so heavy you could almost see it!  Quite a few dead ones to say the least. :-/

[keith b]

I have seen some pictures on a couple of other boards, and it is not pretty! Boats full of dead fish and lines of dead fish floating like trash in a current. :'(

[Colin M.]

Rough…hope the keys bonefish made it to the channels…I heard down there other than the snook, lots of juvenile fish didnt make it, Also heard that many of the offshore baitfish like ballyhoo took a beating as well…

[Bob Riggins]

I drove over the Courtney Campbell (Tampa) today and it was absolutely horrible.  The smell was so heavy you could almost see it!  Quite a few dead ones to say the least. :-/

Nice to see another from the great city of Dunedin.

[Neal Osborn]

Brett,

I talked with Austin today and he confirms that indeed hundreds of snook are belly up.

[Bob Riggins]

I’ve been talking to some of my kayak buddies and there are a number or reports of good populations of snook in all of the backcountry locations.

[craig crumbliss]

 It looks like the kill was limited to the snook caught in open water.  

I think that was the main problem down south in the Everglades.

[stevegibson]

Scientists estimate that slightly less than 10 percent of the snook on the west coast of Florida were killed during the cold. The good news is that mean more than 90 percent survived.

We had about 18 months of red tide in 2005-06 and it killed thousands of fish. But everything rebounded just fine.

[stevegibson]

Brett,

I talked with Austin today and he confirms that indeed hundreds of snook are belly up.  However, the Redfish are tailing!  I will be in Boca on Saturday and fishing Sunday through Tuesday.  Updates to follow.  Sorry you couldn’t make it.

Who did you fish with in Boca Grande? How did you do? Would have loved to taken you fishing.

[Neal Osborn]

Bob,

See below.  Things are a bit opposite down here in Boca Grande.  The backcountry snook were most affected.

Brett,

Austin and I hit the back water today and waded far in to the creeks.  DUDE, it is horrific!  Snook carcasses everywhere and not a live one anywhere in the backcountry.  Seriously gloomy scene down here, not to mention the fact that it rained all day and I could even see my breath in the freezing cold (in February, wtf).  The Reds are still alive but unfortunately not tailing.  On a positive note we did see two big snook along the mangroves so at least a few will live to spawn another batch.  Based on my background in environmental science, it will probably be 3-4 years before the back creeks see the healthy snook population come back in this area.  

Everyone is most worried about red tide at this point.  If that occurs things could get ugly.

Steve,

I am fishing with Cpt. Austin Lowder.

[henry schmidt]

I live 10 minutes from Boca.

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