The bulk of the start of 2010 has been spent watching the decline and demise of the snook around Tampa Bay. The worst stretch of weather in decades sent the air temperatures down into the 20's or lower 30's every night for a week. Water temperatures dropping to critical levels, snook faced two calamities: The chilled waters and human poachers. When it all settles out, snook populations are likely to have been chopped down a great deal more than initial projections. Areas that held snook but had no deep water escape or warm water access were complete dead zones by January 11th. Other areas that had snook that were "battling" and were impaired by the cold were hit hard by poachers and continue to be hit by poachers. The surviving fish are the future of the species. If you see someone trying to take snook, call the poacher hotline: 888-404-FWCC (888-404-3922).

Having had conversations with many of these poachers in the past week, it is obvious there is just a blatant disregard for the law. People are taking "out of season" fish, they're taking them "over the slot" limits and the one that's most ignored and overlooked is they're catching them by "illegal method." For them it is an opportunity to take what they can take, regardless of the law or the impact on the fishery.

Minnesota Frank finally got out to do some fishing between the cold snaps. It was crunch time and we had to go that day or wait until he comes back again next time. The fish were sunning themselves to gather some of the solar heating in the shallows. There were plenty of trout and redfish but they weren't very interested in eating. Frank missed a hookup in the first half an hour and then we just chased fish around the shallows. Trout over 25 inches and plenty of redfish, just nothing that was going to eat a lure.

After that, things really went downhill with the weather. High winds and overnight temperatures which caused the water temperatures to plummet. Temperatures went below the threshold of what the snook can take and the fish battled for days, trying for any warmth they could find but it was too much for a lot of them to handle. World-class fish I spoke about this past June: Dead. Snook over 50-inches in length perished.

Climbing out of the mini-Ice-Age we had, there are some observations. Masses of mullet also died in the region. Obviously, snook populations have been affected. Redfish and trout? Unaffected. Scouting trips the past couple of days were very encouraging. In addition to great numbers of redfish, large specimens are included. Speckled trout are also collecting in numbers like we haven't seen since early in 2005 and there will be a lot of stories of very large trout caught this winter and spring. For both the trout and redfish, a little more warming of the water will kick off stellar feeding. Watch for a lot of photos like this in the near future: