Snook: water temperature and season

Moving water, low light, no cold snaps. Anglrithm scores snook at inshore and reef spots, on the Atlantic, in the Keys and on the southwest Gulf coast. This page sets out what that score weighs and the cited studies behind it.

Water temperature

Evidence tier Well established

No tagging study gives a surface temperature band for snook. The score uses a working range of 70-87 °F, a fishing opinion rather than a tagged band, and its credit falls away above that range as well as below it.

Season

Best Apr to May, Sep to Nov, by the score's season weight.

When they spawn

Spawning months on record: Jun and Jul. A calendar from the studies linked, months and moon only, never a site; not a catch forecast.

  • More fish gathered to spawn in June and July, and more around the new and full moons (tagged fish, west coast). Lowerre-Barbieri et al. 2014

The score's season weight by month, from the studies cited in the species profile; the outlined months are at 90% of its peak or better.

What the score weighs

  • SeasonWell establishedkeeps 100%
  • TideReal, but localkeeps 100%
  • Water tempWell establishedkeeps 100%
  • WindSmall real effectkeeps 50%
  • LightReal, but localkeeps 100%
  • SolunarPopular belief, not supportedkeeps 20%Labelled not supported: it stays visible, discounted, and is never promoted.
  • MoonSmall real effectkeeps 50%
Why each tier
  • Season: Season is the strongest single predictor in most recreational datasets, because it carries water temperature, migration and spawning together. Shaw et al. 2021, PLOS ONE 16:e0257882.
  • Tide: Tide moves fish through cuts and over structure, and the effect can be strong at a particular spot. It is not a species-wide rule: the published work finds the pattern flips by species, site and season, and one high-velocity channel study found no link to current speed at all. Trust it where you fish; do not trust it as a fact about the fish. Becker et al. 2016, Estuaries and Coasts 39:1199. Milardi et al. 2018, ECSS. Viehman & Zydlewski 2017, PLOS ONE 12:e0176405.
  • Water temp: Fish are ectotherms, so appetite and digestion track water temperature along a dome: rising to an optimum, then falling away again. Warmer is not simply better. Snook energy demand roughly tripled from 15 to 25 C, and they were more likely to have empty stomachs when the water ran hot. Volkoff & Ronnestad 2020, Temperature 7:307-320. White et al. 2025, Marine and Coastal Fisheries 17:vtaf031, doi:10.1093/mcfafs/vtaf031.
  • Wind: Wind has a measurable effect on fish movement, apparently through dissolved oxygen, but it is small. The larger effect in any personal log is on you: wind decides where you can fish and whether you go at all, so a wind pattern in your own data is at least as likely to be about your choices as about the fish. Milardi et al. 2019, Aquatic Ecology 53:251-263. Shaw et al. 2021, PLOS ONE 16:e0257882.
  • Light: Dawn and dusk are well documented as movement and feeding windows for many inshore and coastal species, and the effect interacts with tide rather than standing alone. Viehman & Zydlewski 2017, PLOS ONE 12:e0176405.
  • Solunar: The best-powered test of solunar tables found nothing. One angler, 361 trips and 1,355 hours, seven commercial solunar services, corrected for multiple testing, with 99 percent power to detect a medium effect: no relationship between any solunar value and catch rate. Just two results were significant, and both were negative, with trips inside predicted minor windows yielding 42.5 percent fewer fish per hour. Air temperature beat every solunar prediction. Quigley, Gonzalez Murcia & Kauwe 2023, SN Applied Sciences 5:162.
  • Moon: Moonlight genuinely times spawning in many species through melatonin and clock genes, which is why aggregations key to the moon. For whether today is a good day, the measured effect is real but tiny, smaller than temperature and far smaller than where you fish. Ikegami et al. 2014, Marine Genomics 14:59-66. Shaw et al. 2021 found lunar effects significant but Cohen d below 0.20.

Each factor's weight is multiplied by its evidence tier: well established and real but local keep all of it, a small real effect keeps half, and a popular belief that is not supported keeps a fifth. Guidance from the studies sits beside the score, never in it.

Rules and depth

Harvest closed Jun 1 to Aug 31 and Dec 15 to Jan 31 from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade (slot 28-32 in), and May 1 to Sep 30 and Dec 1 to end of Feb in Monroe County, the Keys and Everglades National Park (slot 28-33 in). One fish a day with a snook permit. Catch and release is open.

Seasons, sizes and bag limits change: check the FWC saltwater regulations before you keep a fish.

From the research programs

  • Common snook spawn from about April or May into September or October around inlets, passes and river mouths. FWC, no date
  • Snook get sluggish in water below 65 °F, and their northern range stops near the 50 °F winter isotherm. FWC, no date
  • FWC warns inshore snook may die when water drops below 55 °F; do not move stressed fish and report kills. FWC, no dateThe score card's cold note starts at 57 °F, the top of FWC's lethal range for juvenile snook.
  • In winter snook retreat to low-salinity upper estuaries that buffer cold and shelter them from predators. FWC, no date
  • Juvenile snook favor calm mangrove backwaters with cover; adults seldom migrate far, especially along the Gulf coast. FWC, no date
  • Angler-caught snook held in net pens showed 98 percent survival; most deaths involved live bait and deep hooking. FWC, no date
  • When hooks were pulled from deep-hooked snook, 4 of 12 died; none died when the leader was simply cut. FWC, no date
  • Support large snook horizontally; hanging one by the jaw can tear the isthmus and cause a slow death. FWC, no date
  • Snook start as males and many turn female after spawning; half of males mature near 18 inches, females near 30 inches. FWC, no date

Findings in our own words from the programs linked, area and season only; cited, not endorsed. None of these lines is in the score.

The studies

  • Along southern Biscayne Bay mangrove shorelines, gray snapper make up nearly half of fish biomass, with barracuda and snook next among gamefish.

    Biscayne Bay (southern) · field · full text read

    Lennon & Sealey 2022

  • Baby snook settle first in upstream tidal ponds, then move into the creek at about 40 mm before heading seaward.

    Tampa Bay · field · full text read

    Brame et al. 2014

  • The January 2010 freeze cut tagged snook survival by over 90 percent on SW Florida barrier islands.

    SW Florida Gulf barrier islands · field · full text read

    Adams et al. 2012

  • The 2010 freeze hit snook, tarpon and ladyfish hardest in Everglades waters; redfish survived better.

    Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Flamingo · agency · agency document

    National Park Service, Everglades National Park 2010

  • In January 2010 Sanibel's Tarpon Bay lost ladyfish, tarpon, mullet and gag to cold.

    Sanibel, Tarpon Bay, SW Florida · field · agency document

    Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory 2010

  • During big freshwater releases snook move more and slide into slower side waters, but do not leave the estuary.

    St. Lucie Estuary (SE Florida) · field · full text re-read Oct 16, 2026

    Kleiman et al. 2026

  • Shallow coastal ponds ringed by salt marsh and overhanging mangroves are nurseries for juvenile snook, with juvenile tarpon nearby.

    Charlotte Harbor (Cape Haze peninsula), SW Florida · field · full text re-read Oct 16, 2026

    Saari et al. 2025

  • After a severe Florida cold kill, gray snapper growth stalled for a year then ran faster, and snook switched sex younger.

    Florida (statewide estuaries and fisheries) · field · full text re-read Oct 16, 2026

    Trotter et al. 2025

The whole evidence library

Entries read in full text or published by an agency. Entries read only in their abstract are listed on the science page with their numbers withheld.

Research cited: Bonefish & Tarpon Trust; FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Cited, not endorsed.

Where it is scored

Today's score at any of them is free with an account; every fish has a page like this one.

Display only, not for navigation. Every figure here names its source; check the NWS marine forecast and the posted rules before you leave the dock.