While down here for the Miami Boat Show, I met briefly with Aaron Adams of the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. We had planned on sitting down for a full interview but outside forces pulled us in different directions. We did get to casually discuss the recent cold-induced carnage in Florida, and he dispensed some staggering information.

Possibly 300,000 adult snook killed, out of an estimated 1.5 million adults total.  That’s a huge percentage. Plus, he speculated that possibly two entire year classes of juvenile tarpon that come of age in the mangroves have been wiped out. Plus damage to turtle grass beds and mangroves that could take years to recover.

The thought I took away from it is, extend the catch-and-release only fishing for snook indefinitely. At least until more real numbers come out as to what happened and how long it will take to bounce back.