Fishing
Fall Snook Prefer 5 a.m. Your Alarm Does Not
Sarasota Bay snook season runs through Nov. 30, and Capt. Rick Grassett’s September forecast says the smart move is dock lights before dawn. The fish are ready. Your coffee better be too.
September on the Suncoast has a personality disorder. The calendar says fall. The humidity still thinks it’s July. The snook, meanwhile, have already clocked in.
According to Capt. Rick Grassett’s September 2026 forecast for CB’s Saltwater Outfitters, snook fishing should be solid this month: look for them in the surf, and in the ICW around docks and bridges near the passes. Because heat is still a thing, he likes dock lights before dawn, then a move to the shallow flats or the surf once the sky softens up. Live bait, CAL jigs with a variety of tails, or a DOA Shrimp all make the short list. Fly folks can lean on small white patterns like his Grassett Snook Minnow.
I am calling this the Dock-Light Soft Opening. No velvet rope. Just you, a thermos, and a fish that does not care that your commute starts at eight.
The rules, so you don’t freestyle them
FWC opened recreational snook harvest Sept. 1 in the Sarasota Bay management region (northern edge at State Road 64 in Manatee County, south to near the Venice Municipal Airport). That window runs through Nov. 30. The basics, per FWC:
- Slot: 28 to 33 inches total length
- Bag: one fish per person per day
- Check MyFWC.com/Snook before you keep anything — regions and metrics can shift
Saltwater license plus the snook permit when you’re harvesting. Hook and line only. The fish stays whole until you land ashore. None of that is a joke, even if your casting is.
Bonus plot: reds on the flats
Grassett also has reds schooled up in September — shallow flats on the high tide, edges of flats and sand bars when it drops. Cast around the school, not into the middle of it, unless your goal is a standing ovation of fleeing mullet. Big trout, jack crevalle and blues can mix in. His morning script: snook and juvenile tarpon around dock lights in the dark, then flats at dawn for reds and trout.
Please limit your kill, don’t kill your limit — Grassett’s line, and a good one. Full species details live at myfwc.com.
I’ll be the one treating 5 a.m. like a happy hour, minus the lime. Bring coffee. Bring patience. Leave the snooze button at home.
— Sandy