Handling Snook

[Chris]

I've heard that lifting snook by their jaw is bad for the fish as it screws up their feeding capabilities, thus, killing them.
Anyone know anything about this?
Chris

[Questor]

If you open the mouth to the maximum, as is shown in many old-fashioned bass fishing pictures, then you can injure the snook. Just picking it up by the mouth doesn't appear to be harmful. When handling snook, be careful around the gills because there's a plate there that' so sharp it'll cut you and you won't even feel it.

[dahlberg]

Hi C,
Interesting question.
Although I've not seen any actual research on the subject, in my experience I've not seen any harm caused by lifting snook by the jaw. I'm sure, as Q says, if you hyper extend the lip, ala Bill Dance, a large fish might sustain damage due to increased leverage agains the jaw hinge. I think the biggest thing is getting them back in the water quickly.
best,
L

[Henry Schmidt]

The technique of solely lipping them has been denounced by Florida based magazines. They recommend also supporting the stomach. Tough to do alone since it leaves no hands free to remove the hook(s). There is a growing movement here to support a harvest of any size snook and require the ceasing of angling for the species after reaching your bag limit.

[Questor]

Henry:

Do you happen to know what problems have been found with lipping them?

Thanks.

[Henry Schmidt]

In big largemouth the jaws were being severly injured and hampering the fishes ability to feed. This was according to Hal Schramm, who many consider a freshwater fisheries authority. In snook, according to a Florida east coast university around Jupiter if I recall right, the digestive tract was fatally damaged. They say it is due to gravity and lack of support. The 'infamous' Mote Marine Lab concurred. You might be able to find info on this at the floridasportsman.com site. It was concluded that simply supporting the snooks belly and holding as horizontally as possible alleviated most of the threat to the snook.