It's snook season: good luck

The waiting game is over.

After four months of a closed season, you can now catch a snook and keep it. Which is to say you can eat its delicious, white flesh — and better yet you can show it off to your friends and family.

Snook are among the most coveted game fish in these parts because of their cunning ability to break your line on pilings, oyster bars and mangrove roots. They're wily fish. They seem to know when you're handling light tackle, trying to be a good sportswoman. That's when they play you more than you can play them before breaking you off.

Even if you don't hook one, they're still completely frustrating. I can't tell you how many times I've been able to see snook just below the surface, cast them perfect bait and then watch them snub it. Sometimes they just won't bite.

Sure they will, local experts say. The trick: Fish for them at night. How many times have I heard this? How many bridges have I stood on from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m.? Some think that's the magic hour bars close. For me, that's when I give up, having been snookered once again.

One time, two girlfriends and I went so far as to hire a fishing guide who specialized in night snook fishing. He buzzed us around Sarasota Bay from 3 a.m. to sun up. We saw snook stacked like cordwood under docks. We fished in silence, repressing our normal, constant chatter. (Experts will tell you snook can hear so much as whisper.) We cast till our arms hurt more than they did during years when we were constantly picking up toddlers.

In the end? One fish. My friend was so excited, she practically kissed it. Then we had to release it because it wasn't the right length.

That's the other thing about snook — not only can you just keep one during open season, which runs Sept. 1 to Dec. 1, and from March 1 to April 30 — but it has to be 28 to 33 inches.

Sigh. Don't forget to buy your $2 snook permit and a license unless you are a Florida resident fishing from shore. Learn more at www.MyFWC.com

In other outdoors news:

Coastal Cleanup Day: 9 a.m. to noon on Sept. 20 is the annual day to get out and pick up cigarette butts, plastic straws, bottle caps, fishing line and gobs more litter from our beaches and shorelines.

Keep Lee County Beautiful Inc. has a half dozen sites ready for you to check in at. This is important because staff need volunteers to tally what they find. The info goes into an international report that can help eco-minded organizations and lawmakers flex their muscles and prevent illegal and improper disposal of waste. Call (239) 334-3488 or e-mail KLCB32@cs.com to get involved.

Public Lands Day: Plan to visit the Randell Research Center at Pineland on Sept. 27 for the celebration of the 100th birthday of three relatively unknown, mangrove-laden refuges in Lee County.

In the fall of 2008, President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated Matlacha Pass, Pine Island and the Island Bay National Wildlife Refuges. You may know them better as islands with signs on them telling you to keep off. They're managed by the staff at Sanibel's J.N. "Ding" Darling refuge.

The celebration includes free tours of the Calusa Heritage Trail (9 a.m. and 1 p.m.), guided kayak tours, a powerboat tour and more. Call (239) 472-1100.

Conservancy kayak-less: Kayak rentals and guided tours at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida Nature Center will not be available during September. To get the schedule once October is here, call (239) 262-0304 or go to www.conservancy.org.

NOAA's new offering: NOAA has launched a one-stop Southeast Marine Weather Internet portal offering marine weather forecasts and real-time coastal wind and water condition information. Check it out at http://forecast.weather. gov/mwp/ .

— Betsy Clayton is a freelancer based on Pine Island and also is Lee County Parks & Re c r eation's waterways coordinator. Contact her at boatingbybetsy@yahoo.com

Where is the Blueway Mobile?

>>Saturday, Sept. 6: South County Regional Library in Estero

>>Sunday, Sept. 7: Coconut Point Mall in Estero