My favorite way to prepare a snook is to dip it in cornmeal and fry it quickly in Crisco. The remaining fillets were stored in my freezer and provided many a memorable dinner. We feasted on snook, hush puppies and Marj's famous cornbread slathered with her guava jelly. The fish was gutted, filleted and cooked in the lodge's kitchen. We took the fish to the Marco Lodge, then owned by Marjorie and Alex Tasetano. After a long and exhausting battle, I finally brought in the 18-pounder. A huge snook took my bait and those aboard refused to help me boat the monster.
It's been several years since I went fishing out of Goodland with Marjorie Tastetano's son, Don. And down in Marco, snook was caught in abundance and was considered a mainstay on restaurant menus.Ĭatching a snook provided me with a lifetime memory. Plenty of snook were also caught from the Naples Pier. My favorite Naples legend is the story about Colonel "Marse" Watterson rising each morning and walking down to the Gulf in his nightshirt and, within minutes, scooping up a good-sized snook to take back to his cottage (now Palm Cottage) for breakfast.ĭuring the 1950s I recall that catching a snook was an almost daily occurrence for those of us who walked down to Doctor's Pass when the tide was just right. An then some enterprising cook began skinning the fish and found the meat to be tender and delicious. Early settlers considered the snook to be a trash fish and they were set free when they were caught. The snook season is here and eager fishermen are gearing up to hunt down this fighting fish. If you want to indulge in this delicious seafood, you'll have to go catch an elusive specimen or have a friend willing to share his or her catch. You'll never find snook on restaurant menus, nor is it available in fish markets.
Since the 1950s the snook has been protected from over-fishing by being designated a game fish. If Naples and Marco Island were to select the Greatest Fish of the Century, it surely would be the snook.
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