If Naples and Marco Island were to select the Greatest Fish of the Century, it surely would be the snook. Since the 1950s the snook has been protected from over-fishing by being designated a game fish.
Early settlers considered the snook to be a trash fish and they were set free when they were caught. And then some enterprising cook began skinning the fish and found the meat to be tender and delicious.
My favorite Naples legend is the story about Colonel Henry “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…