LOUISE BARNETT is wowed by Florida's Gulf Coast with its pristine, white sand beaches, mangrove swamps and abundant wildlife, but will she be able to catch the elusive saltwater snook?

"REEL,  REEL, reel, " commanded Captain Jim as I flailed around Florida, rod in hand.

I was close to catching my first snook but the forceful pulling and twisting on the end of the line made it clear the fish had other ideas.

Snook are renowned fighters and won't give up without a battle.

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I was on a girls' fly-drive holiday in Pinellas County which boasts a 35-mile stretch of white sand beaches on Florida's Gulf of Mexico coast.

Sandwiched between the coast and Tampa Bay to the east is an area crisscrossed with saltwater inlets, an excellent habitat for the locally prized saltwater snook.

However there's a catch (so to speak). Landing a snook requires a special licence and the fishing season is limited to the months of September to November and March to April in a bid to protect stocks from dwindling.

Day one of my first fishing attempt involved a sweltering morning spent hurling lines and live bait at the water.

I caught a sea trout and just one mackerel. The captain was so unimpressed he threw the latter straight back.

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Our base was The Don CeSar hotel, a local landmark on St Pete Beach thanks to its resemblance to a birthday cake.

It's had a chequered history: from a favourite destination for the glamorous set in the 1920s to a spell as a Second World War hospital, then a period of neglect, before re-emerging following a revamp as a popular tourist hotel.

The Don CeSar is a welcome retreat from the frenetic pace of America's theme park capital Orlando and the area is teeming with marine and birdlife. We basked in the sun on the blindingly white sand of St Pete Beach before exploring other equally idyllic strands at Fort De Soto Park a few miles to the south.

Between fishing trips we decamped to a second hotel called the Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach, a 45-minute drive north up the county's main coast road lined with low-rise restaurants, fast food joints and filling stations.

The Sandpearl has rooms overlooking the wide stretch of white sand, frequented in the early morning by brown pelicans, joggers and fishermen. Floridian restaurants are banned from putting snook on their menus, although many will cook up a customer's catch in return for a cover charge if you give them advance warning.

Guppy's restaurant, a favourite with the locals at Indian Rocks Beach just south of Clearwater, had agreed beforehand to cook our snook but, in the absence of this main prize, they grilled my speckled sea trout and served it up beautifully with a side of green beans.
It was delicious.

My second attempt at snaring a snook began at Marino's Marina in Ozona, a small town full of old wooden houses a few miles north.

Marino's is a pitstop for coffee, buying bait and offers details of the many local fishermen who operate charter boats with all the necessary fishing licences.

One of these is Captain Jim Huddleston, who led our attempt after getting up at the crack of dawn to catch our live bait. An initial hour or so casting lines in shallow mangrove-lined waters close to opulent waterfront houses produced a few more sea trout but no sign of the snook. Even the mullet, which leapt out of the water, seemed to be taunting us.

We pressed on towards nearby Caladesi Island State Park where our luck began to change. This small island is a local treasure with an unspoilt beach running along its northern edge, and abundant wildlife.

A ferry departs every hour for the 15-minute crossing from a neighbouring state park called Honeymoon Island which is worth a visit for its mangrove swamps, pretty beaches and pine forest.

Caladesi is sensitively managed to safeguard its eco system, which means camping is banned and the seaweed stays where it lands on the beach. We hired canoes and took a three-mile trail, snaking our way through the island. In some areas the mangroves are so dense they form tunnels alive with small fish, crabs and birds. The friendly park rangers are a mine of information about the area's history and wildlife and we saw an armadillo scuttling through the grass. Most importantly though, the shallow waters just off Caladesi are where I finally caught my snook.

Or rather Captain Jim did and then passed me the rod.

After reeling frantically I managed to land it on the boat, revealing a gloriously golden-coloured fish still fighting to avoid contact with the hands of the captain, who said:
"Snook are very smart. It is very addictive fishing."

Sadly my happiness was short-lived. A ruler quickly revealed the snook was 26.5 inches long, a tantalising 1.5 inches shorter than the legal minimum length required to keep and cook this breed of fish which can grow to a weighty 44lb.

My final Florida tally stood at five sea trout, one flounder, two mackerel and one reeled-in snook which never got as far as my dinner plate.

I still don't know what they taste like but if anyone does fancy trying to find out for themselves, happy snookin'.

THE KNOWLEDGE:

Virgin Holidays (0844 557 3860/www.virginholidays.co.uk) offers a six-night package including three nights at The Don CeSar and three nights at the Sandpearl Resort from £1,115pp (two sharing), room only.

Price includes return flights from Gatwick to Orlando and six-day car hire.

Visit St Petersburg & Clearwater: 0208 339 6121/ www.floridasbeach.com;

Visit Florida: 01737 644882/www.visitflorida.com