Snook Fishing

Outgoing tide
Water temp 67 degrees

On Saturday night Scott and I headed out into the rain dressed for action. Our first stop was the fog light. There were no snook to be seen, although I couldn’t see anything anyways through my rain covered glasses. I love fishing in the rain and fog, it does cause some what of a problem since I am always stopping to wipe off my glasses. We moved on to the crazy ladies dock where Scott caught another 34 inch snook to match the one he caught the previous night. The next stop was the sail boat light where again; Scott caught a slot size snook. It got to the point where Scott let me cast around six times before he casted. I suggested we return to the crazy ladies dock, since it appeared she wasn’t home and there were lots of snook showing. I positioned the boat just in front of the dock, and again Scott hooks up with another large one. The snook shook his head with his large mouth open and out flue the lure. The snook was around 34 inches. We called it a night around 10:30 and headed back to the ramp.

This is a report from last Thursday. 1/24.

Water temp 64, a little rainy and windy. Full moon, incoming tide.

We started out for grandmas canal. There were some fish there, and Crunkahan hooked up on the 2nd dock with a nice 35″ fish. We had seen plenty of fish but most weren’t interested in what we had to offer. I think we broke the trolling motor speed record. His trolling motor took a crap and we swapped over mine. I use the 101lb thrust for my big ole bay boat. I think we were cruising at 4mph with it on his boat, pretty cool. Anyways we called it quits at about 10:30.

Got out at 10:30 pm the wind was light and water was 69 degrees. It was a little while before l got my first bite, but the hook pulled. You’re casting a million times then one hits and it kinda catches you off guard. The same thing on two other docks, but l did find another dock holding fish so maybe that will be a good one for a while

The time l left was ten o’clock pm the water was 63,the first dock we had two good hits but the fish seem slow to bite.our second dock and third dock the same .we went to a different area and the bite was on and we landed one but had several taker’s, l think if you have 10 or 12 dock’s to pick from in different area’s your chance’s of hooking up are good. there are some night’s that no matter what nothing happen’s ,those are good night’s to check different dock’s out. there’s a lot of dock’s out there  when given the right time of year they hold a lot of snook then a month or two later and sometime’s a shorter period of time they move on to another dock at least thats my experience. we fished for about a hour and ahalf that night with several snook near landed and one 33 ” landed plus tow redfish upper slot .we were at thetop of the tide it was 62 degree’s out and was dead calm

Bill and I headed out under the full moon. The weather conditions were perfect. No wind, a rising tide and the temperature around 67 degrees. The first light we trolled up to was the FOG Light. There were no snook to be seen. I took the first cast and although I didn’t hook up, Out of the shadows swam 2 large snook and a red fish. Bill casted and as soon as the lure hit the water the red was on.  To our surprise the next few channels we hit were loaded with snook. Bill caught a 32 inch snook back in grandmas neck of the woods, while I, just seemed to throw lures at them. It wasn’t until we reached the “crazy lady’s” dock, before I had my first hook up. Another beautiful 32 incher.
I would say the snook have moved from the docks they were on in late December, to new ones. I am seeing snook on docks that held them last year at this time. When it was all said and done, Bill caught one red and three snook to my one snook.

I left the boat ramp at 645 Monday evening.  The wind was blowing at about 20 mph & the water temp was about 59 degrees.  There were no hits on first five or six docks.  Then at two dead end canals, I saw probably six to seven snook under each dock I came to.   I got about four to five hits, but nothing would take hold.   It was the last two hours of the high tide, they just weren’t hungry I guess.

Went to my super secret Upper Tampa Bay Honey Hole this morning in the Fog. It was so thick it could of be mistaken for a light rain. It was a an extreme negative low tide and quite frankly there wasn’t much water. After about an hour the tide began to come in and the mullet got on the move so I figured a Red wouldn’t be to far behind. I mainly fished the DOA Cal Tail and a Terrorize but nothing. The smell in the air reeked of dead Snook,Sand Perch and a baby Jewfish or two. (That’s right I said Jewfish and I’ll never Change) All from the freeze we had last week. I have friends who guide in the Keys and they said they experinced a fish kill down there as well. Anyway I digress. After working the DOA products which by the way I have tremendous confidence in I switched to Topwater. I like the Skitterwalk, but I really love the new MirroMullet and the ShePup by MirroLure. I was at the point after having no success for the past 2-3 hours that I was down to my “this is my last couple of casts”, I tossed the Chartreuse Chrome sided ShePup across this area that I swear wasn’t any deeper than 18 inches when on about the 4th twitch the world exploded! It was that signature Snook sucking sound and a boil of water that honestly startled the crap out of me! He made some awesome runs and a little head shaking action before I drug him up the mud bank. H e was about a 10-12lb beautiful Snook and about 30-31inches. I have really fallen in love with Topwater Fishing this past year. I  will always do dock lights but watching the boil and the attempts fish make to get that bait is just awesome to me. Yes he swam away unharmed cause nobody likes a liar or a poacher!

GladesGhost

“It only takes one”

While fishing with Steve earlier this week we saw a large snook following some strange looking fish in the light. After casting a few times, we spooked the snook but the strange fish were still swimming around. I trolled up to one of the fish with my landing net in my hand and netted it. Neither Steve nor I had ever seen this type of fish before. I search the Internet and a few books to identify it, but no luck.
It wasn’t until I sent the pictures to GladesGhost  that I got an answer. The name of the fish is “Southern Stargazer”.  GladesGhost told me it was a good thing we didn’t handle it because the Southern Stargazer can send off an electrical shock. Here is a link to a youtube video of the fish.

The night started off bad.  I unloaded my boat like always, when I realized I had backed down to far and my boat was adrift.   After wading up to my knee’s in 61 degree water I was finally off.  I went to five or six lights and nothing.  I saw one but that was it.  My friend called me and said it was about to rain, so l picked up my panties and headed home.  Mike called and said they saw plenty of snook where they were…..Swell, I should have kept walking when I was wading out to get my boat.

1/17/08

Slack-Begining of outgoing

2 days after the first quarter moon

Well the weather was pretty bad with off and on rain all day, and pretty windy at times. It was a weak front coming through and another big one in 2 days. The skies cleared for a little bit and the wind went calm. I got the call from Mike, and 3 hours later we were off looking for some snook. Our first stop was the “fog light”. I sight casted to 1 snook who couldnt help himself, just as quick as I hooked him he was off. He was an estimated 37″ fish. Off we went a little farther south. Near the “dentist light” I was hooked up again, this was another good fish, I worked him away from the pilings and bam, hooks bent. I should have known better. On we go, we caught some trout, some reds. Finally get to a dock holding some snook which were actively feeding. I snaked in front of Mike and hook up. Another decent fish pulling me into the docks. “Snap” lost that one too. I give up and tell Mike to show me how its done. We come around the corner and see some fish. Mike hooks up and brings him in for a photo shoot. He was around 31-33″. We hit one more light where we saw some snook earlier but were chased out by something that looked like some kind of hybrid sheep dog/horse. Out of all the snook chasing my plug, I see them scatter and im hooked up with a nice red. I bring it in, we exchange numbers and off he went. We called it a night around 11:30. Not a bad night.

 Arik add I went out to night and braved the 20 mph southeast wind. Arik caught a dogfish and a speckled trout while throwing shrimp, I hook two snook and a red while throwing artificial. This night isn’t even worth bloging about other than the fact I wanted to document the conditions.

1-12-08
Outgoing / Incoming Tide - 4 tide day
Water Temp. 65 

Scott, Chris and I took Scotty’s Pathfinder out last night snook fishing. We ran as far south as the Skyway but nothing. The bite was off for us. On the way back Scott caught a large lady fish and I boated a 10 inch snook just before the fog rolled in. I enjoy the fishing in the fog (as long as the boat I‘m on has a chartplotter) but the few other boats we saw might not of felt the same way. We continued to fish a few more lights with the same results as earlier until we trolled up to the FOG Light (a name given to this light by a friend over two years ago) . This light had three huge snook on it. One close to 40 inches even swam up to the boat. We fished the light for a few minutes but came up empty. The ride back to the boat ramp was slow, but without the GPS chartplotter we would not have gotten home at all.

1-11-08
Incoming Tide
Water Temp. 65

I decided to try fishing north of Johns Pass last night. The fishing was a little rougher than usual. I caught two 26 inch reds and a 22 inch spotted trout. I only saw one light with snook on it.  I spoke to some friends who had more luck south of the pass.

Last night Scott invited Chris, Mike, and me to go out on the Pathfinder. This was the first time in a few years Mike had been fishing. Being a Pinellas County Sheriff in the marine division, Mike is no stranger to the water. The night started out a little slow but after a few lights I caught a 31 inch snook and on the next light a 33 inch one. We trolled up to the light we call the “dentist light” and Mike caught a 25 inch red on his first cast. After a few more lights we decided to go fish Gators. Last week a bouncer from there tried to run us off. On the ride to Gators I was thinking how nice it was having Mike with us to explain that Sid Rice doesn’t own the public waterway. When we reached Gators there were no snook to be seen and Gators was so slow you might have thought they were closed. As for Chris and Scott’s evening, they both have fished better nights.

1-4-08
Outgoing Tide
Water Temp. 65 

It had been a few days’ sense the cold snap and Steve and I set out to try our luck.
Knowing that some other friends were also heading out we got to the ramp early.
We did the normal round of lights and saw nothing. It wasn’t until we ventured off to an area that we rarely fish that we saw a light with snook. Steve casted and hook one right away, but just as soon as it was on, it shook off. After repositioning the boat Steve hooked another one, the snook was around 31 inches. We tried a few more channels and then headed home. I hope to see more snook on the next trip.

Who said snook don’t bite in 55 degree water. Well it certainly wasn’t Bill Clark.
Wednesday, I called Bill to see if he would brave the cold weather with me and to find out if the snook were biting. When I arrived at the boat ramp the first words out of Bill’s mouth were “we are crazy” but that didn’t stop us. We headed out into the cold wind and waves toward our first light. The first channel we fished, I boated two small snook, while Bill came up empty. A few lights later, Bill had passed me on the fish count with a couple of reds and two larger snook. We traveled further south where we saw even more fish busting small baits. The bite was so good; I thought we could have fished all night, until I got my shoes wet. Shortly after that, I couldn’t wait to head back to the ramp, but Bill wanted to fish a light that we banged up real bad earlier. I thought, F*** to myself as I sat in the back of the boat and watched my shoelaces form into icicles. To my surprise, Bill caught a 31 inch snook on his first cast. When the night was over, together we caught five snook and seven red fish. The air temp was 36 degrees and the water temp was 54 degrees. Not a bad night for those conditions.

Bill and I decided to go fishing instead of partying on New Years Eve. The first snook I caught broke my brand new Shimano fishing rod. The snook was only 31 inches.

Beautiful evening,  lots of hook ups and fireworks.