The Robalos are here! Hi anglers this week report definitely has been taken over by the Snook.
My week started with William Boher a retire schoolteacher from Indiana. Ted was in search of his first experience with the Snook.
Before I picked up Ted I netted a few hundred sardines for our trip. They are the key if you want to have a real good Snook fishing day. We had a low incoming tide complemented by an almost calm wind. Like any other good saltwater predator, the Snook lay in the current facing it waiting for any unsuspected prey been wash by the incoming tide. After a short search we found a number of Snook on a drop off next to a mangrove island. We casted our sardines up current allowing them to be swept by the incoming tide; the Snook happily took our offerings as soon as we cast them.
Ted had a ball; we caught lots of Snook in the 24” to 28” range. This was the beginning of a good bite that will last the whole week.
A very windy day with angler Jim Baldwin was cut short, we tried to cast some flies but the visibility was poor and the fish nowhere to be found.
Steve Clark and his family were next. Steve and his wife Ann Marie have 2 kids, Laura and Phillip. Laura is the angler of the family so she was eager to catch some fish. This was an unusual trip for me, I usually only take up to 3 anglers but after emailing with Steve back and forth I decided to take them.
We started fishing for Seatrout, this a perfect target for a family as they are usually in good numbers. Our baits were welcome by lots of Seatrout and a few Jacks and Ladyfish. In the process I noticed that the kids were pretty good little fishermen (and fisherwomen) so we moved to my Snook honey hole in search of a few linesiders.
After a few “chummers” were immediately eaten by the Snook, Laura was the first one to hookup and a nice 25” linesider came to the boat, this was Laura first Snook ever. We also found many more Snook along with some more Jack Crevalle.
As I was looking for more Snook in the sand holes a nice shadow appeared, Phillip had a rod already baited so I asked him for the rod and made a cast for him and the 30lb Tarpon ate the bait immediately. Phillip set the hook a bit too hard and the “poon” was lost.
Until this point Laura had out fished everybody but Steve was looking for redemption. He made a cast to a sand hole and after a couple of minutes his line came tight, he set the hook and another “Baby Tarpon” came out of the water. This time the hook stayed and Steve had his first Tarpon. Not a monster but never the less a nice fish.
The last stop of the day was a charm for Phillip. After catching a small Snook he landed a 32” linesider on 8lb test, he did a good job keeping the fish away from the mangroves.
We had a great time enjoying each other company and seen Laura’s enthusiasm for fishing.
My week ended with Cameron Cambell. Cameron is a regular costumer of mine; we have become good friends and spent many mornings looking for Tarpon, but this day we were in search of big Snook. I had told Cameron about the previous days and the success with the Snook raising his expectations and enthusiasm. We were fishing light tackle so any fish around structure can be a challenge, Snook in particular are masters at cutting your line on the Mangrove roots. Our day was a good one with over 20 Snook. One was 34” another 32” and several on the high 20’s”, we also had shots at some lay up Snook that were on the 15lb class.
Tarpon are starting to show up in fishable numbers, with good weather ahead things are looking up! This is a great time of the year were all our species are available and the baitfish becomes very reliable.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rey
Seats are limited, so give me a call, or drop me an email, and let's GO FISHING !
Capt. Rey's Fishing Report