Snook season reopens next Saturday, Sept. 1st. Let me remind you that snook regulations were changed this past year. The slot limit for snook on the east coast of Florida is now 28” to 32”. The bag limit, state wide, is one per day per person. If you plan to fish the Everglades or the west coast of Florida the slot size is 28” to 33”. You must squeeze the tail when measuring snook. You can find out all the regulations on saltwater fish by going to http://www.myfwc.com/, or by picking up a saltwater fishing regulations pamphlet at your local tackle store.
Snook can be caught in all of Flagler’s salt and brackish waters and occasionally as far north as Matanzas Inlet. Some of the best fishing can be found in the Palm Coast canals under docks, along sea walls and by spillways that empty into the canals. They can also be found almost anywhere along the ICW. If fishing at night try under the Palm Coast bridge, the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach and Highbridge in Volusia County or any of the lighted docks along the ICW. Docks where the lights are closest to the water will produce the best.
I like to start my day fishing for snook at daybreak when they are still actively feeding near the surface or in shallow water. If you’re using spinning rod or a baitcasting rod start with a topwater plug such as a topdog jr., skitterwalk or a highroller rip roller. All these plugs make noise to attract fish. If you fly fish use a topwater popping fly. My favorite is the 2/0 Rainy bubblehead fly. Once you properly learn to work this fly snook find it irresistible.
As the day wears on, usually when it hits around 9 am you’ll want to change to deeper diving plugs such as bombers or rapala x-raps. Soft plastics such as bass assassins jerk baits fished on a jig head or an exude shrimp or D.O.A. can also do the trick. Burkley gulps can also be very affective.
Overall, live bait is the best way to go during the daylight hours. Live mullet can be used and is a good choice once the mullet run starts. Live pinfish and pigfish are also very good baits. I’ve even caught mangrove snapper and had snook come up and eat them as I was retrieving them to the boat. You still can’t beat a large live shrimp to connect with a snook during the daylight hours. They just can’t pass it up.
Snook have sandpaper like mouths and very sharp gills so one piece of tackle that is a must when snook fishing is a leader no matter what type of bait you are using. Preferably fluorocarbon. 30 lb is a good choice during the day but in the night, fishing around docks and bridge fenders, I would go to a 40 or 50 lb leader.
Photo: Here is a typical size snook for our area. This one weighed 7 lbs and was caught on a mirrOlure during the middle of the day.
Snook can be caught in all of Flagler’s salt and brackish waters and occasionally as far north as Matanzas Inlet. Some of the best fishing can be found in the Palm Coast canals under docks, along sea walls and by spillways that empty into the canals. They can also be found almost anywhere along the ICW. If fishing at night try under the Palm Coast bridge, the rte. 100 bridge in Flagler Beach and Highbridge in Volusia County or any of the lighted docks along the ICW. Docks where the lights are closest to the water will produce the best.
I like to start my day fishing for snook at daybreak when they are still actively feeding near the surface or in shallow water. If you’re using spinning rod or a baitcasting rod start with a topwater plug such as a topdog jr., skitterwalk or a highroller rip roller. All these plugs make noise to attract fish. If you fly fish use a topwater popping fly. My favorite is the 2/0 Rainy bubblehead fly. Once you properly learn to work this fly snook find it irresistible.
As the day wears on, usually when it hits around 9 am you’ll want to change to deeper diving plugs such as bombers or rapala x-raps. Soft plastics such as bass assassins jerk baits fished on a jig head or an exude shrimp or D.O.A. can also do the trick. Burkley gulps can also be very affective.
Overall, live bait is the best way to go during the daylight hours. Live mullet can be used and is a good choice once the mullet run starts. Live pinfish and pigfish are also very good baits. I’ve even caught mangrove snapper and had snook come up and eat them as I was retrieving them to the boat. You still can’t beat a large live shrimp to connect with a snook during the daylight hours. They just can’t pass it up.
Snook have sandpaper like mouths and very sharp gills so one piece of tackle that is a must when snook fishing is a leader no matter what type of bait you are using. Preferably fluorocarbon. 30 lb is a good choice during the day but in the night, fishing around docks and bridge fenders, I would go to a 40 or 50 lb leader.
Photo: Here is a typical size snook for our area. This one weighed 7 lbs and was caught on a mirrOlure during the middle of the day.