Last week the snook bite was incredible. On three of those days I took advantage of the nice weather to wet a line. On the 14th I set out about 9:300am to do some fly fishing, it turned out to be a very productive day. On about my fifth cast I hooked into my first fish of the day. When I saw what it was, a bluefish, I hoped it wouldn’t bite through my leader and I’d lose my fly. Luckily that didn’t happen because he was lipped hooked. The fly was an Enrico Puglisi mullet imitation that has a rattle tied in it and the color was chartreuse and white. A very productive fly for the color water we have here. I retied the fly to the leader and continued to cast. My efforts were rewarded with 11 more fish, 1 trout and 10 snook.
There were so many snook around that at times I could see 4 to 5 snook come up and swipe at the fly on a single retrieve. I even had them follow it right back to the boat then swim underneath the boat. At one point all I had to do was hold the fly rod out over the water, jiggle the fly and they would come up and smack it. I figure that if I would have landed every snook that either smacked my fly or I hooked and lost, I would have had over 30 of them that day.
The following day, the 15th, I took a friend of mine out who loves to catch snook. Maybe it was because of the cold front that was coming through that afternoon that the snook were everywhere busting on bait. All you had to do was throw to where you saw the fish feeding and you were almost guaranteed a fish. Between the two of us we landed 23 snook, a redfish and jumped 2 small tarpon. Artificial baits or fly were used to catch the fish. The artificial baits were Storm wild eyes, MirrOlures or flies. However, on this day, my EP fly did succumb to the abrasive lips of the snook.
The cold front came so I stayed home on the 16th. That evening I got a call from a buddy who wanted to fish the next day. I said ok but let’s wait till about 9:30, let it warm up a bit. On the way to the launch I told him that the bite might be off because of the cold but we should get some fish as it warms up. We used Storm baits to land 10 snook that day despite the low overnight temperatures. Hint, we had to fish the baits slower and deeper to get hookups.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that big black drum, whiting, blues, pompano, sheepshead and some flounder are all being caught from the pier. Johnny also told me he got his first tarpon, 10 lbs on a fly, fishing in the Tomoka River.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle says ther are big reds coming from the banks of the ICW south of the bridge. Shrimp or mullet is the bait of choice.
Roy’s Bait House is holding a Fall Surf Fishing Tournament on Dec. 1st. Entry fee is $20. for more information call Roy at 439-1027.
There were so many snook around that at times I could see 4 to 5 snook come up and swipe at the fly on a single retrieve. I even had them follow it right back to the boat then swim underneath the boat. At one point all I had to do was hold the fly rod out over the water, jiggle the fly and they would come up and smack it. I figure that if I would have landed every snook that either smacked my fly or I hooked and lost, I would have had over 30 of them that day.
The following day, the 15th, I took a friend of mine out who loves to catch snook. Maybe it was because of the cold front that was coming through that afternoon that the snook were everywhere busting on bait. All you had to do was throw to where you saw the fish feeding and you were almost guaranteed a fish. Between the two of us we landed 23 snook, a redfish and jumped 2 small tarpon. Artificial baits or fly were used to catch the fish. The artificial baits were Storm wild eyes, MirrOlures or flies. However, on this day, my EP fly did succumb to the abrasive lips of the snook.
The cold front came so I stayed home on the 16th. That evening I got a call from a buddy who wanted to fish the next day. I said ok but let’s wait till about 9:30, let it warm up a bit. On the way to the launch I told him that the bite might be off because of the cold but we should get some fish as it warms up. We used Storm baits to land 10 snook that day despite the low overnight temperatures. Hint, we had to fish the baits slower and deeper to get hookups.
Johnny Garrett at Flagler Beach Bait and Tackle reports that big black drum, whiting, blues, pompano, sheepshead and some flounder are all being caught from the pier. Johnny also told me he got his first tarpon, 10 lbs on a fly, fishing in the Tomoka River.
Jake Jaquish at Jake’s Highbridge Bait and Tackle says ther are big reds coming from the banks of the ICW south of the bridge. Shrimp or mullet is the bait of choice.
Roy’s Bait House is holding a Fall Surf Fishing Tournament on Dec. 1st. Entry fee is $20. for more information call Roy at 439-1027.