Species: Snook
The Snook, in their adult form are among the hardest fighting fish in the world. Putting a fly into one of these fish is not unlike tying your fly line to the back of a Volkswagen and trying to pull it to a stop at ten miles an hour. Snook are an ambush fish which use a variety of locations and cover. They will hover around inshore channels using tidal currents to flush them bait. They will cruise mud and sand flats looking for crabs, shrimp, and bait fish. They frequent oyster bars hunting a variety of meals, especially other fish doing the same. Snook also use mangrove shore lines as ambush points, which is of great interest to the fly angler. A day spent casting into the holes and overhangs of a mangrove shoreline from the bow of a well poled flats skiff, is as fine a day as an angler can have. A good skip cast into the root structure and every strip on the retrieve could provoke the strike that tries to rip the rod from your hand. Once in a Snook location, anglers can sight fish to them, or blind fish to points, shaded holes in the mangroves, or potholes on and around the flats.
Snook are an estuarine dependent species. If there is no freshwater connection to the salt you will not find Snook. After their juvenile phase these fish can move freely between total fresh and total salt water. They will move to follow bait, and to find their favorite water temps. They are found in the tropics and subtropics of the western Atlantic Ocean, generally connected to mainland areas with large freshwater rivers.
All Snook are born males, with some becoming females between the ages of 1 and 7 if the population needs it. They have a maximum life span of around 20 years. Females of the same age are bigger than their male counterparts. Snook will normally reach two feet in length by four years of age and three feet in eight years. They may grow to fifty pounds or better, but fly gear limits anglers to the twenty five pound class of fish and down. A fifteen to twenty pounder on a fly rod is a trophy fish, as most Snook over twenty five pounds are hardly manageable with fly tackle. Snook spawn near shore April through October. Snook are sensitive to water temperatures and cannot tolerate anything less than sixty degrees, fifty degrees will kill them. Seventy Seven is considered optimal and temperatures as high as one hundred degrees can be tolerated. Snook are aggressive eaters, although they are known well for their ability to spit flies out as fast as they inhale them. A well timed hook set is a must. The men's fly rod record is thirty pounds four ounces and the women's record is fourteen pounds.
The fight of the Snook is the reason for the pursuit. These fish are almost always found near structure and will use it every chance they get.
Like other fish, if an angler can very quickly orient the fight away from the fishes cover they have a chance, but a twenty pound Snook that wants to find it's favorite hole in the mangroves, and is within fifty feet of that cover is going to put the angler on the losing end more often than not. The trophy Snook represents a true badge of ones fish fighting skills.
Equipment
- 8-10 Weight Fly Rods
- What we use: Sage TCR, Sage Xi2, Winston Boron IIX
- 8-10 Weight Saltwater Reel
- What we use: Tibor Everglades/Riptide, Abel Super 8-10, Galvin Torque 8-10
- 8-10 Weight Floating Saltwater Line
- What we use: Scientific Angler Mastery Series
- 60 - 80 pound mono shock tippet tied to a short and heavy leader. (20 -30 pounds)
- What we use: Seaguar Fluorocarbon
- Flies
- Flies for Snook are diverse, employing the use of poppers and many types of streamers. Common color combinations include; red and white, chartreuse and white, purple and white, yellow and green, gold and black.
Technique
During the day anglers can sight fish from flats boats to Snook that are laying in ambush mode in potholes on flats and around the base of mangroves. Blind fishing mangrove shorelines is also a common tactic. A favorite technique of many Snook anglers is skip casting poppers far up under the mangrove overhangs. Like most inshore species tidal currents play a major role in a Snook's feeding behavior. Looking to fish near suspected ambush points that are near current is good way to locate these fish. Snook are also found by polling across backcountry flats, and by looking for jumping bait activity in quiet water situations. Night fishing for Snook is also a popular tactic when trying to find these fish. Areas with dock lights are good targets as Snook are drawn to the bait that is drawn to the lights. Watching a Snook blow up on poppers is as exciting as fly fishing gets.