Reflections on the Water
SoulMate Charters
Wintertime Snookin’
As the winter winds began to blow and our local air and water temperatures begin to drop, snook anglers have to change tactics to find what is unquestionably the most sought after game fish in our local waters… Snook! Here are a few tips to hopefully make your cooler weather outings more productive.
It’s important to think like a snook. I’m not kidding. They are a bit like us humans in the fact
that they prefer warm water over cold and they will go to great lengths to find
it. Sort of like snowbirds heading for
warmer climates. When the water
temperatures drop to around 70 degrees, snook move away from the shallow water
areas and either head out in the Gulf to offshore reefs or they move up our
many rivers and creeks to find warm water sanctuaries. Snook can easily adapt to fresh water, so
it’s not unusual to find them all the way up in the
While I like to use artificial lures for snook in the summer, I much prefer live bait during the winter. And when it comes to live bait I generally stick to shrimp. The cooler water slows the snook’s metabolism down and they just don’t seem interested in chasing a fast moving target. Shrimp are slow and easy natural prey.
My winter snook rigs consist of a 7 ˝ foot rod; a reel spooled with 20 lb test braided line and a 30 lb fluorocarbon leader. I use a 3/0 circle hook placed just under the horn on top of the shrimp’s head. Snook are out of season most of the winter and the circle hooks greatly reduce the chance of gut hooking and make safely releasing the fish much easier.
It’s very important to make the shrimp look as natural as possible. Try to find an area where the water is moving and cast the shrimp to ambush zones. Again; think like a snook. They don’t want to exert a lot of energy so they will lay in wait on mangrove points and near backwashes for prey to come to them. Deliver the shrimp upstream and let it “swim” by naturally. On particularly cold mornings try weighting the bait by using small lead split shot placed about a foot above the shrimp. Snook tend to move down in the water column on the coldest days so this will help get the bait in their strike zone.
I’ll use this winter pattern until mid March when the snook
start to head out of the creeks and rivers for the bays and beaches setting up
for the spawn in May. But why wait until
May when you can catch one of south west
See you on the water!
Capt Rob Modys
SoulMate Charters