I'm finally healed up and will resume wading later this week. This is one day of fishing back about a month ago on March 15, which was the last day the big snook were shallow [1]- location: Walton Road rising tide about 9:00 AM. Wind NE 10-15 mph.
I decided that today was the day I was going to keep a snook the slot limit was 28 to 34 inches which would be a four to five pound fish (28 inches) to close to 7 pounds (34 inch fish). I figured that I'd released over 20 slot limit or bigger snook so far in the 3 months I'd been fishing.
I got in on the north end and fished shallow up to the piers. I lost a good fish in 3 foot of water and caught a 3 lb snook off the first pier swimming an opaque DOA paddletail on a 3/8 ounce jighead along the pier pilings. He made the mistake of swimming away from the pier and I muscled him further away as quick as I could. I quickly released him and headed for the second pier. Nothing there.
After the second pier there is a slightly deeper area where I caught my biggest redfish and several snook. I cast around the fallen pier pilings and then suddenly had a strike just past the end of the pilings- I set the hook and the snook went flying- this was a nice one and she was pulling my drag immediately heading toward open water. I started out away from the fallen pier toward the sand bar keeping my pole tip low. It did no good - she jumped again, no more than 15 feet from me. I walked in a circle and pulled her up quickly putting my hand on her side and lifting her up. She was a good seven or eight pounds and not well hooked. I was lucky to land her at all. I jiggled the line -- the hook popped quickly out and she fell out of my hand at the same time! She was gone. I thought she may have been too big to keep so I was happy she swam away- I just wished I could have measured her.
I have been cut several time by a snook's sharp gill plates and know not to hold them there. If you lip them like a bass (they don't have teeth) they still can thrash a bit and you don't want your hook stuck in your finger- so if you do lip them make sure the hook is out of the way.
I headed south quickly now and landed a small 1 1/2 pound jack caught in 3 foot of water in front of a mangrove tree. My bait was torn up so I switched to a green and yellow paddletail which was my best snook bait the day before. I skipped a couple short piers and was moving fast. I briefly fished the long pier and moved the the shallow flat in front of some pine trees near the South end. This area had been fantastic the last week or so. I has a vicious strike set the hook, felt the fish then nothing. I reset the bait on my jig and continued casting. Fish on- she had jumped before I had a chance to get my pole tip down, she pulled drag and then headed for the sand bar. After I waded out a bit I had pulled her on her side near me but she took off one last time. I lipped her and pulled out my homemade rope stringer with a knot tied at 28 inches- she was just a bit over the slot. I slipped the rope through her gill and unhooked her- the first snook I had kept.
I wading on and fished the last pier then headed back. It's about a three hour trip to fish Walton North to South and back North again. If the fishing is good it's even longer- sometime 4 hours so make sure you have sunscreen on and even on your lips! Anything exposed for too long will get burned.
By the time I reached the short piers on the way back there was plenty of water under them now and high tide was not far away. On the second short pier I landed my second slot snook around 28 inches exactly. I moved to the river side of the sandbar and hooked a nice trout but it got off before I could unhook it.
Then I headed shallow to fish the last pier. As I skipped my paddlebait under the pier something grabbed it and started rocking the bait toward the bottom- I thought it was a redfish but instead it was a 3 pound jack. They are strong too.
I was tired and fished my way back but got no more strikes. A good day on the water 5 snook - two slot size and one bigger and two jacks. I lost a trout and several unknown fish- but that's fishing!!
Richard
1. When the water warms up most of the larger snook head out to spawn near where the St. Lucie River and Lagoon meet the Ocean. Some smaller male snook remain and a few larger ones. I hooked a big one several days later that busted me off on a pier. I've been told by those that know to fish deeper grass flats, bridges and deeper piers with lights (at night) -- which are still productive spots. Then near the end of April the larger snook are again found on the flats- the very biggest ones (30 plus) tend to stay near deep water and bridges.
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