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Battles with Snook

3K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
Don't get me wrong about this, guys and gals.

I had my first experience with Snook last year off Englewood Beach and environs in mid-central, west Florida.

I caught fish to about 8 lbs. on flies using an 8 wt. rod. I've caught less than a dozen. While I enjoyed the experience, and the absolute beauty of the species, I thought the fish a little on the wimpy side, judging from their reputation. Beyond the first strong bolt for the mangroves, the fish showed little resistance to being reeled in and released.

I fished in April, cold temperatures, and an unprecendented lack of bait (red tide had plagued the area about a month before).

I intend to fish for these assassins whenever and wherever I can:

However:

What are your comments on the game abilites of snook? To me, they seem like extremely beautiful large-mouth bass.

I hope to be disabused of this illusion,

Cheers,

Steelheader in Oregon
 
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#2 ·
Hi there,
In my opinion snook and barracuda are family of the pike. In the Netherlands where I live I catch a lot of pike on the fly, back home (aruba) there´s cuda´s and snooks which I caught on several techniques.
All three fish of this family give me a huge thrill, the aggressive style of attacking bait or flies is fabulous. Adrenaline rushes whenever all of a sudden it´s that big assault on your bait. But after the strike most of these fish tend to drill a lot easier then other fish, for example jacks or bones in the sea, or trout or carp in freshwater. I think it´s the way they feed, the way they are build.
They are opportunistic hunters/feeders, top of the top predators. They stand still and wait for their chance. Then it´s a huge very very fast anaerobic strike, but afterwards it´s also back to the slow mode to recharge the muscles. They have a lot of white muscles which are of quick strong action, but they don´t have the real endurance type (red muscles). I think that´s why the drills most of the times are short. After dealing with that first explosion of energy the fish gets tired quickly, so basically the drills won´t be with long runs.

Well, that´s my opinion, wonder what the rest thinks about it...
 
#6 ·
Snook

Having caught many I would say they are a largemouth bass on steroids. Hook a big fish around mangroves and you will be luck if you can turn him. In open water or current a big fish will have a strong initial run but not a such long run then it will start to tire. After I turned one of my tornament bass fishing buddies on to snook fishing he said it improved his bass fishing because a big bass did not seem to be that big of a deal fight-wise anymore. BTW, he just lives off of West Lake Toho in Kissimmee, FL, home of the legendary BASS record stringer.

Stan
 
#8 ·
Snook

I don't know what you are comparing catching a Snook to, but I grew up in Oregon and have fly fished for Steelhead from the Grande Ronde to the Umpqua and also in Idaho, Washington and British Columbia. I've fly fished for Bonefish and Permit in the Bahamas, Belize and the Keys. In 1993 I moved to the west coast of Florida to expressly fly fish for Snook (the Redfish and the Giant Tarpon here were just an added enticement). And I've never been disappointed. Catching a Snook while sight casting on a shallow flat, or at night or in the backcountry mangroves can be a rod breaking experience! I guess I just find the whole sight fishing experience so much more exciting than three quarters down and swing.

Now, I was in the Keys March and April of last year and at Homosassa in May and June so I only night fished for Snook in upper Tampa Bay during the red tide so maybe that was the problem. I heard that the red tide really hurt the fish and made them sort of like hooking a spawned out Sandy River hatchery Steelhead in February.

Mel
 
#9 ·
Thanks, Mel. This is really what I was wondering. I thought maybe the fish were "off" due to conditions. As to what I expected, I guess I was looking for more speed and stamina than the fish were able to deliver under the conditions prevaling at the time. I'm looking forward to fishing for them again this summer.

Arubaman: great analysis. I think you make a great deal of sense in regards to the stamina of ambushing fish compared to fish that must chase down their prey.

Cheers,

Eric
 
#10 ·
Capt. Mel Simpson said:
Now, I was in the Keys March and April of last year and at Homosassa in May and June so I only night fished for Snook in upper Tampa Bay during the red tide so maybe that was the problem. I heard that the red tide really hurt the fish and made them sort of like hooking a spawned out Sandy River hatchery Steelhead in February.

Mel
The snook is an awesome fish. However it would seem by this account that you've not hooked many memorable steelhead. The snook I've caught, although I haven't set any records, have been about half the fight of a striper and about a third of a bluefish at best. And that's just a fraction of a Thompson River steelhead or a Neah Bay chinook salmon, and with the acrobatics of a big slab-sided Sekiu hooknose leaving you dizzy enough to fall overboard I can't say that I see the comparison. I've hooked bonefish that have destroyed my drag and made me go out and buy all new gear, unfortunately I haven't landed one of these scary beasts, maybe this year. At least if these had been snook I could have landed them to tell about it. But then they wouldn't have been monster bones, just snook. :lildevl:

[TIC]
 
#11 ·
More and more I find myself expressing my opinions based on my experiences, like 36 years of steelheading with a fly (sometimes doing that while living out of the back of my car), on the Umpqua, the Deschutes or the Clearwater from August through October fishing everyday for the 3 months.

Then there's 25 years of saltwater, like doing two 15 day trips a year to Andros or Belize for 9 years. Oh, I almost forgot, how about catching stripers from a pram behind the old PanAm hanger at SFO.

And then the last 13 years I've been fishing out of my flats boat a couple hundred days a year, mostly for snook, redfish, tarpon and bonefish with one trip a year to the Northwest to steelhead fish.

Memorable fish? Ah, there've been a few and I'm still glad I came to Florida to chase snook!

Mel
 
#13 ·
Hopefully I'll run into some of the more hostile ones on my trip to Longboat Key March 11-19; purchased the full season saltwater license (instead of the 7 day one) so I could fish the extra day (or two) and put a little into the conservation kitty. Planning on working the mangrove flats on the Sarasota Bay side (there's a great public park with wading access to the flats- Jimmy Durante's widow donated the funds for the park) during the day, and the inlet at the northern tip of the island at night (the bridge lights should attract the snook). Wish me luck!
Flydoc
 
#14 ·
You just caught the wrong snook................

Eric -

You just did not have the right Snook on, I bet this one would take some drag off that eight weight (I do not know the angler just that it was from Panama).

As mentioned earlier - Fishing for snook is about the take and the 20 seconds after the take. I have seen more than one 9 weight snapped at the base while trying to stop a pig from trying to make it back under the dock.

Even though they do not have the stamina of a bone (or the speed for that matter) - this fish still offers one of the best takes and pulling power of any shallow water fish in Florida!

Mike
 

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#15 ·
I have to say Juro, I am amazed at the speed of your response to my post. I am amazed because I still have unconfirmed email receipts to you dating 11/26 and 12/7 regarding sponsorhip/advertising for my guide business. I had initially posted a fishing report and was immediately reprimanded for not being a sponsor. Not a problem. The only thing is have been waiting for close to three months to get a response to my email regarding my potential sponsorship. If you'd like I can cut and paste all of the emails to refresh your memory. Thanks- Pete.
 
#16 ·
Well this gives me an opportunity to clarify something I've need to for some time...

I work with my face planted in a computer (often more than one) and when I am waiting for a compilation or a big query to finish I will pop up a screen and post something. Some people take cigarette breaks, I don't smoke nor even have to go to the fire escape for my break. But that does not mean I have time to spare, not even weekends often enough in fact I am going to have to get back to work here in a minute - I had two major account deadlines within three days and today's ran over into tomorrow.

But this quickfire posting presence frequently creates the perception that a computer is something I make time to play with, like many readers do I'm sure. I sit in front of these things an average of 75 hours a week with the job I have especially during the winter. I might have the cycles to post something but frankly that's about it most times.

Anyway, I've been through outlook email hell and have switched to thunderbird (mozilla) and am doing much better now. If I recall we spoke briefly about terms but if I recall we never reached an agreement. If you'd still like to participate as a professional presence in the community the terms are pretty straight forward.

Lets talk by private message. I hope that will work better. So I ask - let's not hijack this thread in this manner any further.

In the meantime... if someone could pick up the sponsorship manager role for 2006 I would be willing to negotiate a good reward program. How about a guided trip... :lildevl:
 
#17 ·
Well it's 2:29 and I am at a point where loss of sleep will be detrimental to tomorrow... er today's workload.

I have seen no emails or PMs except lots of spam and an exchange with my karate sensei on how best to help our hotshot teen student compete overseas not too long ago this AM. He's a night owl too.

I've thought about this a little bit and decided that the spirit of a sponsorship is not a commercial deal where we are obliged by money, but it should be a bond of cooperation.

I thought about it more and realized that the Forum among other things, is a big part of my recreation. I do it because I enjoy it, there is a lot of good spirit going on here and that's remarkable. It's a sanctuary from the storm, and freindly port just a click away, a favorite pub full of regulars and new faces alike. I dont want it to become work. I already got that and with kids in college I will have that for a while to come.

I apologize that I dropped the ball on your inquiry. If we go forward I would appreciate a more cooperative approach than questioning the fact that I replied to threads as a reason to call me on sponsorship troubles.

Maybe it's time to change the grass-roots style of the place to something a little more sustainable after all these years, like compensated positions for people who take real roles in the site operations.

A thought for another day, good night.
 
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