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 Ambushing The Elusive Snook
By: Donald R Houston, PhD.
Posted: Sep 22, 2008
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Tangy, salty breeze in my face was all it took to make my fingers itch to grasp a fishing rod! The evening was cooler than the hot, muggy day but not much so the breeze was a welcome effect. I finished packing my kayak with a small tackle bag, my 2 ultra-light rods and reels, extra batteries for my headlight and my flashlight, small soft-side cooler with my snack, a bottle of Guinness Stout and a quart of Gatorade, some frozen squid and my live shrimp. Shoved off from the sandy beach and began to methodically stroke my way to the mangroves that lined the islets and over-grown oyster bars several hundred yards away.
Once there I dropped my small 8 lb. mushroom anchor into the black water, baited up with some frozen squid and cast out under the overhanging mangroves. I let the bait settle but gave it a twitch or two and began to slowly reel it in a few feet at a time with a twitch here and there to emulate a squid. There was a swirl just behind where I knew my bait was and then a heavy tug on the bait. I counted in my head to 7 then gave my line a good jerk. The fight was on! The water boiled! It was shallow there about 2 feet deep or less. On the ultra-light tackle with 6 lb. test line it was a real battle to keep the fish on, the line from breaking and still control the fight. In a matter of about 8-10 minutes I managed to get the fish alongside my kayak, slip the net under him and bring it up out of the water! It was a large redfish about an 8-pounder. This being a month in which redfish were protected, I released it, re-baited the line and cast again under the mangroves. The tide was running out of the channel into the open bay so I allowed the bait to work its way along with the tidal flow to the end of the islet. As I was reeling it back in to re-cast I felt a hard tug on the line and my rod bent almost double! I began to play with this fish. It was either a stronger fish or it was bigger than the redfish had been. I fought and played with this fish for about 15 minutes then got it alongside the kayak. I could see that it was a snook about 28-30 inches long. The torpedo shape, the black line along the flanks and the yellowish cast to the fins all told me that this was what I was here to catch tonight! I slipped the fish into a large plastic garbage bag, rolled it under the elastic bungees on the foredeck and re-baited the line but this time with a live shrimp and no weight.
I cast out and then let the shrimp drift down the islet with the tidal flow and over across the submerged grass flat just to my right. I was hoping that another snook would investigate the solo shrimp. Nothing happened so I reeled it in and did it all over again. This went on for about 20 minutes when I finally felt a heavy snatch at the bait! Was it another snook? I worked the line and eventually brought up a nice sized speckled trout also known as a weakfish or sea trout. It was undersized so it went back in to the bay after I released it.
I re-baited with a ' #02 Zip'N'Ziggy' a new Cultiva® Lure. This small but effective lure was something I had promised myself to try out on a snook. Supposedly these lures were top water bass baits. Once it was attached with a nice set of rattler beads ahead of it on the leader I cast it up under the mangroves and began to work the bait. After 7 casts I was beginning to wonder about this bait. On cast number 8 I had just twitched the bait and was beginning to reel it in when the hit almost jerked the rod out of my hand!
I began to fight this fish but it was stripping line off of my reel faster than I could gain some back! The fish doubled back toward me and as it cut around the end of a small oyster bar I saw that it was monster snook! This snook had to be 3 ½ feet long if it was an inch! The snook cut around the end of the oyster bar, my line snagged for an instant then parted as the snook pulled it against the razor-sharp oyster shells. I had my answer! The freshwater bass bait was also effective on snook and like many fresh water bass baits it would also be effective on redfish.
I paused to drink a bottle of Guinness Stout, eat my snack, a pressed Cuban sandwich and reflect on the ways of these fish I so enjoy hunting and catching. I heard a shout, Looked around and saw a friend approaching in his kayak. He too was hunting the elusive snook this fine night. His baits were all natural, some frozen threadfin minnows, some small pinfish some live shrimp and some live fiddler crabs. His luck was about the same as mine. He said that he had been around the bend over by the channel marker when he heard me. We talked for a while finished our food and drinks and he drifted away from me about 75 feet we began again this quest for snook. Does it get any better? Yeah it does but only in our dreams!
Copyright © 2006 - 2008 Donald R Houston, PhD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the author's consent.
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