Here are a couple pics from this past Saturday:

Sebile Stick Shad - White Lady Color - lure debarbed - Fish released.

DOA CAL Swimmer Tailed Jig - Nite Glow/Gold Rush - 1/4 oz chartreuse CAL jighead - Fish released.

DOA CAL Swimmer Tailed Jig - Nite Glow/Gold Rush - 1/4 oz chartreuse CAL jighead- Fish released.

I love to sight fish for snook along our SW Florida beaches. They will readily take artificial lures and flies when prowling the surf. You will need a good quality pair of polarized sunglasses in order to see into the surf and make your casts to swimming fish. A surf temperature of approx 75 degrees and above is what is needed for the snook to be active and feeding comfortably. DOA shrimp, bucktailed jigs, soft plastics, spoons, and hardbaits will all works at times. When using hardbaits with treble hooks, either debarb or change to single hooks for an easier catch and release and less stress on the fish. Try not to keep the fish out of the water too long and revive them quickly. Also for your lure selection - imitate the bait and fish it according to surf conditions. The bait along our beaches is usually small but larger sized lures will work depending on what the snook are feeding on (like whiting instead of glass minnows). Put your cast well in front of a swimming snook and then pull it away from the fish as it swims up to it and many times, you'll get a reaction strike as the fish will hit the lure as the lure tries to "escape" from being eaten. Also, do not wade into the water but stand ankle deep in the surf and cast perpendicular to the fish swimming in the trough and pull the lure away from the snook at an angle. If your wading in the surf, the snook will be behind you. If they are cruising the beach, they are usually in the eating mode either pre or post spawn. If they are hungry, they'll eat, if not they will avoid your lures like the plague. That's just the nature of beach snook fishing. The new DOA shrimp in Nite Glow / Gold Flash and in their CAL series of soft plastics looks like it is going to be an excellent color to use for beach snook this year since it combines my favorite two colors: Nite Glow and a Gold Glitter - which will work in clear or turbid conditions. Just remember to use proper catch and release tactics and don't beach them in the dry sand. I also like the DOA CAL grub tail in a nite glow or gold glitter color as I like the action of the tail and think it imitates a small white bait or sand flea and the flash from the tail as it is hopped along the bottom will draw a viscious strike many times.

My favorite colors are: Nite-Glo, Gold Glitter, White and White Chartreuse combinations, Silver Glitter, Avocado Green and Red Glitter, Rootbeer Gold Glitter, Silver holgraphic (flash) and Chrome - depending on surf conditions - Water turbidity and what lures I'm fishing with.

Hopefully, you'll get a chance to see a snook like this attack your lure and burn line off your drag as you fight it along the beach :

This experience will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and will keep your coming back for more beach snook battles. It has for me for over 20 years now! I've caught and released many, many, snook over 10 lbs and 20 lb fish can be a possibility although the majority you catch are in the 20 - 25 inch range - (smaller more aggressive males).

In 2000, I won a catch and release snook tournament with a 36" fish while fishing off a beach to win my first kayak! That fish was caught and released on a DOA Baitbuster - Deep Runner which is an excellent lure to use when fishing beaches located along passes! Fish it early am or at night and put some glass worm rattles in it by making a hole in the bottom / belly of the bait with a nail and inserting the rattles inside the hole made in the plastic. I've also done well with it during the day in a choppy surf.

Good Beach Snooking,

IGFA 25LB Snook Club Member



Ken "Beachsnooker" Taylor

I also really like Honeymoon Island......BIG Snook in this area during the summer!

Tight Lines,

KT

Ken "Beachsnooker" Taylor

I was close

LAPPYS RULE!