 SNOOK FISHING WILL GET BETTER Orlando Sentinel -- Sunday, May 13, 2001 By: Don Wilson, Sentinel Columnist With just 19 days left before the snook season closes for three months, your chances of catching a keeper or two should improve as the June 1 closure nears. Relatively cool water temperatures have dulled the tropical species' appetite during much of the fishing season that began Feb.1. But as the water warms, the fishing should get better. Fort Pierce probably offers the best prospects, especially in the turning basin. Fishing is best at night, using live bait Ð pinfish or pigfish. You'll need a good LCD fish-finder, because the key is locating an underwater ledge just north of the south bridge at Fort Pierce. "There's a long ledge that parallels the west catwalk, where there is a drop-off from 10 to 25 feet and the fish hang right along the ledge," said Terry Parsons at Wabasso Tackle. "It's best on an outgoing tide, when the bait is swept over the ledge." The ledge also is within casting distance of the catwalk, so it's a popular target with bridge anglers. Parsons said the snook fishing is better there than at Sebastian Inlet, probably because the water is warmer. "They're not killing them at Sebastian, because the water has been slow to warm up and the fish haven't crammed in at the inlet yet," he said. With the ocean temperature averaging 73 degrees, Parsons said, the best time to fish at Sebastian is on an outgoing tide, when the warmer water from the Indian River Lagoon floods the inlet. "Right now, I think the best fishing is west of the bridge, on the north side in an area they call 'The Swamp,' or on the south side by the [fish] cleaning table," he said. You have a better chance of catching big snook at Port Canaveral if you use large live pinfish and fish around the entrance to the Trident sub basin. The best fishing has been in the last hour before dark on an incoming tide. Later, at high tide, fish the lighted cruise terminal docks at the west end of the port. The key here is getting the fish out from under the dock quickly, before it wraps your line around a piling and escapes. Or you can try trolling the ledge on the north side of the port from just west of the Trident sub basin to the tip of the north jetty on an outgoing tide. Forget fishing the Daytona Beach area, because locals say the winter freeze killed many snook there and drove the rest of the fish south. If you think of snook as an occasional bonus while fishing for other species, you might try the west coast from Homosassa south. Anglers there are catching an occasional snook while they're fishing for seatrout and redfish. "A friend of mine caught two snook south of Mason Creek while he was fishing for redfish with a spoon. One was a keeper and one was too big to keep," said Tom Turvaville at MacRae's of Homosassa. Such catches are sporadic, though. "Right now, I wouldn't advise anyone to come to Homosassa strictly for snook," MacRae's owner Gator MacRae said. "In the past 18 months, I've heard of more and more people catching them, but it's not a regular thing." Local guide John Rogers said the best place to catch a snook is in the Weeki Wachee River, 15 miles south of Homosassa. The snook season will be closed from June 1 through Aug. 31 to allow the fish to spawn. Until then, you can keep two fish per day that are between 26 and 34 inches long. Copyright (c) 2001, Sentinel Communications Co. |