Snook Fishing Tips

Snook fishing is an interesting activity and for those who are fishing enthusiasts, it is a very attractive challenge. This is because snook fish are very stubborn and unpredictable. Moreover they are sleek and strong too. This fish is a native of western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, found from southern Florida and Texas, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The common snook is also called sergeant fish. Snook fishing can be exhilarating as well as frustrating because of the above qualities of the fish.

Tips for Fishing Snook

Where to Look for Snook Fish: Well, this is certainly not a problem. Snook fish is found in all types of water, from salt water to freshwater. Whenever you want to go fishing for snook, check out for shorelines, inlets and estuaries, in the vicinity. In addition to that, they prefer cover, so look out for reefs or mangrove trees and rock formations. Setting up a bait near these areas can improve your chances at catching snook. Another important point is that this fish is most likely to be found in shallow water areas.

Catching a Snook: There are various baits and lures that can be used to catch snook as well as various techniques that can be applied. It is similar to fishing for a large mouth bass. So, one of the methods is to target deeper holes using live pinfish, or you can use artificial ones like buck tail or plastic tail jig, bumped along the bottom of the water. Try this trick. Troll a needle fish or a ballyhoo, rigged to large feather. If you want to target deeper holes, the best time to fish would be during low tide, more specifically the last hour of a falling tide till the first hour of the consecutive incoming tide.

Baits and Lures: After you locate a snook, fish live shrimp with a 10 or 20 pound outfit with a number 40 shock leader measuring 30 inches. Then tie that to a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. To get it to the bottom, increase the bulk of the line by adding split shot or a sinker to it. Some of the live bait fish are mullet, menhaden and pinfish. Shrimp is another very commonly used bait. Now to put a shrimp on a hook, the best way is to hook it just behind the head through the shell. Try and not to hook through the shadow visible through the shell. If you hook it in that spot, the shrimp would not last long.

Another way in which you can catch snook is to thread the shrimp with its tail on the hook, the spot where the fan begins. Now the spot where the hook comes out will be just behind the shrimp's legs on the underside.

For attracting snook fish, you can do one more thing and that is to net as many bait fish as you can and scatter them in the water. For this, what you can do is grab a soft drink bottle and cut the bottom. Fill the bottle with bait fish and fling around a dozen in water. The snook will be spoiled for choice and to ensure that you capture it, cast the bait towards the center of the water which is where you should have scattered the bait fish. As for lures, the best ones are red-tailed hawk jig and mirrolures.

Snook fishing is all about patience and putting the correct bait at the correct time. The best time to catch these stubborn fish is late spring or early summer. Have fun!