Tip of the Day

Tip of the Day

Here in the Snook Club, I see a lot of interest in types of rods, reels, leader, line and lures, which are important topics. However, technique is really what gets the process all started. Without the bite, your rod, your reel your line your leader are all irrelevant. A snook has no idea what rod or reel you are using right before he decides to strike your lure. Of course if he knew there was a rod and reel attached, he wouldn't bite any way.

To become a successful snook fisherman you need to develop a few techniques that work in certain situations and locations.

Some snook fisherman are very adept at fishing spillways. They have developed lure techniques that mimic a baitfish that has been sucked through the spillway and spun around in a giant washing machine.

Other snook fishermen like to use top water lures. There is a definite technique with these walk the dog lures. Even the successful cadence with these lures can vary from day to day.

Then there are the flair hawk throwers. There are various techniques and tricks that work with these widely used lures. Here too, one day's successful technique may be different from yesterday's. A good flare hawk fisherman uses them all and works the entire water column to find out what is going to work.

Then there are the jig fisherman of which I am one of. Why? Because it works.....even when the snook are not feeding. That's right even when they are not feeding. How is that possible? Snook, as with all fish, don't have a well developed brain that uses logic and thinking. What they have is a brain that uses instincts from millions of years combined hereditary experience. One of these instincts is that when something is hopping up and down off the bottom, it is usually edible, most likely a shrimp or crab. So if you properly present your jig in a hopping up and down motion in front of or to the side of a well fed snook, chances are that instinct will kick in and a quick strike will ensue. Well sooner or later. The same attack instinct is probably what causes a snook to strike a flair hawk as well. After all, what does a flair hawk represent? Nobody can even agree on that one. Yet they account for tons of nighttime snook.

Then there are the swimbaits. These represent a real live fish that even in daylight can fool a snook into striking. A snook will track these lures look them over and still bite. But there are various techniques for these lures too.

The best snook fishermen can use all of these lures successfully and more. I am not even getting into live bait here today.

So my advice for the occasional snook fisherman is to pay close attention to any proficient snook anglers you see either on T.V., YouTube, Facebook or out at the spillway or on a bridge. The reason they are getting the bites is mostly due to a slight difference in technique. Watch what they do with their hands. Do they feel the line with their fingers as they reel? You need a baitcaster to do this best. Are they reeling steadily or pausing and if so, for how long? Are they reeling fast or slow? What are they doing with the rod? Are they lifting it up and down or keeping it horizontal? Where are they casting and why? These are they things you really need to pay attention to not what brand of leader they are using.

The first time I ever met David Justice was at a seminar. Afterwards, I asked him about his techniques with the jig. How high was he raising the jig off the bottom was what I wanted to know. So pay attention to these details and ask questions and experiment with them. Once you get a few bites and gain confidence that the lure will work, you will realize that you can do it. Then you need to perfect that lure and technique. This takes lots of time and practice.

Once you perfect several different lures and their various techniques, you will be well on your way to becoming an awesome snook fisherman.