Snook fishing Tampa

February 28, 2012

I caught my first snook in 1974 in Tampa bay with a dear friend, Dewayne Pillard that is no longer with us, bless his soul.

I will never forget that moment. We were fishing at the old phosphate dock off port Tampa with live needle fish, and that 11 pounder picked up the bait, off the bottom and away she went. Ten minutes later I had my first snook, and nobody could have ruined my day after that! It was a magical moment indeed.

Unfortunately, neither Dewayne or I had the sense between us to know you have to fillet, and SKIN these fish; otherwise the cooked fish filet will taste just like a bar of ivory soap. Those filets turned out to be the best ivory soap I had ever had! No kidding.

How times have changed in almost 40 years of snook catching. These days we use the liveliest of scaled sardines, pinfish, threadfins, shrimp, pigfish, cut ladyfish, or menhaden caught daily, with huge cast nets, the best of round live wells, with fresh water pumping in, and spots fished that our mothers don’t even know about. All, just to stay one notch ahead of the competition.

One thing that I constantly remind myself is one always must keep learning the nuances of snook to truly master the art of catching snook. Now, I may not be the baddest snook fisherman on the block, but after 40 years of hard snook fishing, I do know I certainly am not the worstJ

Three years ago we had a real bad freeze in Tampa bay that in my humble opinion killed 75% of the snook population due to the cold water. Indeed, even this State has shut down snook harvesting on the west coast of Florida still. Point being, snook are all catch and release game fish until further notice. Which, by the way would suit me fine if they completely closed this most excellent fishery for harvest 5 more years, as it takes 3-5 years for a snook to reach breeding size.

Snook are simply too much fun catching and releasing in my view. Perpetuate the species and everyone will be able to enjoy catching a giant fish that can obtain speeds to 40 knots in 2 seconds, and that’s what would happen as fish would have the chance to grow to 25lbs. Which once was common is seldom seen anymore.

Tight lines

Captain Mark

Funflatsfishing.com