Snook

Always Fun in Florida

Daniel Keller - Common Snook

The common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) is part of the Centropomidae family of fish. It’s called a robalo in some places. The IGFA record is 53 lb, 10 oz caught in Costa Rica.

It is a fish that has a wide range as can be seen in the map below.

It’s very common in Florida although seasonally the fishery is up and down. Sometimes it will be red hot. They are found in both the back water and on the shoreline during certain periods. Following the spawning period, juvenile snook will migrate to the backwater (brackish) of nearby estuarine areas. When they get older and start to join the breeding population, they move back to high salinity areas.

In the northern Everglades on the Gulf side as the water warms up, they can be found by walking the shoreline. They are often just a little bit off the beach. You don’t need full fishing gear in terms of boots (etc), I just use a good pair of Simms water shoes. I have found the best times for surf fishing is after the sun is up and the water is warming up just a little.

They are very often caught in the mangroves and it’s a challenge to keep them out of the roots so it’s a bit technical when they are first hooked. It is also a technical cast as sometimes you literally have to skip the fly under the over-hanging mangroves. Don’t worry, your guide will know quite fast if you’ve fished the mangroves for them and he will help you figure it out. He will also show you how to unhook/detangle from the mangrove if it’s possible. You will also find Redfish and Snapper in the same areas. One of the benefits of fishing the mangroves is that a lot of the time, you can get out of the wind, or at least mitigate it, by where you fish and the approach.

They can be a blast walking the beach and surfcasting to them.It is a great kayak or wakeboard fish for. Catching one on a kayak will turn you around and catching one on a wakeboard will test your core.

It’s an aggressive fish in warm water and it doesn’t really require an especially super hard strip set. It is important to strip-set the fish and not use a trout set. Give it some room to run if you get it into open water. Just keep your line tight on the cast and pay attention to each strip. Tight lines!

When you are hooked up, try not to tire the fish out too much. They can be guided once they are out of the mangroves and have done their 1-2 runs by turning their head. It will do much better on release if you bring it to the boat as fast as you can. If you tire it out too much, it might not survive from a long retrieval, and it also becomes a fatigued baitfish for other fish in the area.

It’s a great tasting fish but my advice is to catch and release them even if they are in season. Let the population rebuild. The population is not susceptible to the environmental issues mentioned elsewhere but because they are so sought after, they are overfished in general. If you do plan on eating them, pay careful attention to allowable slot sizes. They change year to year and the game wardens are quite serious about watching out for undersized fish (or too many per fisherman). Also - watch a couple of YouTube videos before you fillet them. Also – be sure to take the skin off as it will leave an unpleasant taste if you don’t. BUT – just put them back in the water and let the population grow.

On the West Coast of Florida, we have seen the population be extremely damaged from 1-2 of the red tides we have seen. They are also highly sensitive to other changes to their environment. Cold snaps can also decimate the population. It takes some time for a snook to grow to a sizeable fish so it is important to respect their environment and catch and release.

One of the fun ways to fish for it is to night fish along docks. Slowly, and quietly move your boat along the docks on the bays. Some of them will have their night lights on which attract baitfish and bring the snook in.  Not an easy catch, especially on a fly rod, as you must drop the line in exactly the right place. You will also have to pull it away and out of the dock structure.

If you get fouled up on a dock or piling, do NOT get on the dock to retrieve your fly. It’s private property and quite a few landowners might strongly object to you being on their dock. It isn’t worth it. I’ve had this happen to me on my dock when someone hooked up and was about to get on my dock. Three drunk friends were out fishing and hit our dock around 1:30 in the morning. Waking up at that time and thinking someone is stealing a prop off your boat or coming to steal anything just leads to unnecessary escalation – especially if the fisherman has had a few. Just quietly cut the line.

I have two snook lights out but the structure of the docks which were made for two boats and sailing rigs, creates quite a few tie bars and cross beams just under the waterline ties. People can sometimes see them and will avoid the cast. If they cast to our dock, it’s extremely difficult as they will most likely get caught up somewhere. Usually, they see the technical issue and just move to the next dock. All the guides I know do this for houses like this. They just move on to the next dock.

The snook light puts on quite a show just watching the snook pile up. I have counted 12-15 of them under the dock just moving around waiting for the right baitfish. It’s very relaxing to watch.

I’ve caught many on a fly line and I never tire of them. Most of the ones I caught were in the backwaters and maybe 7 or so off the shore. I just seem to time things wrong to get out early and walk the beach. Work gets in the way, always something. It’s a new goal of mine this year to walk the beach a lot with an 8 weight and maybe even to try my kayak again.

This isn’t the biggest I’ve caught but it was a special one as it was the first one that I caught at my dock, and it was a decent size fish. Technically, it was a very hard cast because of how we are set up and even more so to not lose it on all the pilings and debris around. I actually had to catch it from my neighbor’s dock over 70 feet away and just managed to skip it between the pilings and ties.

They react well to many different types of Deceivers or shrimp pattern flies. Pick a pattern that approximates the bait in the water. I know from friends that crab flies have worked but I haven’t had the chance to try it yet. I only use my crabs for Permit and for Triggerfish.

It is interesting that US Naval submarines have been named after the snook: The USS Robalo and the USS Snook.

They are a great fish to catch, a prized catch and a hoot. Enjoy when you are down in Florida.