Snook

The Snook, or “Snuke,” as native Floridians call it, can lay a strong claim to being the perfect shallow-water game-fish. It’s aggressive, powerful, fast, eager to take a fly or lure … some of the time. Other times, it’s shy and secretive, as finicky in mood as a brown trout.
Ned Small with a hefty Everglades snook.
Sometimes, snook hit a fly so quickly, you’d swear they were tracking it in the air like a center-fielder following the path of a fly ball. Other times, they’ll spook as soon as you move the rod and before the fly hits the water. Still other times, they’ll follow a lure, seemingly forever, as it they were examining it for flaws, then, at the last moment, swim nonchalantly away, not even deigning to offer an outright rejection. The very next moment, a snook might attack a fly so enthusiastically it almost rips the rod out of your hands.
In other words, snook are unpredictable, a challenge to entice. They can be even more of a challenge to land once you’ve hooked them. Their razor-sharp gill covers can sever a line (or a finger). If given enough time, their raspy mouth will abrade and wear through almost any line or leader. For that reason, anglers go armed with a 30- or 40-pound shock tippet on line or leader.

Hooked, snook are strong fighters, who make gill-rattling jumps and thrash around on the surface. Occasionally they’ll take off on long runs, but they’re more likely to duke it out close to the boat. A favorite tactic is to dash for the mangroves, where they can cut off a line on the oyster-encrusted mangrove roots. As many an angler has discovered to his sorrow, a hooked snook is not a caught snook until it’s safely in hand.
One of the toughest challenges in snook fishing is to get one to go for a fly in winter.

Snook are lurkers who hide out in the shadows or in mangrove roots, waiting for bait fish to appear. When they’re feeding, they’re extremely aggressive — a tell-tale sign of their presence is a loud pop, almost like a gunshot, that they make when they dart out of a hiding place and crash bait on the surface.

A 26-inch snook is a handful on a fly rod or light tackle, but they get much larger than that. The world fly record on 20-pound class tippet was a 30-pound, 4-ounce fish that now hangs on the wall of a fly shop in Naples. It was caught in the Ten Thousand Islands in 1993. The other fly shop in Naples has on its wall a more recent, even bigger fish, also caught in the Ten Thousand Islands, that was never submitted for a record.

Fly anglers pursue snook with 7-, 8-, or 9-weight fast-action rods. A reel with a smooth drag and a capacity of about 150 yards of backing is also essential. Light tackle anglers need rods and reels rated for 8-12-pound test capable of casting 1/4- to 1/2-ounce lures.