surf snook fishing

We are getting into the summer months and it is time for BIG Snook on the beach. There are a few different ways to target them. You can fish artificial at first and list light. Some lures that work well are a Skitterwalk if you are looking for some top-water action and a variety of swim baits will work well too (Tsunami Swim Shad, Hogy Paddletail, Spooltek, just to name a few). The real deal this time of year is live bait on the beaches. Croakers are always a hot bait in the summer time. You can catch them in the surf on a pompano rig using shrimp, clams, fishbites, small sandfleas — basically anything. If you are getting taps, but not catching them, just drop your hook size down.

Once you have the bait, you can fish them a variety of ways. As for what works best, that just depends on the day. My favorite way to fish them is on a few feet of 30lb fluorocarbon tied to a 4/0 or 5/0 circle hook freeline-rig. You can also experiment with different pinch weights and pyramid sinkers depending on the size of the surf. If Snook fishing isn’t for you, you can try for some straggler Pompano and there are still some Whitting around, too.