Hello fellow snookaholics....

This snook season has started with bang...  I have been making my way across the Pinellas beaches and bridges on the hunt for the "land liners"....

Thursday night we came across quite a few slot sized fish, just south of the Tom Stuart Causeway.  Around 1am when the tide started to slowly draw slack I had a MASSIVE strike on a gold spoon (lure of choice). Hooked on that spoon was a 43 & 1/8th inch beauty, hand scale weighed it in at 11.55 lbs.

Too bad i only had my cell phone to take the picture of this gorgeous fish.

 (From now on I'm bringing the Canon with me on EVERY trip)

Last evening, Friday the 13th, my Uncle came into town. He drives an 18 wheeler across the U.S. and regularly stops in on his down time to get in some Florida fishing.

I found out he had never caught/landed a snook. This compelled me to take him snook fishing and to discover what the fever is all about. 

Around 11pm we started the hunt.  I found myself again just south of the Tom Stuart Causeway, fishing some structure that extends on a grass flat. 

At first we were just landing some lady fish and speckled trout on the trusted gold spoon.  My uncle got bored and decided to throw on a gold & orange rattletrap for laughs.  We approached a piling in the water and he proceeded to throw and retrieve from each side.  Suddenly his line went taunt and from instinct he set the hook.  But then nothing.  He tried to retrieve the line but after a few tries he assumed he was snagged.  He yanked and wiggled the line for a few minutes. He tried the usual tricks, flipping the bail with tension on the line, trying to free the lures treble hooks.  That's when it happened the drag started to sing.

"SNOOK ON!!!",  I yelled to him.

He was ecstatic, this was his first run in with a snook.

The fight began, letting it take drag, keeping the rod tip high, bowing to all the snook's ballet leaps.  After 20-25 min. he finally landed his first snook.

As you can imagine there was some gloating and colorful comments.  But, as anyone who has ever had the fever can tell you, this is all part of the rush of landing a snook.  After the celebration we finally got a picture my Uncle and his first snook

 Randy and his first Snook - 36inch and 8.45pounds

I think its safe to say my Uncle has the fever and I may have created a monster. My cell phone has buzzed with text messages all morning, "are we going fishing tonight?".

The Land-Liner Fever is definitely being spread.

We still got a lot of good snook fishing ahead of us.  I shall continue to search those doc lights, piles of rocks along shore-lines and bridge pilings for some nice slot sized fish. They are finally leaving their winter haunts for some aggressive feeding.

"SNOOK ON"

Thanks for swinging by and reading my thread.

Gear up, Go Out, and Have Fun!

Snookaholic - Rob B.