Snook has been the talk of the town, and lately there hasn’t been any shortage of them! Regardless of your skill level, age, or fishing preference, there is always a productive way to target these fish for every angler. Fishing inshore, you simply cannot beat a small live finger mullet or live shrimp under a small float fished up next to the mangroves, creek mouths, or fished along the edge of docks. This technique works for just about everyone and at all times of the day and even night!

For the guys really wanting to stick it out on artificial, small baitfish imitation plugs such as the Rapala Skitterwalk and Mirrolure Mirrodines work fantastic! Fly fisherman also can get in on the action fishing small baitfish pattern flys. I prefer chartreuse, or the good ole stand by black and purple!

Another great way to target snook is by fishing the inlets. If fishing from shore a 1 to 2oz buck tail jig bounced off the bottom is one very effective technique, also drifting large live baits along structures such as bridge pilings and jetties can usually produce good numbers too! If for some reason live bait isn’t available, hardbaits can do the trick! A few favorites are Rapala shad raps, x raps, and spooltek swimbaits — these are very simple to use. You can either slow troll them behind your boat, or cast them up along structures and slowly retrieve them back toward you — both techniques are very effective!

I went out solo from dark until dawn yesterday to 80′ of water, East of Sebastian Inlet. There wasn’t much current and I marked quite a few fish. Lane snappers and vermilion were on the Native Salt Clam Bait and the mangroves were caught on a grunt head and also on a live squid. The lobster was just plain unlucky. I spent half the night napping and also catching squid, so I would say the fish are definitely biting. Get clammy, Get fishy!

It’s time to get a little snookie, and I ain’t talking about the Jersey Shore! Snook season is upon us and I couldn’t be more excited. With several recent years of warm winters under our belt, the stocks of snook in our area have skyrocketed. Typically, we are considered the north end of the snook range, but these warm spells have put us in a different category.

Sure everyone enjoys a snooklet from any stretch of the lagoon, but we are talking about the big dogs that will make your heart race and put your tackle to the test. For that action, the beaches, Port Canaveral and areas around Sebastian Inlet are the mecca for kayak anglers to test their skills on a big linesider.

As the summer spawn draws to a close these fish go on a hard feed. The fall mullet run presents the perfect opportunity to pack on pounds for the upcoming winter time of lean living. The activity of their spawn in the inlets and beaches leaves our snook in prime position to take advantage of mullet on the move. Look for the best kayak action to take place off the beaches and in Port Canaveral, or on the lagoon side of Sebastian. The inlet proper is no place for any kayak and one must be very alert in Port Canaveral due to the continuous vessel activity. The best action will come from large baits like mullet, croakers, pinfish and pogies fished on heavy gear around structure.

For the beach fish, we like to toss live baits as close to the beach as we can and this scenario is great for lures too. Lipped plugs, large plastics and even topwater lures can get you some violent hits. One of the best opportunities for a quick kayak session is those same lures at night along the shadow lines of Port Canaveral. The low seating of a kayak helps you send those offerings well under the wharfs that line Port Canaveral. The light in top of said wharfs create ambush points that can produce some amazing fishing and this will only get better as the mullet run kicks into full gear.

Grab that kayak, dust off that “heavy” gear and get to snookin!

The kingfish bite has been good this past week. From 8A Reef north seems to be the largest concentrations of fish. Bait has been hit or miss. If you can find them it’s usually one throw of the cast net and you are good to go. I have found bait north of Port Canaveral all the way south to the Pines.

The bottom bite slowed down this week with another cold water up-welling. Don’t think it will last long though. I am excited to report that we have been catching some solid cobia pretty consistently while targeting kingfish, so they are here. The real topic of discussion is the snook bite — it’s been on fire! Our nearshore shark trips have turned into snook trips, that’s how insane it has been!

The Fineline Fishing Charters crew has been doing very well out of Port Canaveral lately. The snapper bite, both reds and mangrove has been good with red snapper ranging anywhere from 8 to 12 pounds in size. We have been using cut threadfins primarily for these fish anywhere from 50 to 80 feet of water over the offshore wrecks.

When you can find live bait the kingfish and shark bite has been on fire as well in the 30 to 40 foot depths. Make sure you rig your bait with wire leader so you don’t get cut off. If want to get out there and catch some fish, give us a call or go to our website and book a charter!

Alex with a nice Snook!

We had a pretty good week despite the bait disappearing from the beach. The cold water offshore has pushed in the clean water and the inlet is crystal clear on incoming tide. The crystal clear water makes for a tough bite but with the outgoing tide dirtying up the water, the bite has been okay if you can find the pigfish, pinfish and croakers.

Redfish, jacks and snook have been targets but we have been chasing glass minnow schools and getting plenty of Spanish Mackerel, Bonito sharks and jumped a few tarpon.

Daniel with a nice redfish!

Janelle and Capt Noah with the first fish on the new Shoalwater 23 Cat!

Greg and Wade from Arizona with a pair of Snook!

Dan and his son, Cooper, has a pretty good day fishing in the lagoon around the Mathers Bridge area. Dan reported, “In the morning, the mullet were running hard and we were seeing huge tarpon everywhere! Our tally for the day included two big trout along with lots of small ones. Two huge ladyfish, and we also hooked up on two tarpon but didn’t land them. Coop left his bail open and didn’t realize he had a tarpon on until he saw the line tearing out. Closed the bail but it came off 50 yards away and gone! That’s fishing!”

In the Mosquito Lagoon, the trout bite has been good. The go to bait has been live pigfish. You can find redfish cruising the shorelines with the full moon flood tide. Tarpon have been very prevalent from the inlet down to the lagoon. Nearshore, shrimp boats and mullet pods have been holding tarpon as well as kingfish and sharks.

I have great expectations for these Tsunami hard baits. The K9 Walker caught a bunch of schoolie trout on my first trip back on the water!

I’m happy to say the doctor released me for work duties this past Wednesday. My knee injury has healed and I wasted no time in getting back on the water. I invited a couple of friends to join me on the Mosquito Lagoon for a bit of scouting and testing.

The scouting was quick as we located a massive school of fingerling mullet a few minutes from the ramp. I started with a Tsunami K9 Walker; a “walk the dog” surface plug. It’s seductive back and forth wiggle enticed quite a few spotted seatrout. As I’m currently out of inline hooks, I’ve pinched the barbs down on the factory installed trebles. While nothing of size came to the boat, the action was steady, though not fast.

Ray decided to throw a BTB Swimmerz jig by Z-Man and the trout eating this lure were a bit larger than what John and I were attracting on top-water plugs. John was experimenting with a newly designed plug the trout “kind of” liked. They slapped at it frequently, but seldom got hooked!

As the sun made its way upward and the light and heat intensified we left the trout and moved to a favorite shoreline. Redfish were crawling up shallow and tailing whenever they found something interesting. I enjoyed some quality bow time with these freaked-out reds. John kept me in range and helped direct my attention to the fish I couldn’t easily make out on my own. My Z-Man TRD Crawz and four inch Jerk Shadz were both repeatedly ignored. Still, I had a ball making the attempt even though the fish often freaked before the lure made its entry…

I’m pleased so far with the Tsunami Shield reel I used for the first time on this trip. It easily casted the K9 Walker a great distance and still allowed good casting distance while tossing tiny soft plastics to weary reds in the shallows. I’ll report more on this water resistant reel as it gets more use.

Getting into some pomps on the beach with the Sebastian Fishing Club.

We have residential Pompano here on the Space Coast year round, you just gotta know where there holding! Most beaches holding structures will hold a few Pompano (Rock or broken limestone bottom) WINK WINK*

If you’re not finding the fish in the surf, head to the lagoon. The river is absolutely going off right now as far as Pompano go! Use a jig and catch them from Hog Point all the way to the power lines in Palm Bay to the 192 bridge and Eau Gallie causeway! Both sides of the lagoon and some of the spoil islands are holding, as well!

I’ll be holding a Pompano Surf Fishing Seminar at Strike Zone Fishing Melbourne FL on September 27th from 6-8pm. Make sure to mark your calendar and I will look forward to seeing everyone there! There will be a Pompano Riggs tying workshop as well as raffles, giveaways, and all the information you need to get out to the beach and start catching these swimming “Rib-Eye’s.” I also have the guys from Fishbites coming down to help out as well! So don’t miss out!

If you’re interested in booking a charter with me you can head to Tradewinds Surf Fishing Charters and schedule a trip with me!

All my Pompano Riggs by Couture are sold throughout the Brevard County area. Check with your local tackle shop or reach me on Facebook.