Outdoors

Captain's Corner

By Doug Hemmer
Published June 4, 2007

Great Trip: Last Tuesday was spent trying to find my client's wife a snook that would top her best, a 3-pounder.

We loaded the livewell with large threadfins and started working toward the beach. The first few stops produced a few strikes but no hookups.

We then moved to a pass and idled along the drop-off until we saw a school of snook in 2 feet of water. Her first cast got slammed as soon as the bait hit the water.

I started screaming, "Don't set the hook, just reel." She turned the handle as fast as she could until the rod bent double. A nice 12-pound snook broke the surface with a short tail walk and burned a hundred feet of line off the reel. She slowly worked the snook back to the boat for a few pictures and a quick release.

The rest of the trip we tried to outsmart the egret, terns and seagulls that showed up to feed on our baits. The egret would stand on the shoreline as the terns and gulls hovered. Every time a bait was cast to the snook the birds would attack and spook the school.

We then came up with a plan. Get a bait ready to cast, then toss a few baits in the other direction. When the birds went after the tossed bait, we would cast to the school.

Sometimes it's hard to fool Mother Nature, but this time it worked out to the tune of 15 snook in the 10- to 15-pound class.

Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 347-1389.

[Last modified June 4, 2007, 07:11:07]