Outdoors

Captain's Corner

Great trip: When targeting snook, I normally fish the strongest tides. I target the outgoing tide after the full and new moons. James Slayton, his wife, Tamara, and his 10-year-old son, James Jr., wanted to fish on a day that had the slowest tide of the month, and the tide was incoming when we should have been fishing outgoing. But they wanted their son to catch a snook. I said there was no way the snook would feed under these conditions. How wrong I was.

By DOUG HEMMER
Published June 25, 2007

Great trip: When targeting snook, I normally fish the strongest tides. I target the outgoing tide after the full and new moons. James Slayton, his wife, Tamara, and his 10-year-old son, James Jr., wanted to fish on a day that had the slowest tide of the month, and the tide was incoming when we should have been fishing outgoing. But they wanted their son to catch a snook. I said there was no way the snook would feed under these conditions. How wrong I was.

The first cast produced a 12-pounder for James Jr. During the next three hours, they caught and released 20 snook in the 6- to 15-pound class. What should have been the worst action of the month turned out to be one of my best trips. You never know what kind of trip you're going to have even when the conditions are for or against you. Mother Nature will sometimes make you question longtime formulas.

I can only guess why the feed was so good. Maybe the dolphins tried to feed on snook when they should have been feeding. Maybe the strong westerly winds dirtied the waters and made it hard for them to find bait. Whatever it was, I will never try to talk someone out of a trip. In the future, I will tell the customer what the conditions are and let Mother Nature run her course.

[Last modified June 24, 2007, 23:11:59]