Large prespawn snook have come to our shorelines with huge appetites. I'm talking about snook 30-36 inches on average, weighing 9 to 17 pounds. At times these fish are slow to feed unless you're taking advantage of a strong outgoing tide like we'll be having the next couple of days. Even then, sometimes heavy live chumming is required. I usually chum lightly. You don't want to fill the fish up before you present a bait attached to your hook, but in May and June I change techniques slightly. Once anchored near a point next to mangroves or an eddy along a sandbar I start chumming. Even though I throw out a lot of live bait chum, I don't squeeze all of them to make them flutter. All the extra bait activity will start the snook to pop the baits.

There's a saying about casting to a snook that just popped a chummed bait, "5 feet within five seconds." This means, if you cast your hooked bait within 5 feet of the snook pop within five seconds you'll hook that fish. Long rods are favored for this type of fishing, 71/2 to 8 feet are preferred. The length helps casting the bait long distances, but more importantly helps you control the fish. Fight the fish with the rod, not the reel. Medium-sized spinners loaded with 10-pound test, 30-pound fluorocarbon leader, topped with a 1/0 circle wide hook is all that's needed.

After May 31, all snook must be released. Do so carefully. Take photos quickly and revive the fish until it can swim out of your hand, and it will fight again Sept. 1 when snook season reopens.

- Capt. Wade Osborne operates Afishionado Guide Services out of Tampa and can be reached at 888-402-3474 or by e-mail at wade@wadefish.com.

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