5/4/2023 Big girl snooks were chewin’

Got out with pops and our good friend Ricky Walker visiting over from England.  Capt. Stephen also tagged along.  We had a tremendous tropical system blow through last weekend and sunday was 30+ mph winds most of the day.  I hadn’t been in the backcountry in a bit but I figured that may have stirred things up a good bit and didn’t know what to expect.  However one thing in our favor was a light northerly breeze which in the past has often yielded good fishing for the larger snook we like to target.  Something about that cool air in the summer time maybe?  Anyways we got in the backcountry and with the last of the falling tide the water looked more or less like a mudhole about everywhere we went!  We drove around and couldn’t decide where to stop first so we just took a gamble.  Sure enough the first spot not much happened and as we pulled the trolling motor and drifted away, dad hooked a nice fish!  A good size snook not a super monster but respectable none the less probably a good 12 lber or so.  After that we kept moving and didn’t find much with the last of falling tide on the next four or so spots we hit.  Once the tide turned we tried a few others and one area where I’d been finding a few the last few times back there produced a monstrous bite.  Ricky hooked it but unfortunately we had it all the way to the leader after a good 3 minute battle and pulled the hook!  Never saw it but I’m sure it was a monster snook could’ve been in the 25 lb range easily.  One of those ones where you think it may be a shark because you just can’t stop them.  Bummer!  We shook it off and kept moving.  Next stop same thing not much and we drifted off and boom we hooked another big fish.  This time Ricky had some redemption and landed himself another good size fish in the 12 lb range.  We decided to give it a bit longer since I had marked some fish on my bottom machine and low and behold pops hooks something else that screams off some line.  He thinks its a shark so he passes the rod to Stephen, but I’m not convinced to Steve fights it carefully but firmly.  It races around to the bow and then just starts dumping line like it can’t be stopped…. hmm must be a shark right?  Well we finally turn it and then Steve cranks like a mad man as it comes towards the boat and we get a glimpse of it.  Looks like a friggin’ sub marine of a snook!  Holy cow!  We get the bear claw net and swoop her in and wow another monster fish that is in the 20-25 lb range!  Incredible!  After that we make one last move to our last area and the water actually looks great in here.  Surprising as the tide is just quitting here now and that bottom of the falling water is usually dirtiest but it looks good.  We get a nice juvenile goliath on our first stop.  Then next stop we don’t have too much happen but I mark a school of fish a little ways away from where we are fishing.  We troll over and I say cast ahead about a boat length and pops hooks up to a drag screamer!  She zips around back and forth and wow its acting like another really big snook and sure enough that is just what it is.  So banner day we landed 2 monstrous snook and 2 other really good size snook and lost one more monster.  As many of you know we often go fish all day just for a shot at one good size snook in the 35-40 inch range here these days.  But when you get the conditions sometimes you get several.  Today was our day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

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