Kayak Snook Fishing in Florida (The Complete Guide)
The best way to catch a snook when you are kayak fishing is with a 3 to 5 inch white or root beer colored paddle tail shad lure coupled with a red 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jig head and at least a 30 pound leader. Focus your efforts around docks, mangroves and underwater structure.
Fish around dock pilings, bridge pilings mangrove roots or any other underwater structure because snook use structure to ambush their prey. You will need a 30 to 50 pound leader for catching the slot sized and over slot sized fish but the smaller ones only require a 20 pound leader to catch.
Everything is better in a kayak. Snook fishing is great but kayak snook fishing is awesome. You really feel like you are stalking, and hunting as much as fishing. That is what I like about inshore saltwater kayak fishing in general.
The flats and mangroves in South and Central Florida have been my fishing grounds for over 40 years. Snook are one of the best fish to target inshore. They have an amazing first run once they figure out that they have been hooked.
Snook are one of the big 4 that I fish for most often. The big 4 are snook, tarpon, redfish and spotted sea trout. Those four fish are what I target locally and explore the rest of Florida in search of most of the time.
I am a kayak fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida and those are the targets for 90% of the charters that I do.
In this article I will give you all of the simple snook catching tips and techniques that I have learned over the last four decades of inshore fishing.
Watch the video below and catch more HUGE snook from your kayak with jerk baits.
The best way to catch a snook when you are kayak fishing is with a 3 to 5 inch white or root beer colored paddle tail shad lure coupled with a red 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jig head and at least a 30 pound leader. Focus your efforts around docks, mangroves and underwater structure.
Fish around dock pilings, bridge pilings mangrove roots or any other underwater structure because snook use structure to ambush their prey. You will need a 30 to 50 pound leader for catching the slot sized and over slot sized fish but the smaller ones only require a 20 pound leader to catch.
Everything is better in a kayak. Snook fishing is great but kayak snook fishing is awesome. You really feel like you are stalking, and hunting as much as fishing. That is what I like about inshore saltwater kayak fishing in general.
The flats and mangroves in South and Central Florida have been my fishing grounds for over 40 years. Snook are one of the best fish to target inshore. They have an amazing first run once they figure out that they have been hooked.
Snook are one of the big 4 that I fish for most often. The big 4 are snook, tarpon, redfish and spotted sea trout. Those four fish are what I target locally and explore the rest of Florida in search of most of the time.
I am a kayak fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida and those are the targets for 90% of the charters that I do.
In this article I will give you all of the simple snook catching tips and techniques that I have learned over the last four decades of inshore fishing.
Watch the video below and catch more HUGE snook from your kayak with jerk baits.
Kayak Snook Fishing--Mangroves
Snook love to hunt around the Red Mangrove tree's roots. During the higher parts of the tides they will swim all through the oyster and barnacle encrusted roots of this tree in search of shrimp, crabs and fish.
You can hear their trademarked POP sound that they make when they hit something on the surface. In fact, if you are quiet and listen you can figure out where the snook are feeding just by the POP. This saves you a lot of time searching for where the snook are.
My favorite live bait for snook in the mangroves is a finger mullet followed closely by a pilchard. You can use any white baits, scaled sardines, greenies.... I like to use a popping cork when I fish with live baits to help me better control the bait and to slow it down so that the snook don't miss it.
It always amazes me that snook miss so many top water live baits. The cork definitely increases the hook up to strike ratio.
Once you find the snook just get your bait as close to the mangroves as possible; crank down on your drag; and get ready to try and stop a snook from wrapping your line in the mangrove roots.
Dead bait also works great in the mangroves. A mullet head or a lady fish head seem to work the best for me. Send it up to the mangrove roots without a sinker if you can get away with it and let it sit and stink. The snook love to cruise the roots with the tide searching for food.
Once they pick it up set your hook and try to keep your fish out of the roots. Some times you will have to reel with your rod tip a few feet under the water to prevent the snook from cutting your line on the oysters attached to the mangrove roots.
I wrote another article on this website all about the best baits and lures for snook fishing. You can read that article by clicking here.
The best lures for fishing the mangrove roots is a white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail rigged weedless. Another great soft plastic is a white fluke style soft plastic rigged weedless. With the right presentation both of these types of lures can be deadly.
The video below will show you more snook fishing tips.
Kayak Snook Fishing--Docks
Another great spot to catch snook from your kayak is the dock pilings. Let me just say that dock pilings are great places to catch all kinds of great fish. You can catch snook, flounder, redfish, trout, sheepshead, mangrove snapper, goliath groupers, gag groupers....... You get the idea.
The best live bait for fishing the docks are finger mullet, pilchards, pin fish and shrimp. If you position your kayak up current and let your free lined bait drift to the dock the chance of spooking the snook drops dramatically.
I wrote another article on this website that covers the subject of dock fishing in much more detail. You can read that article by clicking right here.
If the live bait is not cooperating you might need to use a popping cork to control it. It also allows you to better estimate how close your bait is to the pilings. If you have to paddle over to the dock to untangle your line, you might as well go find another dock to fish. Whatever fish were there will most likely leave or develop a severe case of lock jaw.
Dead bait works really well for big snook around dock pilings. You will want to position yourself up current and send a mullet head or a lady fish head within a couple of feet of the dock pilings. A big palm sized pin fish will also work pretty well. Tighten your drag and get ready to try and stop a monster snook from cutting your line on the dock pilings.
The best lures of dock fishing are a DOA CAL white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail and a red jig head. A white scented imitation shrimp with a red jig head is another good one. A white DOA terror eyz or a root beer terror eyz is the go to bait for many snook fishermen. Cast the bait up current because the snook will be facing into the current. A slow retrieve near the bottom or bouncing along the bottom works best for me.
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Kayak Snook Fishing--Grass Flats
Snook like to cruise the grass flats for shrimp and small bait fish. Pin fish are one of their favorites along with pilchards and finger mullet. If the water is less than 4 feet deep a free lined finger mullet works extremely well for snook. They will come from their grassy hiding place and crush the mullet when it comes over them.
When the water is any deeper than that I prefer to use pin fish and pilchards because they tend to swim down in an attempt to hide in the grass. Because of this tendency you will have to use a cork of some sort to stop them within a foot or more of the grass.
You can anchor up your kayak and use dead bait on the grass flats to catch some pretty big snook. A great place to put a dead bait is in the middle of a sandy pot hole in the grass flat. Predators will often use those sandy pot holes as ambush points.
The best baits on the grass flats depends upon the water depth that you are fishing in. If you are fishing in 4 feet or less a top water walk-the-dog type of lure will work great early and late in the day. I use Zara Super Spooks and Mirro Lure Top Dogs the most.
They have a huge selection of sizes and colors to choose from. I like to use all white or a natural color. When the water is any deeper than 4 feet the surface of the water is out of the strike zone of the snook so you will need something that runs deeper.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in detail how to catch a snook. You can read that article by clicking right here.
My go to is a white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail and a 1/8 ounce red jig head. This combination is irresistible to snook and just about every other fish on the flats. This jig works well up to about 6 or 7 feet deep.
The video below is all about Flair Hawk snook jig fishing.
Kayak Snook Fishing--Bridges
Snook fishing the bridges is where many fishermen catch the trophy snook they have been chasing. The best live bait for fishing bridges are croakers, finger mullet and pin fish with enough sinker to get the bait to the bottom in the current.
In my opinion, kayak snook fishing the bridges with deep pilings only requires one lure. The flair hawk style of jig. This is the undisputed king of deep water snook fishing. If you can learn to properly present a flair hawk jig to deep water snook you will be eating well during snook season.
The key to using this bait is keeping it within a foot or two of the bottom and work it slowly. I like to work flair hawks about as fast as the current is moving. In general the larger snook will be on the bottom and the smaller ones will be higher in the water column. You have to get your lure past the little ones to the big ones down deep.
You only need a few different colors to catch snook in different water clarity conditions. In clear water all that you will need is a white flair hawk snook jig. If the water is dirty, then you will need a chartreuse or a pink one.
The best sizes are 1 ounce up to 2 ounces. If there is an incredibly strong current on the night that you are fishing you may need a 3 ounce but probably not.
When you are fishing the lights around bridges at night is when the flair hawk jig works the best. There is something about the night that makes big snook more apt to hit a lure. Bringing a flair hawk style of jig from the darkness with the current and into the light is probably the best way to catch deep water snook at night. The video above covers this in more detail.
Best gear for kayak snook fishing:
If you are going to be fishing for snook all day you will definitely need to protect your eyes and skin from the sun's harmful rays. Polarized sunglasses are a must for snook fishing. There is nothing like spotting you snook hiding under a dock and being able to get the perfect cast and take. It get me excited to type it much less do it.
You can expect to pay $250 for a good pair and a lower end pair will cost you $25 if they have glass lenses. You can find them with plastic lenses for about $5 at Walmart.
Whatever price range you decide to go with you must wear polarized sunglasses or you can not sight fish for snook on the flats or around the docks. The polarized lenses eliminate a large portion of the glare on the surface of the water so that you can see the snook that are under the surface.
The best color lenses for inshore and dirtier water scenarios are amber, rose and copper. If you are fishing super clean and clear water or you are fishing offshore a blue or a gray lens is best.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts to protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays. These shirts have built in sunscreen and are moisture wicking which means they evaporate your perspiration more efficiently keeping you cool on those hot days on the water.
Best water temperature for kayak snook fishing in Florida:
Snook are cold blooded just like a snake or a gator. This means that they have to find the optimal water temperature to cool or heat their bodies to live. Your job is to find these optimal temperatures for snook because if it is too hot or too cold where you are, you ain't catchin' any snook.
That is why you have to fish shallow early in the Summer and late in the Winter. The flats heat up the quickest so it is too hot there in the Summer and too cold there in the Winter.
Snook will head offshore into the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean during the coldest part of the Winter. They will also head up the many rivers that empty into the gulf and the ocean because the dark bottom and dark water will absorb the sun's heat energy better.
The problem with boat and kayak thermometers is that they only measure the water temperature on the surface. What is the temperature 15 feet down? What is the best place to find the optimal temperature for a snook early or late?
These are the types of questions that you need to answer to get really good a catching snook during the different seasons.
The video below will teach you the optimal water temperatures for snook fishing.
Bonus Video--Snook Fishing with Live Mullet
Conclusion:
Snook are one of the most popular species of fish targeted by inshore fishermen around Florida. They are so much fun to catch and they are very good to eat as well. Kayak fishing for them is a great way to stealth up on them.
They are very highly protected so don't even think about keeping an undersized snook. They can throw you in jail and it can cost you many thousands of dollars. It is not worth the risk for sure.
Get yourself a decent fishing kayak and start catching snook. You will have a blast and it is a very effective way to get to those spooky snook in shallow water. You can sight fish huge snook with a fishing kayak that you couldn't even get close to any other way.
If you are ever in the Treasure Coast of Florida book a kayak fishing charter with me. Snook, tarpon, redfish and spotted sea trout are our main target species on our charters. It is a blast to catch a big snook from a kayak.
I hope that this article helps you catch more snook. Good luck and tight lines.
About the author: The author of this article insists that we all refer to him as The Savage Snook Slayer of the Solar System. BUT we all ignore him and just call him Mike, the co-owner of FYAO Saltwater Media Group, Inc.
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