The Complete Guide to Night Snook Fishing
The best time to fish for snook is at night near dock lights, bridge lights and lighted sea walls with live pin fish, finger mullet or shrimp. The best lure for night snook fishing is a pink, chartreuse or white flair hawk jig bounced off of the bottom with the current.
Snook are one of the most popular inshore game fish in Florida. The common snook is the one that most fishermen think of when they think snook.
There are a few different species of snook in Florida waters. There is the tarpon snook; the fat snook; the sword spine snook but we all like the big female common snook. Those are the ones that end up on our dinner plates during snook season.
The time when most fishermen catch their trophy snook is night. For some reason the big, huge female snook are less finicky at night and will take your baits and lures. These might be the exact same baits and lures that they ignored in the daytime.
The bottom line is you can fool the larger, older and smarter snook when you fish for them at night. They cannot see your lures or thick leaders as well so you have a better shot to catch BIG snook when you target them at night.
I am an inshore fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the flats and mangroves for over 40 years. In the article below, I will tell you all of night snook fishing tips that I can think of.
Watch the video below and learn the best lures for snook fishing.
The best time to fish for snook is at night near dock lights, bridge lights and lighted sea walls with live pin fish, finger mullet or shrimp. The best lure for night snook fishing is a pink, chartreuse or white flair hawk jig bounced off of the bottom with the current.
Snook are one of the most popular inshore game fish in Florida. The common snook is the one that most fishermen think of when they think snook.
There are a few different species of snook in Florida waters. There is the tarpon snook; the fat snook; the sword spine snook but we all like the big female common snook. Those are the ones that end up on our dinner plates during snook season.
The time when most fishermen catch their trophy snook is night. For some reason the big, huge female snook are less finicky at night and will take your baits and lures. These might be the exact same baits and lures that they ignored in the daytime.
The bottom line is you can fool the larger, older and smarter snook when you fish for them at night. They cannot see your lures or thick leaders as well so you have a better shot to catch BIG snook when you target them at night.
I am an inshore fishing guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida and have been fishing the flats and mangroves for over 40 years. In the article below, I will tell you all of night snook fishing tips that I can think of.
Watch the video below and learn the best lures for snook fishing.
Night Snook Fishing Tips--Inlets
Fishing the inlets at night for snook is a no brainer. This is especially true in the Summer months when all of the males and females come for the canals, rivers, grass flats and wherever else snook hang out to spawn. They all meet up in the inlets to spawn.
The smaller males and the larger females get pretty beat up during the spawn. Post spawn snook are usually missing parts of their fins and scales. The spawn must be pretty rough.
The snook that you catch that are less than about 21 inches are males and the bigger ones are females. How do I know this? I know this because all snook start out as males and switch over into females once they get over 21 inches.
The best live bait for night fishing the inlets is mullet, lady fish, croakers and pin fish. Inlets can be difficult to fish because of the strong currents and rocks along the sides of them. You will need enough weight to get your bait down to the bottom where the snook are congregating. You will also need to present the bait well to get a bite. The best bait in the world won't catch fish is your presentation is bad.
I wrote another article on this website that covers how to catch a snook in greater detail. You can read that article by clicking right here.
There are many different rigs that you can use to fish the inlets. You can have a weight free sliding directly over your hook. You can set up a dropper rig with the weight on the bottom and the hook to the side or you can use my favorite the Jupiter Rig.
The Jupiter Rig works really well in inlets that are not too rocky. In other words, it works well in inlets with sandy bottoms or bottoms with very few snags.
You can see the details of using a Jupiter Rig in the video below.
The best lure for night time snook fishing is hands down the flair hawk style of snook jig. If you can master this lure, you can fish for snook anywhere there are lights at night and catch a lot of them. To me this lure is the simplest way to catch snook around structure at night. Just follow the rules below and you will catch snook at night with just one type of lure.
I wrote another article that is on this website that covers snook fishing with a flair hawk jig in great detail. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Rule #1 Snook will always be facing the current waiting for their prey to swim by. To use the flair hawk jig correctly it must come to them from up current. If it comes from down current you will most likely spook them and give them a case of lock jaw.
Rule #2 The snook will be on the bottom so their strike zone is no higher than 3 feet from the bottom. This means that you have to keep your jig within 3 feet of the bottom to get a big snook to hit. There might be smaller snook higher in the water column but the big ones will be on the bottom. That's just how it works in the world of deep water snook fishing.
Rule #3 Bounce your jig or swim your jig very slowly. You want your jig to be moving about the same speed as the current is moving. The mistake most fishermen make is fishing their lures too fast. Slow it down for monster snook at night.
Rule #4 The snook will be waiting in the dark for their prey to swim into the light around the inlets. You have to cast way past where you think the dark ends and the light begins. Where you see the darkness end in the top few feet of the water column is not where the darkness ends 15 or 20 feet down in the water. You have to consider the snook's perspective when presenting your lure to them.
See the snook jig video below to learn more about jig fishing.
Night Snook Fishing Tips--Bridges
The bridges also hold huge snook at night. Snook are very structure oriented. They like to hide behind structure out of the strongest part of the current to ambush their prey items when they come by. The same live baits and lures should be used for the bridges just like the inlets. The same rules apply to bridges just like the inlets so there is no sense in covering that again.
I would rather fish bridges than inlets at night for a few different reasons. The thing I like to do is have a part of a bridge to myself. That way I can fish a larger area without infringing upon another fisherman's space. It is very hard to find your own spot on an inlet or bridge walkway because there will usually be other fishermen trying to do the same thing.
There are lots of bridges with lights around but only one or two inlets near me. The limited supply of inlets forces the fishermen to all go to the same fishing spots. I would much rather fish a small bridge and share it with a couple of people than go to the inlet and have to share with 30 different people.
When you are fishing bridges you only need to bring one type of lure with you. Yep. You guessed it. It's the flair hawk style of jig. You will only need to bring 3 kinds of jigs based upon the water clarity, tide strength and depth so that makes for a small tackle box for night snook fishing. Those are your variables.
The snook jig fishing video above covers all of these and gives you tips on when to use certain colors and weights.
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Night Snook Fishing Tips--Docks
Dock lights are another great place to hunt for snook at night. The dock pilings act like inshore reefs for all kinds of marine life. Older docks have lots of barnacles, sponges, oysters and all kinds of other life attached to them or near them. All of this life attracts predators like snook.
Snook like to ambush shrimp and fish as the come into the light. The lights on a dock attract shrimp, marine worms and all kinds of other prey for snook. The best live bait for snook is finger mullet, pin fish and live shrimp. In the dock lights try to use as small of a leader as possible because the light makes it easier for the snook to see it.
I wrote another article on this website that cover the best baits and lures for snook fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
If you can present the bait from up current that is where the snook will be facing. So if you are actually on the dock fish the current side. If you are fishing from a boat or a kayak anchor up current and let the tide take your baits to the dock lights.
If your live baits are not cooperating you can use a cork to better control the bait. The key is to have your bait move from the darkness into the light.
The best lures for night fishing docks is a white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail and a 1/8 ounce jig head. Another good one is a white bass fluke style of soft plastic lure with a jig head. A white or root beer DOA Terror Eyz will also work well. The key to all of these lures is to work them on or close to the bottom slowly from the darkness into the light from up current.
When fishing dock lights with lures you have to be down current so that you can cast up current and work the lure back to you. Make sure to cast the lure way past the light into the shadows. That is where the snook will most likely be and right as your lure hits the light is when the snook will probably hit it.
Another key to fishing the docks at night is to methodically fish each and every one. You might fish 30 docks before the night is over. If you are in a boat or a kayak get anchored down current (lures) up current (live baits) and present your bait 5 or 6 times before moving to the next dock lights. Then repeat and keep moving until you find fish to catch.
Dock lights are another great place to hunt for snook at night. The dock pilings act like inshore reefs for all kinds of marine life. Older docks have lots of barnacles, sponges, oysters and all kinds of other life attached to them or near them. All of this life attracts predators like snook.
Snook like to ambush shrimp and fish as the come into the light. The lights on a dock attract shrimp, marine worms and all kinds of other prey for snook. The best live bait for snook is finger mullet, pin fish and live shrimp. In the dock lights try to use as small of a leader as possible because the light makes it easier for the snook to see it.
I wrote another article on this website that cover the best baits and lures for snook fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
If you can present the bait from up current that is where the snook will be facing. So if you are actually on the dock fish the current side. If you are fishing from a boat or a kayak anchor up current and let the tide take your baits to the dock lights.
If your live baits are not cooperating you can use a cork to better control the bait. The key is to have your bait move from the darkness into the light.
The best lures for night fishing docks is a white soft plastic shad with a paddle tail and a 1/8 ounce jig head. Another good one is a white bass fluke style of soft plastic lure with a jig head. A white or root beer DOA Terror Eyz will also work well. The key to all of these lures is to work them on or close to the bottom slowly from the darkness into the light from up current.
When fishing dock lights with lures you have to be down current so that you can cast up current and work the lure back to you. Make sure to cast the lure way past the light into the shadows. That is where the snook will most likely be and right as your lure hits the light is when the snook will probably hit it.
Another key to fishing the docks at night is to methodically fish each and every one. You might fish 30 docks before the night is over. If you are in a boat or a kayak get anchored down current (lures) up current (live baits) and present your bait 5 or 6 times before moving to the next dock lights. Then repeat and keep moving until you find fish to catch.
Night Snook Fishing Tips--Tackle
You will definitely want to beef up your tackle when you are night fishing for snook. This is necessary because you will be fishing for large female snook near some sort of structure.
The key to snook fishing at night is to fish around lights with bait and current and that means manmade structure of some sort. Snook have the uncanny ability to wrap your line around the closest structure once they figure out that they have been hooked.
That is why you need to beef up your tackle to catch them.
You will need a minimum reel size of a 4000 series. You might want to move up to a 5000 or even 5500 and fill it with a minimum 20 pound braided line. In some cases 30, 40 or even 50 pound braid might be optimal if you are fishing a spot with a lot of snags.
Your rod should be a 7 foot medium/heavy fast action one with plenty of backbone to pull a 40 inch snook out of the rocks, pilings or whatever they are stuck in.
Your leader should be at least 30 pounds for snook but you might want to move up to 40 or 50 for those big, monster night time snook. I like to use a clear mono filament line the best. Some fluorocarbon lines are more abrasion resistant so you might want to test those to see what you like the best. Pink or clear seem to work the best in my opinion.
Conclusion:
Snook are one of the most sought after fish in the southern part of the United States of America. There is a good reason for their rock star status. They give a blistering first run once they figure out that they are hooked. They are also masters at cutting your line with some sort of structure. And lastly, they are a decent eating fish to the dinner plate.
I don't eat too many snook but I love to catch them. For those of you looking to catch your personal best snook, you will want to fish at night. Those big snook that are way too smart to hit your lure in the daytime will often slam it at night time.
All of the inshore predatory fish seem to let their guards down at night. The snook, tarpon, redfish, speckled trout, flounder...…. They all will hit better at night. So rig that kayak or jon boat up with some LED lights and go out and catch some monster snook.
There are different rules in different states for fishing at nights so make sure to consult those websites to make sure that you don't get fined for doing it wrong.
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