Snook Fishing with Live Baits Tips, Tricks and Techniques
Snook fishing with live baits is a great way for saltwater fishermen to catch some extremely large snook. Snook can get up to more than 50 pounds and grow as large as 50 inches and the love to eat live mullet, shrimp, pin fish, scaled sardines, menhaden and all kinds of other marine creatures.
Snook are one of the most popular inshore species that fishermen come to Southern waters to catch from all over the world.
There is a reason that this fish is so popular. They are excellent fighters and are known for there extremely strong and energetic first run that they make once they figure out that they are hooked.
Another reason snook are such a sought after inshore species of fish is because they are very good to eat and yield nice thick and lengthy fillets.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the oyster bars, beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about snook fishing with live baits in a variety of different scenarios.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more snook with live baits around docks.
Snook fishing with live baits is a great way for saltwater fishermen to catch some extremely large snook. Snook can get up to more than 50 pounds and grow as large as 50 inches and the love to eat live mullet, shrimp, pin fish, scaled sardines, menhaden and all kinds of other marine creatures.
Snook are one of the most popular inshore species that fishermen come to Southern waters to catch from all over the world.
There is a reason that this fish is so popular. They are excellent fighters and are known for there extremely strong and energetic first run that they make once they figure out that they are hooked.
Another reason snook are such a sought after inshore species of fish is because they are very good to eat and yield nice thick and lengthy fillets.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the oyster bars, beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about snook fishing with live baits in a variety of different scenarios.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more snook with live baits around docks.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits around Docks
Docks are one of my favorite places to find snook. Snook are a structure oriented fish. What I mean by that is that they will gravitate towards structure of some kind to ambush food.
Dock pilings are one of their favorite structures to hunt for food around. Old dock pilings accumulate sponges, marine plants, oysters, mussels, barnacles and all sorts of other living things. That mini ecosystem in turn attracts food items for snook to eat.
The pilings will attract shrimp, crabs, and many species of small fish that snook rely upon for survival. A snook knows that dock pilings are a great place to find something to eat. This is why snook will frequent the docks wherever they are.
You may have to beef up your tackle to get the snook out of the dock pilings. Their first run is very hard to stop and they are masters at cutting you off on the dock pilings. See this article for the best tackle for snook fishing here.
Live Mullet- Live mullet are one of the best baits for catching big snook. You have various sizes of mullet to choose from. When they are young they will be 6 inches or less. We call those finger mullet. They keep growing and get to be around 18 inches long when they mature.
Big snook like big mullet. It is pretty much as simple as that. If there are schools of big mullet around, then it is a safe bet that only the big snook can feed upon them. This is when you have a good chance at catching your personal best snook.
When the bait schools are finger mullet then you might catch small and large snook in the area. Just about any sized snook can eat a finger mullet so you will usually catch more snook but also smaller snook when using finger mullet.
I like to use a float when fishing with live mullet for snook. The reason for this is twofold. Number one, the float helps me keep track of where my mullet is so I can prevent it from tangling on the dock pilings.
Number two, the float makes it easier for the snook to catch the mullet. It has always amazed me how well a mullet can evade a hungry predator that is trying to eat it. The float increases your hook ups because the snook will actually be able to catch the live bait.
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Live Shrimp- Snook love live shrimp. This is especially true in the Winter months. Snook are much more capable of catching a shrimp so you will not need to add a float to hinder the shrimp's movements.
A free lined shrimp will catch just about any fish that is under the docks. You will rarely get skunked when fishing a live shrimp around the docks. You can find redfish, speckled trout, black drum, mangrove snapper, sheepshead, flounder and of course snook willing to eat a live shrimp.
Watch the video below and catch more snook with live bait.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits around Mangroves
Snook love to hunt in the roots of the Red Mangrove Tree. The native Americans of Florida called the tree the "walking tree" because its jumble of roots made it look like spider legs walking.
That jumble of roots is an amazing hiding place for small crabs, shrimp and fish. Those crabs, shrimp and fish are relatively safe during the lower parts of the tide but when the tide comes in so do the predators.
Predators like snook, redfish, flounder, spotted sea trout and many others love to hunt in those mangrove roots. And fishermen like us love to hunt those hunters. Live bait works great for snook who are hunting in and around the roots of the red mangrove tree.
If you can find a tidal creek that is lined with mangrove trees, then you might want to anchor at the mouth of it and sight fish or snook moving in and out with the tide.
Snook love to cruise the mangrove tree lines with the ebb and flow of the tides. If you can be patient and quiet, then you can sight fish big snook and redfish as the search for food along the mangrove roots.
You will obviously need relatively clean water to do this and be able to anchor close enough to the mangroves for a well placed cast. BUT this is a great way to catch snook.
I like to have a live finger mullet or big live shrimp in the bubbler waiting to see a fish worth catching. You will only have a few seconds to see the snook and get your bait in front of it before it is gone. I like to lead the fish by about 5 or 6 feet so I don't spook them.
Read this article to learn how to catch more snook with live bait and lures.
Finger Mullet- A live finger mullet is hard to beat for catching snook around the mangroves. Again, you may want to use a cork to control the bait to keep it from tangling.
Sometimes snook can be real spooking in water that is 3 feet or less deep so the cork might scare them. If the water is very clear, then a free lined finger mullet is the way to go.
You will want to get the bait as close to the roots as possible. The snook will often hide in the roots waiting for an unsuspecting fish, shrimp or crab to swim by.
Your job is to get the bait as close to the snook as you can without spooking it. The best casting spots are usually points where the mangroves stick out into the water or where there is a recess in the mangroves.
Those types of scenarios are great ambush spots for snook and other predators. They like the irregularities of a mangrove tree line to find unsuspecting prey.
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Snook Fishing with Live Baits in Inlets
The inlets are a great spot to catch HUGE snook. The male and female snook from all over the state head towards the inlets all over Florida in the summer months to spawn.
The big, huge female snook come out from their winter and spring hiding places to the inlets to reproduce. Snook season is always closed in the summer because of this.
We don't want anyone killing female snook that are full of eggs. Once the spawn is over, usually by September, the season opens back up for keeping a legal snook.
The inlets will fill up with thousands of snook between June and August and they are hungry. Making babies is hard work and those snook will eat the right live bait that is presented the right way.
The schools of spawning snook will be in the bottom of the inlet so you need to be able to get your live bait offering down deep and be able to fight the current as well. The currents in the inlets can be extreme so you will need some sinkers to get your bait down to where the fish are.
Snook are more likely to bite a lure or a live bait during the outgoing tide in the inlets. The outgoing tide is usually dirty so the snook can't see the lure or live bait as well. This makes them much more apt to get hooked.
This does not mean that they don't eat during the incoming tides BUT those snook are much more discerning when it comes to getting hooked. They have good eyesight and can see an improperly presented live bait or lure in the clean water.
Live Croakers- Snook love to eat croakers. If you can get some live croakers, then you will catch a ton of snook in the inlets. The croakers can be netted in the inlets, grass flats, around docks, off of the beach.....
If you can't throw a cast net then you can catch them with a pompano rig off of the beach or inshore. They will hit fish bites if you don't want to buy frozen shrimp or sand fleas. All that you need is a 5 gallon bucket with a battery operated bubbler.
You will be able to keep 6 or 7 croakers alive for a long time in that sort of set up. If you can keep them alive for an hour or two, then you can head to the inlet and sink those bad boys to catch some MONSTER snook.
It is really hard to beat a 8 to 10 inch croaker for catching snook in the inlets.
Pin Fish- Pin fish is another great live bait for catching inlet snook. You might need to cast net them or you can catch them with a rod and reel.
Use very small hooks or even a sabiki rig to catch pin fish. Pin fish are very hardy fish and will stay alive for a very long time. You can keep a dozen pin fish alive with a 5 gallon bucket with a battery operated bubbler for a couple of hours.
Mullet- Mullet is another great choice for catching inlet snook with live bait. Everything eats live mullet. Snook, tarpon, redfish, flounder, speckled trout, cobia.........
PRO TIP: Use a Jupiter Rig for live bait fishing for snook in the inlets. Live mullet is a great choice for catching tons of snook. My favorite rig for fishing with live baits in the inlet is the Jupiter Rig. This is a rig that lets you bait present naturally and roll on the bottom where the BIG SNOOK are hanging out.
Watch the video below and learn how to use a Jupiter Rig.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits on the Grass Flats
Grass flats are another great place to catch some big snook. A healthy grass flat is just full of food for predators like snook, tarpon, speckled trout, redfish and flounder to feed upon.
The problem with fishing a large grass flat is that you will usually have to cover a lot of water to figure out where all of the feeding fish are. In other words, you don't want to focus on one spot that ends up being a dead zone.
If you fish the grass flats often, then you know that most of the fish will be in one general area. My guess is that about 80 to 90 percent of the fish that you want to catch will be in one part of the grass flat.
The water temperatures are right; there is food for the predators; and there is enough current. I think that these are the factors that attract most of the fish on a grass flat to one general location.
Mullet- It is really hard to beat a live mullet for covering a lot of water over a grass flat. You will want to nose hook the mullet and drift the flats until you start getting bites.
I like to use this method when I am fishing grass flats with live mullet in 4 feet or less water depth. Any deeper than 4 feet and the snook are less apt to come up and hit your mullet even if they see it.
If you don't feel like methodically drifting the grass flats, then you can focus on the sandy potholes that are in every grass flat that I have ever seen. Those sandy spots are a magnet for predatory fish.
They like to use the sandy spots to ambush prey that the current brings near the pot hole. They will almost always be facing into the current waiting for the fish, crab or shrimp to be brought right into their waiting mouths.
Predators also like to face the current so that the oxygenated water can easily pass over their gills. Most predators are well muscled and require a lot of oxygen to fuel their quick bursts of speed that they need to catch some food.
With this in mind try and present your live bait from up current. You can cast past the sandy spot and let the current bring it over the pothole or anchor up current and let the current bring the bait to the pothole from up current.
Pin Fish- Pin fish are one of the snook's favorite snacks. They are all over the grass flats and the snook will often be focused on them for much of their sustenance. The problem with pin fish is that they will always head straight into the grass to hide.
I like to put a pin fish under a float that lets them get within a foot or so of the bottom but keeps them out of the grass. This puts them right inside the snook's strike zone.
Speckled trout and redfish love to eat redfish too. You might just get yourself an inshore slam of a snook, redfish and speckled trout on the same grass flat. That's not a bad day right there.
If you don't want to bother with smaller fish, then use a palm sized pin fish for some big slot and over slot snook. Big snook like big live baits.
White Baits- White baits are any of a number of species of fish that are silver or white on their sides and bellies and dark on their backs. I would include thread fin herring, scaled sardines (a.k.a. green backs, pilchards), menhaden (a.k.a. pogies) shad......
Snook don't care what you want to call them. They call them delicious. So if you can get your hands on some white baits do it.
You will have to downsize your hooks for white baits. I usually go with a 1/0 to a 3/0 for white baits. When using mullet you can often get away with a 4/0 or 5/0 but white baits are smaller and more delicate. They can't carry around a big heavy hook for very long.
Drifting the grass flats with a nose hooked white bait is a great way to find feeding fish. When drifting you will want to nose hook them for a more natural presentation in the water.
Watch the video below and learn the best live baits for snook fishing.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits by Bridges
Bridges are a good place to catch MONSTER snook with live baits. The key to fishing the bridges is to get your bait down to the bottom. That is where the big snook are hanging out.
Bridges funnel water through tight areas and therefore you will have to contend with more current than you would on the flats or around docks. You will need a lot of lead to keep your bait pinned to the bottom.
I like to use a simple rig with a sliding egg sinker on my line above the hook. The bait will be able to swim a few feet away from the sinker so the snook won't usually be scared off by it.
You want just enough sinker weight to stay put on the bottom until the snook can find and eat your bait. I also like to use a circle hook for deep water bridges. It is hard to set a hook in deep water with lots of current so a circle hook is my go to hook choice.
Mullet- Mullet are tough and can take a beating so they are a great choice for bridge fishing.
Croakers- A croaker is another good choice for bridge fishing because they will stay near the bottom in the snooks' strike zone.
Pin Fish- Another great live bait choice is a pin fish. They are very tough and will stay near the bottom too.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits in Canals
Fishermen often forget that snook can live in freshwater. They will run up canals and rivers that are connected to saltwater to feast on bluegills, shiners, shellcrackers, crawdads...... They act just like big bass when they run up into freshwater/brackish water canals.
I like to focus on docks, seawalls, and spillways when I am looking for snook in the canals. You have got to remember that snook are a structure oriented fish and will gravitate to structure to set up ambush points.
Using a float is the way to go for canal snook if you ask me. You can pitch anything that I have named so far that can live in freshwater and catch a ton of canal snook.
The exception is if you are fishing around a spillway that is open. Then the water flow will be too strong for using a float. You will want to free line your live bait near the shore or in eddies caused by some sort of structure.
Watch the video below and catch more snook using live bait off of the beach.
Fishermen often forget that snook can live in freshwater. They will run up canals and rivers that are connected to saltwater to feast on bluegills, shiners, shellcrackers, crawdads...... They act just like big bass when they run up into freshwater/brackish water canals.
I like to focus on docks, seawalls, and spillways when I am looking for snook in the canals. You have got to remember that snook are a structure oriented fish and will gravitate to structure to set up ambush points.
Using a float is the way to go for canal snook if you ask me. You can pitch anything that I have named so far that can live in freshwater and catch a ton of canal snook.
The exception is if you are fishing around a spillway that is open. Then the water flow will be too strong for using a float. You will want to free line your live bait near the shore or in eddies caused by some sort of structure.
Watch the video below and catch more snook using live bait off of the beach.
Snook Fishing with Live Baits off of the Beach
Beach fishing with live baits for snook is a blast. This is especially true when all of the snook are heading towards the inlets to spawn in the late spring and summer months.
The key to catching snook off of the beach with live baits is to not cast past the fish. They are often within 20 or 30 feet from the shore line during the lower parts of the tide.
During the higher parts of the tide they are often right at your feet. You can catch them within 5 or 6 feet of the shore during higher parts of the tide.
Croakers- It is hard to beat a live croaker for beach snook. If you can get your hands on some croakers, then you will have an extremely high probability of catching some big beach snook.
If there is not any large surf or current, then you can free line a croaker and they will usually stay right in the trough. If there are waves, then you will want to add a sliding egg sinker to your line to keep the waves from washing your bait up on the beach.
Mullet- If you can't get your hands on any croakers, then use mullet and fish them the same way as the croakers using the egg sinker to keep them from coming up onto the beach.
Conclusion:
Snook are one of the most sought after fish in Florida and the South in general for a reason. They are an amazing sport fish to catch and cook.
You can catch snook in freshwater ponds, lakes and canals. You can catch snook on offshore wrecks and reefs. You can catch snook just about anywhere that there is water inshore. Snook are everywhere that is wet for the most part so you can get access to them easily.
That doesn't mean that you can catch them easily. It just means that you can get access to them easily. Live bait is probably your best bet for catching snook. Hopefully, you will follow the tips and techniques in the article above about snook fishing with live baits.
Good luck and thanks for reading this article. Want more fishing tips? Scroll down and sign up for our weekly how to fishing emails.
Snook are one of the most sought after fish in Florida and the South in general for a reason. They are an amazing sport fish to catch and cook.
You can catch snook in freshwater ponds, lakes and canals. You can catch snook on offshore wrecks and reefs. You can catch snook just about anywhere that there is water inshore. Snook are everywhere that is wet for the most part so you can get access to them easily.
That doesn't mean that you can catch them easily. It just means that you can get access to them easily. Live bait is probably your best bet for catching snook. Hopefully, you will follow the tips and techniques in the article above about snook fishing with live baits.
Good luck and thanks for reading this article. Want more fishing tips? Scroll down and sign up for our weekly how to fishing emails.
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