Winter Fishing for Snook in Florida
To catch snook effectively in the winter months you will have to find the right water temperature of 75 degrees or higher. In the winter months you will have to fish down deep in inlets, deep bridge pilings, deep dock piling or up the many rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean.
Winter fishing for snook sometimes baffles even long time snook fishermen. I always hear them say, "Snook fishing sucks in the Winter."
This makes me laugh because there are still tons of snook to catch in the Winter. You just have to know where to find them and How to catch them.
If you are wanting to know everything about catching snook in the winter months, then this is the article for you. You will learn where to find winter snook and target them with the correct baits, lures and tackle.
Snook are cold blooded just like a lizard or a snake. Of course they will change their behavior patterns when they are cold versus when they are hot.
It just makes sense. Winter fishing is great for me because I am that guy that gets on the water before first light most of the time. In the cold months, I can sleep in and hit the water after 10 or 11 if I want to.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the flats and the mangroves for over 40 years all over the state of Florida.
In the article below, I will give you the simple fishing tips, techniques and tackle recommendations to catch a ton of snook in the Winter months.
Let's get started.
Watch this video and catch more Winter snook.
To catch snook effectively in the winter months you will have to find the right water temperature of 75 degrees or higher. In the winter months you will have to fish down deep in inlets, deep bridge pilings, deep dock piling or up the many rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean.
Winter fishing for snook sometimes baffles even long time snook fishermen. I always hear them say, "Snook fishing sucks in the Winter."
This makes me laugh because there are still tons of snook to catch in the Winter. You just have to know where to find them and How to catch them.
If you are wanting to know everything about catching snook in the winter months, then this is the article for you. You will learn where to find winter snook and target them with the correct baits, lures and tackle.
Snook are cold blooded just like a lizard or a snake. Of course they will change their behavior patterns when they are cold versus when they are hot.
It just makes sense. Winter fishing is great for me because I am that guy that gets on the water before first light most of the time. In the cold months, I can sleep in and hit the water after 10 or 11 if I want to.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the flats and the mangroves for over 40 years all over the state of Florida.
In the article below, I will give you the simple fishing tips, techniques and tackle recommendations to catch a ton of snook in the Winter months.
Let's get started.
Watch this video and catch more Winter snook.
Winter fishing for snook--Inlets
The constant flow of water from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico usually keeps the water temperatures in South and Central Florida inlets warm enough to keep snook alive and well in the Winter months.
Some time around 2010 we had a freak cold front stall over the state and kill tens of thousands of snook, tarpon and many other fish species. This led to a closure of the snook harvest in Florida for a couple of years.
Snook are a tropical fish species and can only get up to North Florida waters in the hotter months but they have to migrate back down South before the really cold weather hits Florida or risk freezing to death.
Inlets are a great place to target snook. This is especially true at night. Big snook will congregate near the lights of bridges, docks and inlets at night. The lights attract bait fish and shrimp which in turn attracts snook.
A great way to target snook in the inlets at night is with a live bait. You have to get the bait down to the bottom where the snook will be so you will need a sinker. The set up that I would recommend that you use is a Jupiter Rig.
I wrote another article on this website that is all about how to catch a snook and covers the subject in great detail. You can read that article by clicking right here.
This rig works great for inlets that do not have a lot of snags on the bottom. Nice sandy inlet bottoms are the ones where the Jupiter Rig works best.
Watch the video below and catch more snook at the inlets.
I think that the best live bait for snook in the inlets is croakers. Snook love croakers. If you can't catch any croakers then a pin fish is another great bait for snook. If you can't find those two then a mullet or any white bait like a large pilchard, greenies, pogies,..... anything that is alive and wiggles will work.
Inlet fishing usually requires you to have a heavier rod and reel combo than the flats, beaches and other more open areas. You will need to get a big snook in over some rocks or a sea wall and that takes a strong rod and reel.
A 5500 series reel filled with 50 lb. braided line will reel in just about anything in the inlet. You will also want to have a 7 to 8 ft. medium/heavy rod so that you can get some distance on a cast if you need it.
A decent rod and reel combo will run you around $200 to $250. You can pay less if you want to and you can pay a hell of a lot more but that price range will get you a great combo that will last for many years.
The best lure for fishing the inlets at night is the flair hawk snook jig. This is the undisputed champion of the night time snook lures. The key to using this lure is to cast way past the light shine in the water so that your lure is coming from the dark and into the light.
I wrote another article on this website that covers how to use a flair hawk snook jig with tips and techniques. You can read that article by clicking right here.
You have to cast your flair hawk up current and work it back to you with the current. The snook will be facing into the current so your lure presentation has to come from that direction for best results. If you bring the lure in from down current, then your risk coming in from behind the snook. This might spook them and give them a case of lock jaw for a while.
Quite often you will get a hit right after your jig moves into the light at the bottom of the inlet. I like to bounce the jig very slowly on the bottom. I think the same speed as the current is moving is usually about the right retrieval speed.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in great detail the best baits and lures for snook. You can read that article by clicking right here.
You don't necessarily have to bounce the jig off of the bottom BUT the bigger snook are almost always the ones on the bottom. The smaller ones are usually higher in the water column.
The best colors for flair hawk snook jigs are chartreuse, pink, and white. I think that you only need 3 sizes to fish every current situation in Florida. You will need a 1 ounce, a 1 1/2 ounce and a 2 ounce. You would need one hell of a strong tide and deep water to warrant using a 3 ounce jig or heavier.
Watch the video below and catch more snook with jigs.
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Winter fishing for snook--Mangroves
Mangroves that are adjacent to a deep channel are another great place to target Winter snook. One of the things that I love about Winter snook fishing is sleeping in. You don't have to get up and be on the water at the crack of dawn in the Winter. The opposite is actually a better idea.
Sleep in and roll out of bed at the crack of 9 am. Get some breakfast and coffee and casually make your way to the boat ramp. Get on the water around 10 or 11 am. By then the sun has had a chance to heat up the top layers of the water column.
Remember that snook are cold blooded like a snake. They aren't going to be doing anything until their body temperature rises enough to get moving.
The great thing about mangroves that are adjacent to deep channels is the mud flats and shallow sand bars that are usually at the mouths of those channels. The snook will go deep in the water column when it is cold. As the sun's energy warms the top layer of the water column, the snook will move from that deep water to the flats to warm their bodies.
That's when you can catch them. In my opinion, nothing beats dead bait in this scenario. The snook are still cold and sluggish so they don't want to chase some vivacious mullet around. They don't want to chase your walk-the-dog style of top water lure either.
They want to casually swim over to a delicious smelling mullet head or lady fish head and slurp it down the hatch with as little effort as possible. Then you got them.
A good rod and reel combo for this scenario is a 4000 series reel loaded with 20 lb. braided line and a 7 to 8 ft. medium/heavy action rod. A decent set up will run you about $150 to $200.
I wrote another article on this website that covers the best tackle for snook fishing in great detail. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Most of my really big snook are caught on dead bait up against the mangroves and around docks. I think that the big snook are as much scavenger as predator. They have learned to conserve their energy as much as possible and go after easy meals.
A dead pin fish is another great dead bait. You can use all of the mullet and the lady fish but for some reason the heads are the parts of their bodies that get more bites.
Just remember that snook have a very evolved sense of smell. If there are any snook within 50 yards of your dead bait offering, then those down current snook will smell it.
Watch the video below and catch more snook.
Winter fishing for snook--Rivers
Snook will run up the fresh water rivers in the Winter months. The fresh water rivers are usually warmer in the Winter months because the water is darker. Darker water and muddy bottoms absorb the heat energy of the sun more quickly and efficiently than clear water with light bottoms.
Snook are absolutely fresh water tolerant. They can live in salt water, brackish water and 100% fresh water environments. I grew up in Jupiter, Florida and we have a fresh water river there that has 30 lb. snook swimming around in it. These snook are big enough to eat a 5 lb. bass.
Those monster 30 lb. snook are stuck there because dams have been built since they went up the river. Usually river snook are a lot smaller than 30 lbs.
The fun thing about catching river snook is using your bass lures to do it. They are in those freshwater rivers eating crawdads, blue gills, frogs and all of the other things that a largemouth bass would eat.
A Texas Rig or a Carolina Rigged plastic worm, salamander or crawdad will catch snook in the rivers. Just work it real slow. Spinner baits are another bass lure that will catch river snook well. These are especially effective when there are schools of small bait fish in the area.
The best live bait is a blue gill or a mullet under a popping cork. Just cast it to the bank near any structure and you might get yourself a snook or a big bass.
The really big female snook have enough body mass to stay warm in the deep water around the inlets and bridges for the entire Winter. It is usually the smaller snook that will be up in the rivers BUT every now and again there will be some monsters up there.
Winter fishing for snook--Bridges
Snook love bridges. Bridges give snook two things that they love. It gives them places to ambush fish and shrimp swimming by in the current and it gives them a place to hide when a hungry dolphin or shark try to make lunch out of them.
The pilings on the bridge are just full of sponges, oysters, barnacles, plants and all kinds of other marine life. This life attracts crabs, shrimp and small fish for the snook to eat.
The deeper water is warmer in the Winter months in Florida. So the bigger snook can hang out around the deeper bridge pilings all Winter long without worrying about freezing to death.
The best live bait for Winter bridge snook is a croaker or a pin fish. You just have to get it to the bottom with enough weight. Mullet and any white baits will work just fine too.
You will often get a big gag or goliath grouper with this bait offering. There are even some big cubera snappers around the bridges these days.
The best lure for Winter bridge piling snook is...….. wait for it...…. Flair Hawk Jigs. They really are the best lure for deep water snook anytime of the year. Especially at night.
There are some good soft plastic swimming shad type of designs that work well too BUT flair hawks are cheap and they work. If it ain't don't fix it.
Snook love bridges. Bridges give snook two things that they love. It gives them places to ambush fish and shrimp swimming by in the current and it gives them a place to hide when a hungry dolphin or shark try to make lunch out of them.
The pilings on the bridge are just full of sponges, oysters, barnacles, plants and all kinds of other marine life. This life attracts crabs, shrimp and small fish for the snook to eat.
The deeper water is warmer in the Winter months in Florida. So the bigger snook can hang out around the deeper bridge pilings all Winter long without worrying about freezing to death.
The best live bait for Winter bridge snook is a croaker or a pin fish. You just have to get it to the bottom with enough weight. Mullet and any white baits will work just fine too.
You will often get a big gag or goliath grouper with this bait offering. There are even some big cubera snappers around the bridges these days.
The best lure for Winter bridge piling snook is...….. wait for it...…. Flair Hawk Jigs. They really are the best lure for deep water snook anytime of the year. Especially at night.
There are some good soft plastic swimming shad type of designs that work well too BUT flair hawks are cheap and they work. If it ain't don't fix it.
Winter fishing for snook--Docks
Docks are a great place to find snook. Just like the bridge pilings mentioned above, the dock pilings are full of marine life too. I like to look for an older dock so it has enough time to get the pilings full of all the little critters that attach to them.
I also like to find docks with big boats moored to them. Those big boats have big engines and big propellers. When they are coming and going to the dock they will dredge out underwater ditches that snook love to set up and ambush position in.
The shallow waters around the docks will heat up very quickly in the Winter. This makes them one of the best places to hunt for snook later in the day.
The best live bait for shallow water dock snook is a free lined mullet or a white bait of some kind. BUT a fresh dead mullet head or lady fish head is even better.
Send the bait up to the dock as close to the pilings as possible or under the dock is even better. Once those odor molecules have had a chance to attract all of the down current snook get ready for a fight.
You will need at least a 4000 series reel loaded with 20 lb. braided line and a 7 to 8 ft. braided line to get a snook out of the pilings without getting tangled and cut off.
You may even have to step up to a 5500 series reel with 50 lb. braided line if the snook are really big.
The best Winter lures for snook fishing the docks is a white 3 inch DOA CAL with a 1/8 ounce red jig head. A white 3 inch Berkely Gulp shrimp with a red jig head is another favorite of mine.
Cast these lures up current and slowly work them back with the tide bouncing them on the bottom every few feet if possible.
Watch the video below to catch more snook with top water lures.
Winter fishing for snook--Gear
If you want to catch a ton of snook you will need polarized glasses. Polarized glasses get rid of the glare on the water's surface allowing you to see what is underneath the water. ie. monster snook waiting to get caught by you.
A top end pair of polarized glasses will cost around $250. A cheap pair with glass lenses will cost around $25. The best lens colors for dirty and murky inshore water are amber, rose and copper. The best lens colors for clean and clear water are blue and gray.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts. These shirts have built in sunscreen to protect you from the sun's harmful rays. My company has sun protection performance fishing shirts for sale. Check them out by clicking on the visit our store link below.
About the author: The author of this article insists that everyone refer to him as The Snookinator. BUT we all just ignore him and call him Mike, the co-owner of FYAO Saltwater Media Group, Inc.
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