Snook-Nook Fishing Report

 May typically brings along with it some of the best Snook fishing of the year for us here on the Treasure Coast. The Snook are getting ready for their summer spawn and start showing up more around the inlets. This is the time of year where you have a great shot at catching your personal best Snook! Live Croakers are hands down the best option to fish with when targeting Snook this time of year. A few things that make them such a great bait option are; they are extremely tough and can last multiple casts, they typically will swim right to the bottom and hang out towards the bottom of the water column making them a great option for fishing around bridges, deeper docks and deeper water in general and they are a predator to Snook’s eggs. Croakers will eat Snook’s eggs during the spawn so Snook will attempt to protect their eggs and try to kill the Croaker either by eating it or just crushing it. You will notice that sometimes you are having a hard time hooking up on Snook while fishing Croakers because they are just picking the bait up, crushing it and spitting it back out as a defense mechanism when they aren’t feeding. You can expect us to have a steady supply of Croakers here at the shop throughout the summer. Live Pilchards, Mullet, Sand Perch, or shrimp will also get you a bite. Along with in the inlets, you can expect to find Snook out on our local beaches and even on some of our local reefs and wrecks typically from May-August. You will find plenty of action in the St. Lucie River around Sewalls Point and the 10 cent bridge along with around the Stuart and Jensen Causeways in the Indian River. Snook season closes on June 1st so you have another month to land that keeper! 

We start to see some more Tarpon action around this time of year as well with more bait showing up in the river. You can expect to find them feeding on glass minnows, pilchards, mullet and crabs. A lot of anglers will try to time their Tarpon fishing to either morning or evening outgoing tides. We have crabs and shrimp that will drift through areas such as the causeways, the crossroads and inlet on the outgoing tide and anglers will post up in those areas targeting them. Hogy Pro Tail and Slow Tail swimbaits are great options for those looking to trick them with an artificial. 

Over the past week, we have been hearing steady Pompano reports inshore from the Jensen Causeway mosquito bridge. Anglers are catching them mainly on both Pompano jigs and even Crappie jigs. Some decent sized Pompano up to 4lbs have been in the mix there. Along with the Pompano, anglers have been catching Spanish Mackerel, Croakers and even some Whiting there on the jigs. 

For those looking to fish with shrimp, there have been Mangrove Snappers caught around the causeways and other structures such as docks and channel markers. We begin to see more and larger snapper inshore this time of year and throughout the summer. Shrimp on a jig head is a great way to target them, fill up the cooler and catch a number of other species. Other species that have been caught here consistently fishing the shrimp and jig method include Flounder, Trout, Croakers and Bonefish. 

For those looking for a battle, there have been plenty of big jacks cruising the sea walls, toss a live bait or top water against some sea walls and hang on! 

We see a lot of life inshore starting around May, buckle up and hold on for some great fishing!