![]() The State of Florida has managed snook conservatively since the population of fish was hit hard by cold weather a few years ago. With a little care, our children and grandchildren will all be able to enjoy the exceptional snook action found at Stuart’s Crossroads. Good points, ones that we all should heed if we hope to preserve this incredible fishery. You have to remember that the fish you let go represents not only a larger fish in the future, but also a direct link to future generations of snook.” “Too many people simply toss the fish back overboard instead of putting it gently back into the water and taking a minute or two to revive it. “I see a lot of people not respecting the fish, particularly during the spawning months, when we really need to take extra care to make sure the fish are handled gently, revived and released in good shape,” he says. But Holliday stresses that the fish need special care to make sure they continue to thrive. Snook are still rebounding from the devastating cold of recent winters in Florida, but the fishery gets stronger all the time (see sidebar). That’s when I like to fish seawalls because there’s a lot of water depth on the wall, and the big fish show up.” On extreme high tides, the fish on the flats can go anywhere, so they’re spread out. “That concentrates the fish in the deeper potholes and pulls them off the grass so there’s less terrain to cover. “On the flats, I want an extreme low tide,” Holliday says. Large grass flats around the Crossroads offer both wading and boat-fishing opportunity. “If you know where they sit on each tide, you can set up during the slack tides and wait for the fish to come to you.” “They hold in one or two spots during the outgoing tide, then when the current stops, they move to their incoming tide spot during the slack tide,” he says. Mike Holliday, another well-known Stuart snook expert, says that the fish in the inlets are predictable. “Predators like snook lie in wait as the tide ebbs at various areas, looking for the bait as it flees the flats.”Ĭapt. “I prefer outgoing tide because it creates a sense of urgency,” Wakeman says. ![]() Wakeman has fished the area most of his life, and is an expert at predicting where and when a snook might be found. Wakeman is not only an accomplished guide, he also owns the River Palm Cottages (see SWS Planner), a delightful, Old Florida-style fish camp. All of this adds up to great fishing opportunities. Then there are the docks and bridges, above-water structures that hold snook as well. The inlet jetties provide outstanding habitat for the fish, especially in summer, but vast flats areas also hold points, potholes, channel edges and other submerged structure that the fish love to prowl in search of their next meal. No other place in Florida offers this diversity. Lucie inlet - offers a wealth of habitat with hundreds, if not thousands, of places where you might expect to find a hungry snook. Lucie and Indian rivers converge just inland of the St. The famed Crossroads area of Stuart might offer the best snook fishing in Florida, a statement that anglers along the state’s southwest coast will surely dispute. But after a few minutes, I brought the tired fish alongside the boat, and we released it, scoring our first snook of the day. Snook strike hard, and the fight was exciting as the fish tried to head for open water. I tossed a live pilchard (scaled sardine) close to the rocks, and within seconds, I saw a subsurface flash, and my line came tight as a snook engulfed the baitfish. Lucie inlet in Stuart, Florida, looking for that very thing. Some big ones too.” We had motored slowly around the north jetty of the St. “There they are,” he said, “30 fish or more lying above the sand right next to the rocks. Pat Fordįrom high in the tower of our bay boat, Capt. Rufus Wakeman caught this chunky snook around one of the bridges near the Crossroads.
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