By: Eric Henson
If you are looking to bend a rod or listen to a smoking drag, May is your month to get after some linesliders! Snook are called linesiders because they have a dark lateral line that runs down their entire body from head to tail. All of May, snook fishing really heats up as they make their way to the Gulf stacking up in passes, inlets, and into the surf. They are gearing up to spawn so this means they will be hungry, aggressive, and ready to munch just about any bait coming their way!
This time of year, you’ll find them hugging structure so think mangroves, dock pilings, bridge shadow lines. Tide’s your best friend, especially the strongest ones. It flushes bait in and out like a buffet, and the snook will line up for an easy meal ticket. Snook are pretty nocturnal, but any low light conditions will be your best chance.
Live bait’s like pilchards, threadfins, and pinfish are like candy to these fish. But don’t sleep on artificials. Walk-the-dog topwaters at dawn will get you explosive insane blowups. Soft plastics on jigheads or twitch baits will do work too. Just make sure your leaders dialed in at a minimum of 20 to 30 lb. fluoro is clutch or you’ll get sawed off quickly.
Unfortunately harvest season shuts down May 1st in Southwest Florida, so it is catch-and-release only. Just do your best to support the weight of the fish when you hold them to snap a quick pic and let them swim away strong. This helps ensure that they will have a better chance to make the magic happen while they spawn.
All in all, May’s primetime for chasing snook. They hit like trucks, jump like tarpon, and they’ll test your drag for sure. So, grab your gear and get ready for a fight because their first couple of runs are insanely powerful.
Always do your best to leave the local waters as good or better than when you arrived to them. There is still lots of debris and things around so if you see something that shouldn’t be there please do your part in keeping the waters clean. Tight lines, and look forward to seeing out on the h20!