by Capt. Christina
It’s always heartbreaking when a huge fish gets off the hook; recently I had a giant snook break my hook and my heart. We were trolling in the back water along an almost unreachable branch-off canal in the mangroves, the jig of choice was a hand tied feather jig made by my father. My dads’ style of jig we like to call Snook Candy. They are a top-secret proven catcher of all kinds of fish, including snook, tarpon, redfish and even snapper. We use Snook Candy mostly backwaters, even though they catch more than just the snook on them. My last Snook Candy got completely mangled by the biggest snook I have ever “almost caught”. She got off at the boat, but we were able to see just how large she really was. When I got my jig back, it had been completely twisted. What a strong fish!
A few weeks back when exploring the same patch of mangroves we had seen a giant school of large snook, but they swam by so quickly we didn’t have time to set up on them. This extremely remote area has been an amazing breeding ground for all types of fish. Seeing and catching lots of juveniles, snook, redfish and tarpon. Our fisheries have seen a great come back and hopefully we can improve and keep helping the populations. We have also seen an incredible turn around in our water quality, with some of the clearest water and best visibility we’ve seen in years! Being a Naples Native, I’ve seen a lot of change in the last 30 years in Naples, but the water has been clearer than I’ve personally ever seen! Come on down and book a trip! You will not be disappointed!
Captain Christina
Artistic Angler Charters