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FlatsRoamer

Snook Flies

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I would have thought larger flies like whistlers would be the go for these fellas?

Am I wrong?

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I don't do salt water. So I, for one, have no idea what Snook eat. I can snooker you on a snooker table ... but I don't know how to catch a snook.

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So how many have you caught Flats and what's your biggest? I have caught one and it was small and on a shrimpy gotcha on the west coast. Where I am on the central east coast of Florida is a completely different situation than the south or west.

 

Big sea trout I have more experience with.

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Sorry, Flats. Since this was your first fish on a fly rod ...

 

 

Caught exactly one month ago ... I am not sure how you decided the "Schminnow" is your favorite snook fly?

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My list:

In the bay:

1. White Gurgler (estaz body) on a #2 34007 is probably the most fun way to catch them

2. Bead chain clousers, chart/white, chart/yellow, olive/white #2

3. Red and white seaducer

 

Off the beach:

1. These have been really producing (two to four matched saddle hackles and a collar of ep dubbing brush shrimp or minnow head brush, some eyes

C47SD hook):

IMG_20150702_214211_975_2.jpg

 

2. Schminnows #4 or #2 depending on the "hatch"

3. #2 Deceivers in all white, blue/white, or chart/white

4. EP Mullets. I love the smallest size for matching the bait when it is small

5. Polar fiber minnows in all white or chart/white

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Islander. I love the pattern pictured. Good stuff. I've caught many snook in my day but never on a fly. Thanks.

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It depends on where I'm fishing. Around mangroves I like bend backs since they can pop out of trees easier without getting hung up. Clousers are also great. Around mullet schools on the flats I like polar fiber minnows and this is my go to fly:

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Flats-Usually if you are asking a favorite fly for a certain species;you have a basis for comparison.It may be tried and true ,but if you haven't caught a snook on a fly then you can't know it's your favorite! ;) Now get out there with your fly box and rod,catch a snook and be a teenager instead of playing on the computer all day!Take it easy bud!

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FR

A schminnow has no weight. The eyes are not bead chain, they are mono. The bead chain does two things. First, it flips the hook to ride point up and second it will (if you have them where eyes are located) impart a jigging movement. A schminnow is designed to fish shallow and in a straight line. With that being said, I'm sure your bead chain "schminnow" will catch fish in an appropriate situation. I have caught a snook but would like to catch more and bigger ones. The one I caught was only about 6lbs. I'd also like for one to win the blue ribbon back to my kitchen. I hear they are excellent eating.

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Snook aren't that fussy about fly patterns - but they do target specific bait sizes depending on circumstances.... On the Gulf coast beaches right now a small white fly (size 4 up to 1/0 - a crystal Schminnow - or that white fly that Islander posted...) is just killer since the fish are feeding on bay anchovies and other small white bait... Up in the timber where fish are hanging out around downed trees and using the current to help them ambush bait coming by a bigger fly in the size 1 up to 2/0 might be a better choice (and it had better have a weedguard...). These kind of flies are imitating baitfish in the 3 to 5 inch size range - I like Seaducers, my own Silhouette, Deceivers, popping bugs, Gurglers, and occasionally a larger Schminnow as well as that standby the Whitewater clouser... for that situation... Lastly bigger fish make a point of eating every mullet they come across (or ladyfish) so you're going to want some mullet flies - I tie and use both deerhair mullet patterns and sinking woolhead patterns for these fish in sizes 1/0 up to 4/0 we're talking four to seven inch flies... Lastly during tarpon season in the 'Glades there are times when really big girl type snook will eat a large tarpon fly worked slow and easy near downed trees - You never know they're around until you're hooked up and the fish is doing its best to get back up under a downed tree....

 

Here are a few patterns in the order I mentioned them... Remember that most snook fishing is much more a matter of finding the fish than getting them to eat (lots of fish in the 'Glades don't behave much differently when you're tossing flies at them...). We mostly use floating lines but switch to intermediates when we're using heavier gear (10wt and up) and larger flies meant to be worked deep....

 

One other point to make about snook - depending on the time of year they behave quite a bit differently ( in really cold weather we find snook up really shallow and work small black flies with no shock tippet at all... ) during hotter weather we hunt baitfish schools near structure and every fish we find is just starving...

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What they eat depends on where they are. When I worked with the USFWS we would seine in the longshore channels, and find snook prowling those waters for whiting, small pompano, and other fish that inhabit those places. In brackish stream mouths, or in the bay proper, they were more likely to be after killifish, of which Florida has several species. At night we used to fish with small pinfish for bait. They will also go after shrimp and other things, but my sense is that they primarily are after small fish.

 

Since some have said they never caught a snook, snooks have a large toothy mouth, suitable for fish eating. They also have razor sharp gill rakers, so don't pick one up around the body or by the gills.

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