Leave the Boat Behind

The day started out like so many before, patiently waiting in the dark at
the boat ramp for my angler to show. Right on schedule, Tom Sounds
from New Jersey walked across the parking lot with a cup of coffee and
a bag of doughnuts. I yelled, “Times a wastin’, the snook are bitin’!”
A handshake, a few laughs and a jelly doughnut later, we were off. We
headed north up the Indian River Lagoon with the sun just starting to
peak over the horizon. Crystal clear skies and a 65 degree morning left
me with an optimistic feeling about our snook fi shing success.

I stopped the boat short of a 200- yard long grass fl at that was home
to plenty of scat- tered sand holes and an eastern shore lined
with red and black mangroves. I stealthily poled us towards the edge of the
flat. With so little wind, the surface was as smooth as the hood
of a newly waxed truck. Tom stood on the bow waiting for
the first fish of the day. The gorgeous morning sky was
quickly changing colors by the minute, though the serenity was short
lived. I whis-pered , “ Tom , snook ,30 yards, 11 o’clock and
20 feet off the mangr overoots . He’s lying in that
hole facing north.” Tom instantly spotted the fish and
made a perfect cast, the fish however, thought otherwise and slowly swam away from the security of its ambush spot. Tom quickly recovered and made two more nicely placed presentations right in the fish’s path, but the snook was unimpressed.

For the next three hours that same scenario replayed itself as we
worked our way south. Releasing only two fish in the 24 inch range left
me extremely disappointed with the percentage of fish hooked verses the
amount of fish seen.

By 10:00 AM, we found ourselves over a familiar fl at southeast of Stuart
feasting on more doughnuts while discussing our next move. As we
talked I noticed some activity about 100 yards to our east. Very familiar
with this part of the fl at, I knew the fi sh were lying in a cut waiting for
bait to be washed off the shallows. Tom blurted “That looks like a good
place to start our next round.” I agreed and said “It sure does, but this
time we’re not taking the boat.” The look on Tom’s face was priceless. I
threw him a pair of wading boots and said “You’re not afraid to get your
feet wet are you?”

With the tide rushing toward us, we left the boat behind and slowly
stepped our way into casting range. I told Tom that the fi sh would probably
be facing away from us and that he should cast past the target and
let his bait naturally fl ow over the edge into the deeper pocket. As soon
as his bait drifted into the deeper hole, Tom was rewarded with a hefty
39 inch female snook. After a quick photo and careful release, Tom’s was
a happy man.

We spent the rest of the morning wading across that same fl at, casting to
all the distinct holes, cuts and points. By early afternoon we had released
fi ve more snook, eight or nine speckled trout, one redfish and several
ladyfish. To say the least, changing our plan of attack turned a fair day of
fi shing into an excellent day of catching! Tom later asked me why we had
seen so many fi sh in the early morning with so few takers as compared
to later in the day when we were wading. The answer could be as complicated
as tidal influence, water clarity, water temp, time of year, type of
bait etc. or as simple as the fi sh could simply just see us.

Without question fi shing is my number one passion with hunting coming
in as a close second. In the Fall 2004 issue of South Florida Sport Fishing
Magazine an article by shallow water expert Captain Fred Everson titled
Perfecting The Hunt, discussed how similar shallow water sight fi shing is
to hunting game birds and deer. I couldn’t agree more. The anticipation
of prowling a grass fl at is equally if not more exciting than hunting the
edge of a wooded fi eld and regardless whether you’re on land or on the
water; the key to success is seeing your prey before it sees you.

Snook, sea trout and most shallow water dwelling species have excellent eye the fi shsight and you can bet that most of the time if you can see them, they can see you. Most of these species have spooky days and not so spooky days.

When the fi sh are playing hard to get, there is no better tactic than to level the playing fi eld by staking your boat and getting out and wading. Regardless of what body of water you intend on fi shing, to consistently achieve success while wading you need to be as familiar as possible with the area. For starters, check out the fl at at low tide. You’ll fi nd that some of the bars and high spots are fully exposed during low tidal stages. This is an excellent opportunity to make a mental note of all the distinct cuts and sandy pot-holes. Seeing these troughs will give you a really good idea as to how the water will fl ow on and off the fl at and in which direction the bait fi sh will funnel towards the spots where the predators will likely lie-in-wait.

This is when and where a pair of top quality polarized sunglasses is an absolute must. Lowtide will also reveal where the actual drop-offs are located. This is critical, since stepping from one foot into six feet of water can be an eye opening experience. Take it from somebody who’s been there and done that! A number of inshore enthusiasts will say that you can only entice large snook with live bait, and this may be true to some extent.

I personally believe that regardless if you are fi shing from a boat, standing on a shoreline, or wading in knee deep water, you are the most successful when you have confi dence in what you are throwing, live or not. Though for those new to wade fi shing, an extra large live shrimp fi shed on a circle hook is a deadly combination that is hard to beat. Don’t use too large of a hook as it will weigh the shrimp down and make it look unnatural. Too small of a hook and you’ll sacrifi ce hook set effi ciency so be careful there as well.

Finger mullet and pinfish are also very popular and effective baits when wading across shallow water fl ats. Both are also fairly easy to keep alive and will produce a variety of species. There are three different ways I prefer to hook these baitfi sh. The fi rst is through the top of the lip and into the boney part of the nose. The second is behind the dorsal fi n and thirdly, right behind the anal fi n. It all depends on how you want your bait to swim. Either way, throwing one of these lively critters up current and letting it drift past an appealing point, cut, or sand hole is an excellent method of approach.

The use of a circle hook is important when fishing for regulated species
like snook. Most of the time you’re releasing these fi sh anyway and with
a circle hook, 90% of the time you’ll get a corner of the mouth hook-up.
This is less stressful on the fi sh and makes for a quick, healthy release.
The most common mistake made with circle hooks is setting the hook
like you’re largemouth bass fi shing. An intense heave will only result in
pulling the hook right out of the fi sh’s mouth. With a circle hook, a slow
retrieve with steady pressure is all that is required for a solid hook set.

After more than twenty years of wading the Indian River and its adjacent
waterways, I’ve grown a fondness for throwing artifi cial baits. Maybe it’s
an ego thing, but there’s something about fooling a big ol’ snook or bull
redfi sh into eating nothing more than a piece of plastic. Plus, artifi cial
baits are convenient. You don’t have to spend precious fi shing time catching live bait, and you can keep a variety of extra lures in your pockets. And under most circumstances you can cast artifi cial baits a lot farther. You’ll fi nd the extra distance to be extremely benefi cial when wade fishing shallow, crystal clear water. A seven and a half to eight foot spinning outfit is an ideal set-up for this type of fi shing. Top the reel off with 20 lb. PowerPro and fi nish things off with a 30 lb. fl uorocarbon leader.

When selecting lures, the choices are endless. There are many designed to catch more fi shermen than fi sh, so I like to keep it simple and only throw a handful of lures on a consistent basis, with soft plastics leading the
pack. D.O.A.’s TerrorEyez and CAL ShadTails are excellent choices and
what snook in the world can resist a D.O.A. shrimp drifting by its hole?
When it comes to stick-baits, purchasing only top quality saltwater lures
is a must. Their freshwater counterparts will not hold up to the harsh marine environment or to the relentless power of unforgiving saltwater species.

Yo-Zuri, Bomber, and High Roller are just a few of the many quality
lures on the market today. I prefer throwing topwater stick-baits in low
light conditions. If that doesn’t get their attention, I’ll try a Zara-Spook
with a walk the dog retrieve or with an enticing 1-2-3 pause, 1-2 pause, 1-
2-3 pause. Let’s also not forget the proven, long casting, fi sh fi nding gold
spoon. There is a new little spoon on the market called Capt. Joe’s Jigging Spoon and I’ve had excellent success with it.
Remember that wade fi shing isn’t only a conventional fi shermen’s game.
Fly fi shing enthusiasts will fi nd that walking a fl at provides plenty of room for perfecting their presentations. Woolhead mullets, clouser minnows and deceiver in various colors will account for plenty of excit-ing strikes.