Snook fishing in Venice, FL
In the saltwater forum, I asked if anyone could point me in the right direction to catch some fish in the Venice, Fl area during the week of 4 July. I received a number of helpful responses - and an offer to take me out from Kevin Cooke of Casey Key Anglers and Outfitters ( [url=http://www.caseykeyanglersandoutfitters.com/:74051]http://www.caseykeyanglersandoutfitters.com/[/url:74051] ). I met Kevin in the shop on the 7th and after checking the tide charts, he decided a 9pm departure would be about right.
We met at the Casey Key launch at 9 to find a light drizzle and the prospects of more rain after an afternoon of heavy rain. Little wonder we were the only ones there. No lightning, so off we went. We motored through a no wake zone for a couple of minutes and anchored near a dock light. Snook were clearly there waiting for a meal! Kevin had 6 or 7 in the boat before I finally calmed down and quit beating the water to a froth...... After I finally landed a couple, we headed to another dock light only a few minutes away. Good fishing got even better. Hot fly was a polar fibre minnow, size 2 or 4 - all white with a little silver flash, orange throat and black eye. Schminnows worked, as did olive/white clousers, but definitely not as well as the polar fibre. The rain stayed away as did the bugs. Temp was very comfortable for shorts and a t-shirt. We just kept casting, catching and releasing snook for hours. Several times we had double-headers. Frequently, you could see the snook follow and hit your fly. The fish ranged in size from about 20" to a measured 25". Most of them were pretty stout and put up a good fight on our 8wts. We were using 30# tippet which had to be changed frequently because the snook abraided it so easily.
We fished for 8 hours or so and had constant action - we landed somewhere around 90 snook between us. A great night of fishing with a great guy - thanks to FAOL.
Here's what they looked like:
[url=http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e153/ths500/Snook/:74051]http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e153/ths500/Snook/[/url:74051]
