Finally getting to the time of year where lots of big spawning snook are in the inlet and push back into our rivers. The snook fishery has been declining year after year due to habitat loss in the Lox River, Bridge construction and pumping sand around to different areas. The Okeechobee discharges also have an affect of course. I’ve talked to some of the old timers who guide in the area and seen photos of how the river used to look 40 years ago and its a shame. The entire river used to be oyster bars and grass and now theres nothing left at all but sand. Its like a desert on the bottom. That the only way Ive ever know it so im used to it but i can see how you could just get depressed about it if you had the chance to see it how it was naturally before us humans messed it up. Ive been fishing the lox river for about 8-9 years very regularly - Guiding 2 years and in the summer months and I still think its one of the best big snook fisheries in the state. Any given day you could sight fish a trophy snook on artificial. The area gets lots of fishing pressure and the snook are big and smart but some days you’ll still see 100+ large floater snook on the surface, Sometimes tailing on the surfacing laid up like a large tarpon would lay up. Generally I target one large snook with my clients, Its not a fishery of quantity usually, though I have had some days with 4 or 5 snook caught all near the 40inch range, generally if we catch one big snook thats a great day. Not many small fish around, I rarely catch a snook underslot out here. A few times a year we get perfect days where tons of fish push back from the inlet and you’ll see hundreds but usually its much harder to find them. Sadly in Jupiter its become a live scope forward facing sonar game for some of the guides and that’s a whole nother discussion but I am proud to say Im the only guide who poles in Jupiter. I dont run a trolling motor on my skiff anymore at all. I prefer to fish sight fish while poling my clients. It took me a long time to be able to consistently find these big snook and I dont feel the need to watch my lure fall down to a school of snook sitting on a bridge piling or deep hole. I just got a new Chittum and am starting to take charters again so if anyone’s looking to get a big overslot snook let me know. Thanks to everyone who put in the work to get this site up and running so the community has a better platform.
Capt. Q
Mangrove Expeditions
Welcome aboard @Captqdestout I’ve fished quite a bit in the Stuart/Jensen Beach/Ft. Pierce areas and it has declined significantly, unfortunately. But there are still some big snook and trophy trout around, as you’ve discovered.
Glad to have you join us.
@Captqdestout Welcome to the best!
Do you have a website or a link?
You ought to hear Tom Greene’s stories about snook fishing in the day. He’s probably caught more 40+ inch snook than anyone in the world. (Former owner of Custom Rod & Reel in Lighthouse Point).
Welcome aboard @Captqdestout !
Ill look into him, thanks.
I grew up in Jupiter and I wish we would’ve realized how good it was 20 years ago. There’s not nearly as many fish in the inlets, around Juno pier, or just in general. I think the big thing I’ve heard a few people like Butch Constable and Mike Holiday mention is the lack of bait compared to then. Water quality plays into that but I think the commerical guys netting every pilchard they can find really hurts. Peanut Island in particular used to be loaded with glass minnows and walking the “beach” there was unreal when I first started fly fishing.
Beating up on the spawning fish has gotten out of hand too. I’m as guilty as anyone though would spend 3-4hrs catching croakers or perch just to burn through every bait in an hour of tide. That was pre YouTube and Instagram days for the most part and wish I could see the fishing as good but knowing what I know now.
I use to fish the inlet and the beach with coventional spin gear back in the early 80’s. Saw some huge snook come out of the surf though my favorite was catching jacks as they came up the inlet blitzing baitfish. That was a blast. As I recall there were only two high rise apartment buildings on the beach then. It was a small parking area, not like the park today. There might be 20 or so people there in the morning and typically they all fished off the wall into the jetty. Hardly anybody fished the surface. I remember wading the backwater one day where kids swam and saw a caiman up above them. Hit him on his nose with my fly. Told some parents and they rushed their kids out of the water
CaptQD and others: I have caught three Snook in my life, two last week in South Texas. They were in a shadow, under a bridge, hitting passing bait balls on topwater. Many times, they made a loud popping sound, like a cap pistol, when they struck. I wonder how they do that? Do you hear it? Beautiful fish! I did the “thumb release” and that was so cool! TJ
The biggest Jupiter snook I’ve caught was on a 1oz. Saltwater Rat-L-Trap, Chrome/Black or Chrome/Blue, 60lb leader on a 7’ med-heavy bait caster stick. Casting in-between docks.
That sounds is music in the mangroves, when you hear that distinctive pop, you know they are chewing!
I always thought that snook popping at the surface sounded very much like a champagne cork. If you look at the jaw on one - the lower portion sticks out farther than the upper.. If you get to watch a snook attack at the surface you’ll see they don’t open up until they’re almost touching that bait at the surface - that’s what creates that distinctive topwater “pop”. Just nothing like a snook of any size hitting topwater….
Makes me tingle!
I caught my first snook ever on a mini rattle trap. That snook was mini as well but I’ll never forget it!