Made some changes this year....

Went from this:

To this:

And from this:

To this:

The boat change was more logistics than anything. I live 10 minutes from Jupiter Inlet/Loxahatchee River (not refuge) and here i was driving all over the freaking state to catch the little green basstards (which i still love btw). My shortest trip was 40 minutes one way before. Now i launch in 10 minutes. Makes for easy after work evening trips.

Tell you what it has been a fun challenge/transition. I have pursued snook for many years but never exclusively. They are a bruiser of a fish with the smarts to match. I am starting to crack this nut though and have been killing it the last month. Have caught 15 this week 12-19 lbs. Pure clean fun.

Good move...................good luck !

Heck of a change right there, Dale. Glad to see you making a post. Gotta love catchin them Snook. Great fighting fish, d**n good on the table too. Nice new rig. Seeing photos like that of those snook definitely make me miss my old shallow water boat. Hard to blame you when you're that close to the inlet.

Dale! We've been wondering what happened to you.

It sure is fun catching beastly snook.. It's getting that time of year where I will start targeting them a little bit.

Good to see you're still slaying the fish...

Congratulations Dale! fantastic snook

That is a monster snook!!!! ya, that area is prime time snook fishing. Nice transition with the boats to. Whats good about that boat is you still can go bass fishing. That is a win win in my book.

Two nice boats but I am a freshwater guy I would have stayed with the bass boat.

Good move, especially living that close to the Jupiter inlet. North county is the BOMB for Snook. I've used my Tracker for snook fishing several times. How come you didn't want to use yours?

That stealth is a really nice boat. Not sure unless it was a calm day if I would want to venture into the open ocean with it, unless you have some flats in your area, which we don't have here, for ICW it's a killer. Brst of luck with, really nice snook too, you can tell by the color it's an ocean snook, not a river or icw one.

Doug: Although the tracker can take some saltwater it wont hold up to it all the time. The hardware and such isnt made to be exposed to salt. Not to mention the trailer would have rusted out in like 3 months.

That stealth is a really nice boat. Not sure unless it was a calm day if I would want to venture into the open ocean with it, unless you have some flats in your area, which we don't have here, for ICW it's a killer. Brst of luck with, really nice snook too, you can tell by the color it's an ocean snook, not a river or icw one.

Yeah i have been happy with it. Searched for months and found this one used up in Deland. I have been running the beach on the calm days looking for tarpon. The layout of a flats boat with the walkaround gunnels is the deal though for fighting these fish.

And yes that snook was nice and clean even though i caught it under a bridge up the river a bit. Clearly can tell the locals from the seasonal visitors.

Another from last couple weeks:

Nice boat!. If I knew then what I know now, I would have bought a boat I could have used for both inshore and fresh.

Yeah, man...I love my flats boat. Salt or fresh water...I can take it super skinny in the marsh trails. Flamingo. The inlets. Everglades. Okeechobee.

I can do basically every kind of fishing I want to do (not really an off-shore fisherman)...

When can I invite myself to go Snook'n?

smart move

Although I went with carpet on my Big O, its is set up for Saltwater, all stainless hardware and so forth, I had them leave the carpet out of the rod boxes as to not hold any moisture.

I'm going to be looking for a Snook hook up soon and gladly trade a Bass trip for one.

right on dale! i was a snook and tarpon junkie until i fished my first bass tourny. i have a couple of spots in the jupiter inlet that hold lots of snoooks. what night do you want me to come up? like doug, i'll invite myself.

All of my saltwater boat fishing is offshore, so no snook, my friends aren't into it. I do fish snook nearly every single morning from shore, I have some excellent spots ranging between Jap Rock and Hobe Sound. If I boat fished them, I know some super places within 15 minutes of my home. Now is the time for snook, until the end of the year, the sign of a good snook fisherman is catching them in the winter.

I can't get serious about any other species, except barracuda, too bad very few redfish in my area.

The biggest challenge here is battling the crowds. I have been countering this by fishing from like 3 am to 7 am. Using the first hour to get bait and then fishing until it is gone. Off the water by 7-8am. offshore guys are pulling up to the ramp all hung over launching their boats and I am pulling out after killing em all night.

Caught a 23 pounder Saturday night....and had a 8 foot bull shark try to take a 12 pounder boat side in the dark. Almost crapped my pants.

When can I invite myself to go Snook'n?

Although I went with carpet on my Big O, its is set up for Saltwater, all stainless hardware and so forth, I had them leave the carpet out of the rod boxes as to not hold any moisture.

I'm going to be looking for a Snook hook up soon and gladly trade a Bass trip for one.

right on dale! i was a snook and tarpon junkie until i fished my first bass tourny. i have a couple of spots in the jupiter inlet that hold lots of snoooks. what night do you want me to come up? like doug, i'll invite myself.

Whomever can pancake a ten foot net is in.....haha.

Getting bait by myself is too much work.

Whomever can pancake a ten foot net is in.....haha.

Getting bait by myself is too much work.

Lmao

I remember when I could do it non stop. I learned how on the Bimini flats. After throwing one enough, I tore up my rotator cuff. Hasn't been right since. I stick to using my small little nets now.

I'll toss the net, no prob.

I only use live bait when the bite is tough, I've done it more this year than ever, maybe 10 times. I can honestly say bait is the equalizer, I've scored almost every time I've use it.

Sabiki does the trick, if the bait may be a little scarce I'll tip my sabiki with squid and try and catch a spot, croaker, sand perch or a little jack, they make great inshore baits.