Sight-casting for snook and trout requires not only stealth, but also accurate casting. Because both trout and snook are lunging-type predators that rely heavily on their vision for safety and food, they’re more apt to notice a lure, bait or fly hitting the water directly in front of them. A cast and retrieve that crosses the fish’s field of vision too closely, particularly one that “charges right at” the fish, will set that fish on its guard at best—and more likely cause it to depart immediately. In the real world, prey does not swim into the jaws of danger. By far the best cast is to the angler’s side of the fish’s periphery, where there’s little chance the fish will see the offering passing overhead, before it hits the water. Hopefully, the fish will turn slowly toward the lure or bait, follow, then strike in one kick of the tail. It’s a beautiful bite that you’ll replay in your mind again and again.
Low-light periods can be tops for topwater strikers.
One of the truisms of shoreline fishing is that the fish are tidally motivated. During high tide the fish are more comfortable along a shallow shoreline, as they can maneuver under overhanging trees or push baitfish up tight against the bank. The lower tide phases usually push the fish, and their food, out several yards from the bank or mangrove roots. Then you have the advantage—for one, the fish are reachable, and two, they can’t get quickly back into the roots to escape once hooked.
As a classic example of this low-tide advantage, I fished the Gulf rivermouths of southwest Everglades National Park recently. Shorelines there are basically one giant tangle of roots with water running 20 feet or more back into the structure. At high tide the fish can move far into the roots but on the outgoing tide the food and the fish retreat into the open. On a strong spring tide in May I fished the mouth of the Harney River and on the last of a falling tide, caught snook for two hours until the tide finally bottomed out. A few hours earlier, those fish were out of casting reach, way back under the branches. SWA
LET THE BIRDS BE YOUR GUIDE
The early bird may get the worm, but birds will help you catch more fish, too. Ospreys, herons, egrets and other wading birds are the best fishermen in the world. If you see one or two ospreys in an area you might think nothing of it, but a half-dozen or more hovering over a flat or shoreline is a tipoff that you should not ignore.
Wading birds are another good indicator of fishy locations. A lone egret hunting a shoreline might not draw your attention, but eight or ten egrets along a shoreline is a sure sign that baitfish are around, or are even being herded up by gamefish. A heron on the end of a branch is likely catching minnows—the major forage species for trout, snook and redfish during the winter months.
Pay particular attention to the feeding habits of the birds. By watching what a pelican does after it dives on a bait school, you can easily tell what size the baitfish are. That will help you surmise what fish may be on the scene. Pelicans that hold their entire face in the water after they dive are filtering minnows. Pelicans that immediately lift their heads and swallow after diving are on small baitfish, and a pelican that holds its catch and then flips its head up and makes a grand effort to consume it is usually on substantial-sized baits like large mullet, pogies or threadfin herring.
FISH SMALL
SMALL LURES ARE LESS LIKELY TO SPOOK WARY snook and trout. In calm, clear water that is typical of leeward shorelines during winter, gamefish like snook and trout don’t expect prey such as mullet, and so-called whitebait species like pilchards, threadfins, pogies and Spanish sardines to splash around on the surface as is normal during the summer. For that reason, a lure landing loudly on the water is going to alert them more than entice them. That’s a good time to downsize your lure and cast carefully. Quite a few lure manufacturers make hollow, unweighted plugs and other lightweight lures that are ideal for just this type of fishing scenario.
As a rule, anything that weighs over 1⁄4 ounce is going to make too much sound when it hits the water. That’s why I fish unweighted soft-plastic jerkbaits and the popular plastic shrimp. Also, there are many “slim minnow” floater-diver plugs that land lightly, yet cast for distance with light braided line
Probably the best artificial to combat the sound factor is an unweighted fly. With the advent of synthetic fibers, a lot of streamers are so light that they literally flutter out of the sky and feather lightly to the surface. Just about any shrimp, crab or baitfish pattern will work, but it’s best to utilize a fly pattern that mimics the natural forage in that area for that time of year.
