#awolfishing

#redfish #sightcasting #saltwaterfishing #Everglades #fishingsunglasses #skeletonoptics #southflorida RodnBarrel.net #sightfishing #captcarlball #awolfishing #rodandbarrel #rodnbarrel

Good thing I got my fishing in yesterday given today's weather. #snook #awolfishing Thax to Capt Carl Ball @awolfishing This Dawg can hunt! #skeletonoptics rodnbarrel,net #rodnbarrel.net

#saltwaterflyfishing #awolfishing #floridakeys #skeletonoptics

I'm getting my plan together to go permit fishing in the #floridakeys late this summer #skeletonoptics #awolfishing

#muttonsnapper #saltwaterflyfishing #biscaynebay #awolfishing #captcarlball #jodymoore #rodnbarrel

#awolfishing @awolfishing #captcarlball in the #theKeys #flyfishing for #bonefish

One of the tricks to dock light fishing for big snook is knowing their pattern. Big fish will actually move from light to light depending on the stage of the tide as part of a feeding pattern they’ve developed night after night. So, a big snook might be under one light during an incoming high tide. Move to another spot as the tide peaks and pick a completely different set of lights for an outgoing tide. Lately,  underwater dock lights have become very popular in Florida illuminating large areas of water. It used be just a gas lantern hung from a pier or bridge was all that was used and was pretty standard when I first started night fishing for snook. Once electricity could be run out to a dock or pier a single or maybe a series of lights that shone directly over the water was the light source for attracting fish. One of my favorite snook lights was a street light that happened to be close to the water and spread a large cone shaped beacon of light into the dark depths. It was located right at an entrance to an inlet so there was plenty of tide movement and the water was deep - Two things I like when grading a dock light for fishing success. Bridge lights that illuminate signs gauging the height of the water according to the clearance of the bridge posted on the bulkhead of the wooden tenders is another good spot for both snook and tarpon given the flow of water and the depth of the water in the ship channel. 

You can fish year round dock light fishing and there are more than snook that hang out in the lighted waters. Tarpon, Jack Crevalles, Lookdowns and the occasional Seatrout. Snook are the primary target. It used to be snook were considered a trash fish. Back before people filleted fish and remove the skins fo their catch a backed or fried snook with the skin on tatsted like soap. In fact they were called soap fish and were discarded as a inedible trash fish. Once it was learned a skinless snook filet was one of the best eating fish out there snook became very popular as an eating fish. Back in the 1950′s and 60′s, there was a commercial fishing industry for snook and it was a regular menu item at seafood restaurants. Back then fisherman used a gas lantern and would hang it over the side of bridge, pier or seawall where there was a good flow of water and structure. They used to use big 10-to 14-foot long bamboo rods called Calcutta poles that had a straight length of wire tide to the end. A 6-to 8-inch plug was carved out of a broom handle armed with several treble hooks and painted red-and-white in most cases. They would lower this lure into the water and then move it in a figure 8-pattern. Something about that movement would cause a big snook to strike. Once hooked a fisherman using all his might would haul the fish up and drop it on on dry surface. It paid to have a young son jump on a green fish and hold it still so that it didn’t come unhooked and flop back into the water.