I’ve seen some serious snook in my life, but on a recent trip during the mullet run to Pt. St. Lucie Florida earlier in October, I witnessed happenings I had never seen before. Just before sunrise among the docks in the Indian River Lagoon, the back bay world absolutely lit up. Mullet were so thick, (and I hate to use this expression but it’s true), you could literally walk across the water on top of the mullets backs. That alone was a magnificent sight to see, but even more so was the amount of snook that were blowing up the mullet schools around the dock pilings. It was incredible to see snook up to 30 pounds vaulting out of the water exploding on mullet only feet away from the docks.

The key was how to fish the schools when they had all the food they needed in front of them. Best shots at scoring dock snook when they are keyed in on bait is to throw topwater or floating offerings such as the DOA BFL, the DOA C.A.L paddletails, and Yo-Zuri Mag Darters to garner a reactive strike. If that doesn’t work, go a little deeper under the mullet schools with a 3/8 to ½-ounce Kalins leadhead tipped with a 4-inch Bass Assassin, or 5-3/4- inch Fin-s Fish in Arkansas Shiner, Albino Shad or Bubble Gum coloring.

That’s daytime fishing, and after dark can be just as effective. If you are working the night shift around the dock lights, go with a 3 to 4-inch DOA Shrimp, in gold fleck/white or gray and white patterns and twitch the shrimp bait every two or three cranks of the reel. Night time dock snook fishing can be very precarious as they are wizened fish and will turn away at any offering after the second or third pass so make your casts count and work the lure perfectly or you will truly have to put in your time to convince them to strike. Employ the use of a heavier 30 to 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and use a 75-pound class Tactical Anglers Clip to insure you will hold strong in case you hook into a 20-pound plus class linesider as their brawny fight and their serrated gill plates can easily cut line that is less than 30-pound test. Hook up with TackleDirect Pro Staff Captain Mike Haines at (305) 505-2772 to get in on the bite.