My buddy Joe and I will be fishing the RedSnook Tournament again this year in October. I’m not a big tournament fan since they so often become about the cash or the volume of fish you can sling on a deck, but when asked to participate last year I did, and I had a ball. The tournament proceeds benefit the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and its Estuary Programs, and if Joe and I place we’ll be sending our winnings the the Snook Foundation, who is sponsoring us. We’ll once again be fishing in the Unguided Spin/Plug category, and this year my plan is to actually catch a fish or two, just to change things up a little. I know that sounds zany, but it’s how I roll.

For many anglers, wind is the most hated impediment to a good day on the water. A brisk breeze can make for a choppy surface, creates a challenge when casting and can literally ruin any chance at sight fishing in shallow water. What’s often overlooked is the fact that fish go right on feeding despite a ruffled surface. To catch them, simply adjust. Provided the wind in question is not at dangerous levels, simply fish the leeward (downwind) side of whatever structure you can find, switch to slightly larger (spin cast) or smaller (fly) presentations, keep your presentations lively so they stand out and fish with the confidence that game fish can see items below or on the surface a lot better than you can see through it.

When fishing moving water, remember that predatory fish generally face into the flow, as the current acts as a conveyer belt that ushers food their way. This rule of thumb applies fairly universally, whether you’re drifting wet flies to brown trout in coldwater streams, bouncing jigs for stripers in deeper inlets or working twitchbaits in backwater eddies for snook. Send your casts “upstream”, and (depending on your offering) let it either flow back naturally, or retrieve so it moves along at the same rate as the flow. If you drag a dry fly against the current or pull a lure against a strong tide, more often than not your offering will be ignored by savvy game fish.

Angling is always in season for me. In all seasons, I fish or think fish; each season makes its unique contribution, and there is no season of the year when I am not angling.

Nick Lyons, Winter Dreams

Reports from around Florida confirm that snook are dying by the thousands due to a series of record-breaking cold fronts. Snook are notoriously intolerant of chilly weather, and prolonged exposure to water temperatures below 60 degrees usually proves lethal. Though snook are the most vulnerable species, water has claimed many other types of fish, including mullet, catfish, tarpon, mojarra, snapper and gag grouper, as well as countless smaller species that are an important forage food for Florida’s game fish, including ladyfish and pinfish. To those of us who catch and release snook and carefully monitor their status, this is a big blow. Alas. There’s a wistful irony in Mother Nature ultimately being the biggest threat to snook populations since commercial fishing for them was banned in the late 1980s. For more info, visit this site.

To report a fish kill, visit FWC here or the Snook Foundation here. Please record pertinent fact such as date, time, GPS coordinates (if possible), number and size of dead or near-dead fish, and conditions observed. If you see someone illegally harvesting dead or dying snook, dial #DEP on a cell phone, or call (877) 2-SAVE-FL (1.877.272.8335).

“Well her hair was jet black and her name was Bodine,
thought she was the cream of the Basin Street queens.
She got tired of that smoky white dream,
began to feel lonesome, orn’ry and mean…”

“For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish.”

John H. Bradley