Snook On Artificial Lures- April 2019
Anna Maria Island fishing excursions for folks on vacation have been great in April. The Tampa Bay weather has been windy but there are myriad stretches of mangrove shoreline to hide from the wind. That’s where the springtime snook lay in wait to attack unsuspecting shiners, shrimp, crabs and other prey as they are washed across sandy potholes with the tides.
Over the years, the successful use of netted shiners as snook bait has been well documented on blogs, TV shows, magazines and websites but anglers sometimes forget that there are still artificial lure aficionados that practice and hone their skills, avidly chasing the elusive snook armed only with baits found in their tackle box. I was fortunate last week to spend a day with such a fisherman, Dave Lubinsky, from Clearwater, Florida.
Now, I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with several well known TV personality fishermen that were fishing with lures because they were “sponsored” by a lure company and they wanted to report to their viewers the efficacy of their sponsors’ lures. But, not Dave. He just loves the challenge of fishing with artificials and his favorites are not the $10 – $15 ones with the shiny, reflective sides or the rattling rear end. Dave prefers the common 4 or 5 inch plastic shad or grub tail, rigged weedlessly with a worm-style hook. I noticed that he sticks to the basic, most popular colors like pearl essence, silver glitter, root beer and gold flake. When cast to potholes or along overhanging mangroves, the soft plastic offering floats or rides just sub surface as Dave expertly twitches, jerks, jigs and walks-the-dog back to the boat.
For most of the day, I fished with live bait while Dave fished with his lures. I probably caught more fish, but the thrill of seeing a snook rip that plastic bait near the surface was very exciting. Time after time, I caught myself watching Dave’s lure and rooting for him to get a hit instead of paying attention to which direction my bait had wandered. When I caught one, I reeled it in and released it. When Dave caught one, I yipped and hollered like a kid. We both did. Maybe that’s the lure (sorry) of fishing with artificial baits. The degree of difficulty is elevated and so is the exhilaration and sense of accomplishment that comes with each successful hook-up!