A family vacation to Jensen Beach provided me with a chance to catch a few new species on the fly. A special thanks to Captain Ray Winters of www.greenwatercharters.com for a great night of dock fishing for Snook. The ecosystem under the lights of a Florida dock at night is intense to say the least. Little shrimp and fish, getting eaten by bigger fish, getting blown up by even bigger things. I would not recommend swimming there, but chucking a fly in there was fantastic.
We started the evening shooting the shit because we were early, the action starts after dark. It is pretty easy to see the action once it starts, fish everywhere. Ray was great, pointing out the Snook that made a definite sucking sound when feeding. The Jacks were more plentiful and less picky. Ladyfish and a paper thin fish called a Lookdown also bent the rod, but Snook were the best fighting. They set up on apex positions, in front of or behind the dock pilings letting current bring them a meal. I had many refusals, but managed to hook four Snook. Once hooked the fish had to be wrenched from the dock, then they leapt brilliantly before bull dogging at the boat. A great battle. One snapped my line, another came unhooked after smashing into the boat. Two came in the boat and posed for a quick pic.
I highly recommend Captain Ray. The day prior I watched a dozen surf casters catch two fish off the beach all day. Green Waters Charters offers a two hour night dock fishing session for $200, where I hooked a dozen fish and landed several of different species. It was awesome!
We started the evening shooting the shit because we were early, the action starts after dark. It is pretty easy to see the action once it starts, fish everywhere. Ray was great, pointing out the Snook that made a definite sucking sound when feeding. The Jacks were more plentiful and less picky. Ladyfish and a paper thin fish called a Lookdown also bent the rod, but Snook were the best fighting. They set up on apex positions, in front of or behind the dock pilings letting current bring them a meal. I had many refusals, but managed to hook four Snook. Once hooked the fish had to be wrenched from the dock, then they leapt brilliantly before bull dogging at the boat. A great battle. One snapped my line, another came unhooked after smashing into the boat. Two came in the boat and posed for a quick pic.
I highly recommend Captain Ray. The day prior I watched a dozen surf casters catch two fish off the beach all day. Green Waters Charters offers a two hour night dock fishing session for $200, where I hooked a dozen fish and landed several of different species. It was awesome!
