Snookered again

I had a morning session with Laurenz from http://www.flyfishingaruba.com/   today. The objective for me was to get a Snook. I’ve been looking for one of these for years, having connected with a couple they never seem to stay hooked, probably just bad angling actually.

The plan was to try a few different spots which were a mixture of reefs and mangroves where we might also pick up Barracuda, Jacks and small Tarpon. Laurenz set me up with a weedless and weightless fork tail shad in white and silver which I liked the look of. After a few casts I got the hang of skipping these into the shade of the mangroves, no mean feat as Aruba is officially the windiest place I've ever been. About 5 mins in I had a nice boil in the vicinity of the lure. From his position Laurenz could see the Tarpon take the lure and promptly spitting it back out, I never even felt a touch.

 

We tried a few spots which were fishless and we mixed it up using some poppers over a reef drop off.  I suggested trying my Megabass Edonis and I was basically straight into a fish which came off after a brief scrap, not sure what it was as neither of us could get a look at it. I then went on a roll hooking six Barracuda and landing four.

Not exactly monsters but they provided some fun.

Having got the blank off it was time for the Snook again. We headed back to the mangroves where I practiced casting into trees , last night appeared to be catching up with me and occasionally  a cast went in the right spot but the Snook were either in really deep cover or not there. I also lost two lures, while Laurenz tied me another rig I made a few speculative casts around the boat which resulted in another new species for me.

A Mangrove Jack

Laurenz then took me to area with lots of structure, wooden piers, mangroves and moored boats. I worked my way along casting in and under anything that might hold a fish. I really enjoyed this and expectations were high on pretty much every cast that hit the right spot. Eventually it happened as the lure was battered twice under a pier and a nice Snook shot out attached to my lure, yet again it came off. In the next hour this happened another twice, once under a pier restaurant where people were eating breakfast. I made my apologies regarding my language and we went on our way

I had a great time with Laurenz and would have liked the opportunity to fish with him again but unfortunately he’s fully booked for the month. So, no Snook for me, so far anyway. That was my best chance , it’s going to be a tough job getting one from an open beach. I can see a night session on the horizon……

Laurenz tying up his boat bone collector, nice name.