Naples Snook Fishing Was Good Early — Then Shut Down Fast

This was one of those trips where being out early really mattered.

We had lines in the water shortly after daylight and found snook feeding almost immediately around one of the Naples passes. There were small schools of bait getting pushed along the shoreline, and for about 45 minutes the fishing was excellent.

Our first six baits produced four snook.

Most were fish in the 24–28 inch range, but we did hook one substantially better fish that took us into structure before we could turn her.

Then somebody flipped the switch.

As the sun got higher and the tide slowed down, the snook bite almost completely stopped. We tried several mangrove shorelines that have been productive recently without much happening.

Rather than spend the rest of the morning chasing snook, we changed gears and fished some deeper structure.

That saved the trip.

The snapper were willing to cooperate, and we caught a good number of mangrove snapper along with a couple of small grouper.

It wasn't an epic fishing day, but it was a good example of why we don't get married to one plan.

We finished with six snook landed, a pile of snapper action and enough bites to keep everybody busy.

For anglers fishing Naples right now, I'd strongly favor the first few hours of daylight when they line up with moving water.

What's Working

• Live pilchards
• Passes and adjacent shorelines at daylight
• Moving tide
• Deeper structure after the morning bite fades

Captain's Take: The snook window can be short right now. If you're on fish early, take advantage of it because they may not keep feeding all morning.