Best Snook Fishing in Florida | Guaranteed Catch

Are we going to catch anything?

Got to be 28 to 32.

Too short. Jenna's got one.

It's called a fat snook. Got two going.

Oh dude, you caught a shark! Am I a hunter or fisherman? I'm a control freak. Nice. Is she putting on the pressure?

Yeah, that's what they give me.

My hope for this Florida fishing trip. I'm not a fisherman, so we hired a guide.

So these fish, they're sitting around these pilings. Sometimes they're behind them, sometimes they're in front of them, sometimes they're underneath the dock.

And my hope was that we would just have a great experience, me and the boys, and would be stress-free because we had a guide. And, and we were just hoping to have a lot of fun.

So all you want to do is cast in front of the dock. All right.

And maybe perhaps catch supper, but for sure catch something.

These are gonna be snook. Gonna get some jacks probably.

So on our way to our first stop, naturally one of my first questions to the guide is, are we gonna catch anything? And it kind of surprised me. He was like, oh yeah, we'll catch stuff. How did you learn how to fish?

Trial, error, money, blood, sweat.

There's a wake coming in.

Once this tide starts moving here in about 5-10 minutes, they're gonna be chewing like crazy.

We caught a dozen-ish fish, I mean, right off the bat, back to back, exciting fishing. Get him, catch the first fish! Dad's got one.

Gideon's got one. So if you put your hand up here like that and you can pull back like this before you start reeling. Hold on, hold on. And now reel down. Reel, reel, reel, reel, reel, reel. And then go down with the tip. That's going to make it a lot easier, especially when you get these bigger fish. That may be a keeper.

What do you think?

No, he's got to be 28 to 32. He's— uh-oh.

Whoa, what was that?

Trying to steal this fish. What's that? Dolphin. Yeah, see, he's waiting. As soon as you hook the next fish, he's going to come eat it. He'll eat everything but the head. No hooks in the head. They're too smart for their own good, really.

Just say you caught the bigger fish than I did.

Dolphin is after it.

He's gonna try to put it back too, so he's waiting for you to put it back so he can come and eat it. We're gonna see if we can get him to swim away from us. If that dolphin comes in here, we're done. Because they're— if you stuck your head in the water right now, you'd hear all the clicking and communicating. That shuts the fish down. That's probably why we're not catching really big The little ones are dumb. See, they'll fake you out. They're that smart.

Yeah, what are they trying to do? Make— act like they're leaving?

Yeah, they make it look like they're leaving and then they'll sneak back in.

All right, Jonah's got one.

Yeah, I'm trying.

Good line. Okay, you got it. Oh, come on, he's crouching down outside of that Florida game government restriction, it was kind of neat to be there and catch so many fish so quickly, pretty much guaranteed. There was a really neat feeling about that. Like, really, theoretically, I mean, if you could keep them all, this man, this guide, could catch enough fish to feed 3 families in one day in less than an hour. Why did the fish like the tide?

Uh, they need— that's what they use to feed. So during a slack tide, they tend to move. Yeah, um, the tide brings their food. Okay, is it really hard? Whoa, it's close!

Oh my gosh, too short!

Yep, it's 29, wasn't it?

You got to catch a bigger one, guys.

No, he was 20. He was 26. It's called a fat snook. There's 5 different types of snook. So you see, you can tell by how long his anal fin is and how small his mouth is. When you catch a common, he's a lot more skinny, a lot longer.

So what happens if you keep one under or over that?

They can take you to jail. They can take your boat, all your fishing equipment, your truck, and your trailer. So needless to say, hold it, John. Not really, it doesn't pay out. No, it does. Double, double, double! Got 2 going! Whoa! Is that the size you need?

Oh geez! Keep coming, keep coming!

I don't know if I can pull it in.

Oh, that's a little tiny one. Hey, everybody caught one! Our guide wanted to continue the fun. We had caught some fish, but I figured— I think he thought, well, let's go see what's out in the ocean. And we went out in the ocean And he knew exactly where to go. He was going after these— where these other boats were, where the action was, and he was making observation of them. And, uh, we had a good time fishing there. How'd you notice about here?

I marked a pod of them. I marked, uh, some fish on the bottom. That's them.

Yep.

So we're gonna have to— we're gonna have to keep the— getting closer to the boat because if he gets 10 feet out, we're gonna get him. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna fish a lure here. It's called a spoon. All right, these fish are fast fish. Once I get them fired up with these chummers—

what's a chummer?

These, uh, baits I throw in the water.

Okay, these other fishermen about know what you're doing?

Commercial guys do, but they're— Googans don't. These guys might.

What do you call them?

Googans. Okay, get back.

Visiting fish.

I stole that from, uh, Wicked tuna. Okay, look, so what you want to do with this thing, throw it out there.

You don't have to—

don't jerk it or nothing, just reel. All right, just reel about that speed. You got to reel it fast or you ain't gonna get none.

Why do you got to go fast?

They're a very fast fish and you can't give them time to think about it.

There wasn't as much action, although Jonah did catch a shark.

Oh wow, here comes a mackerel!

See one?

There, there it is! Oh dude, you caught a shark!

Whoa, he got off!

Are you allowed to catch a shark? Yeah.

Okay, he got off.

Wow, that's the best case scenario.

Oh, there it is!

Don't fall in there, Gideon!

There it is dropping!

Okay, because now is not the time to fall in there.

I'll catch it for you.

People often ask me, am I a hunter or fisherman? I mean, I guess it kind of— I don't know, a lot of homesteaders do that. And I finally, after years of thinking about that, years of being asked, finally figured it out. I'm a control freak. I mean, at least I feel more in control with farming these animals. I mean, sure, things happen, but, um, you know, with my level of experience, you know, putting in years, it does feel like I'm in quite a bit of control, and I, I think I enjoy that. The third stop, just coming back in because now the pressure is starting to get on. Like, we're in an hour-ish, and, uh, we have an hour-ish left, and we haven't caught a keepable-sized fish. We've got plenty of fish, so we're happy and we'd be satisfied, but Grandma was calling Big Daddy saying, you caught any fish yet? We've all caught— they've all caught one, but we're looking for one that we can keep. We need dinner tonight.

Is that too short?

Too short. Jonah got another one.

Uh-oh, we might be hooked on each other.

Oh, Josiah, get in! You got one, or you're hooked on Jonah?

Oh, we got two!

Oh, who's both? The big— the big guy got off.

Dropped off.

He busted your line.

All right, Jonah's got one. Oh, it's a little one. Oh, just got one. Oh, he's got a net for this one. It's a big one.

Off that piling. Keep his head in the water. Oh, right.

Whoa, looks like you caught dinner, just got it.

This thing is huge. I don't think we can reel it in. I don't think he can.

We might not have another shot here.

All right, come on, come on. Keep hanging just on.

He's got to get away from that piling over there and that wall. He's right on a jagged metal wall down there.

Oh, he's going to get him off the wall. Come back, come back.

Of course, it's on the smallest pole we got.

Big fish on a small pole.

Just take it nice and easy.

He's pulling the boat forward with his electric motor in the front.

So what I want you to do is reel down nice and easy. Keep a bend in the rod. Reel down, reel down. Uh-oh, hold on, hang on. Don't try to reel yet.

Just wait.

Nice and smooth, nice and smooth. All right, reel, reel, reel, reel, reel, reel, reel. Keep reeling, keep reeling, keep reeling.

We've been having a lot of them get off the line here.

Okay, now take it a little easy. You might come up and jump. You don't want to— we don't want to pull that hook out and lift them out of the water. All right. I know you might go for that motor, so it's a good one.

What type is it?

It's a big snook.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! That guy's huge!

I got him!

He's too big!

That guy's huge!

Close to being overslot too.

Can we keep him?

He's close.

They got to be 28 to 32 inches. We only got a 4-inch window.

Okay, what is he?

He's over. He's 34. Nice.

Wow, that's a big fish.

That's a big one, and it's coming down to the line. We're catching fish, but none of them are of size. Jonah's got another one.

Oh, that's why you don't want to— when they come up, try to keep his head—

size— got one.

Try to keep the head in the water.

Maybe this guy's got the line shaking, that hook will come flying out. All right, Big Daddy's got one. Maybe you'll have it. Beginner luck.

Our last words.

Ralph's a bait, that's what she said. Is she putting on the pressure?

Yeah, that's what they do to me, her and her sister. This guy's kind of— I don't think this guy's that big.

Uh-oh, yeah, see, Bruce took over now. Beth's putting on the pressure. I don't think this one's gonna be big enough, huh? No, it's, uh, that's not even a—

can you eat it? You could, but Doesn't— it's not very tasty. No.

What is it?

It's a jack crevalle. If you grab his— call them jack buttons— and you grab his buttons, he stops moving.

Wow. Why is that?

I don't know, you have to ask him. Should I bring that home?

Josiah caught one. Oh, keep it in the water, Josiah.

Very close every time.

Is he not big enough? Is he not big enough?

No.

Is he big enough?

He's 25.

Finally, Gideon catches a fish and it looks promising. Uh-oh, you going under?

I know you— oh wow, did you see the size of him?

Whoa, so promising. The guy's like, okay, I got to get my net. We're going to make sure this Wind doesn't get off the line, helps him a little bit. When Steve breaks out the net, gets serious.

Oh yeah, I think that might be our— oh, our fish!

We're looking between 28 and 32 here. And we get that fish in.

28-incher. Oh my God, I'm keeping this fish!

There it is, we got the fin barely over the 20.

Wait, are we keeping—

quarter of an inch over. Hey, yeah, there we go!

Hopefully you don't shrink in the cooler.

He's right on the line. Wow.

Gosh, it doesn't get any closer than that.

Wow, a little quarter inch over. Not even, about an eighth of an inch.

Is it okay to eat it?

Yeah, we're gonna take a long time to eat it.

John just caught something.

Hey, how's it feel to catch the supper right down to the line?

Man, I mean, this is big.

Right at the last minute.

Mmm. Stop saying that I caught one.

That's right, Grandma can release the pressure.

That was my first big fish caught. I caught one like this big with a— like this big with my BB-8 fishing pole. Like this big.

Whoa, how about— I'm glad you caught that because now Grandma released the pressure. We got supper.

Baxter.

It's in regulation, so it's a keeper. So the rest of the time it's just fun.

Let's go.

Oh, good job, Gideon! That night, Grandma cooked everybody some fish. Beautiful and I went, went on a date, so I had the fish later. It's nice. And it was absolutely amazing. There was something really satisfying about going out in the morning, catching that fish. Garen pretty much No, guaranteeing a catch. How does that feel to catch everybody's supper?

Good.

That was different for me. I never thought that you could be so— that the game could be so abundant and the hunter could be so experienced that you could guarantee a catch. And he did. And that changed my perspective. I have to come up with a different excuse. Now I guess my excuse is I've put all this time and energy into farming expertise. I guess I don't want to get to that level with the hunting and fishing. But cheers to all you hunters and fishermen out there. Mad respect. There's something really primally cool about going out and hunting or fishing for that day's meal and satisfying appetites, not just for yourself but many others in a short amount of time. I mean, theoretically speaking, this man could go out— if all we were doing is needing our food for the day, he could go out and within an hour have it and satisfy 3 families in that amount of time. Mad respect for all those hunters and fishermen out there. Jonah also caught— well, Suddenly Jonah said, "I caught a bird." A bird? And I look over, and sure enough, I didn't have this on film, but sure enough, bird's flying and Jonah's reeling it in saying, "I caught a bird." Pretty much, I don't know what to do. Thankfully that bird wasn't hooked. It had just grabbed Jonah's bait. We were using live bait, and I guess it ripped it off and flew off, and thankfully we didn't have to deal with unhooking, reeling in and unhooking a bird. A wild bird. You think that was funny? It would have been. I don't know how that would have gone down.

I mean, they're wild birds.

Like, they don't want to talk to humans. I was like, is this legal? Like, I mean, it felt like there was, you know, some restrictions with the size of the fish. So I'm thinking, are you allowed to catch birds? Are we going to be in big trouble? But I guess you couldn't help it. I mean, best you could do is just catch and release the bird.

Really?

I just can't help it.

It's just, it's just a realist. Fuck out of here.