What happened next?
After two days of hunting monster snook in windy conditions and tides that just weren't there, the wind died down for two days. It's enough to make a grown man jump up and down like a kid.
Day three; the morning was a comfortable 70 degrees with a very light breeze as the sun illuminated the channel markers on the way out to the key. I remember thinking to myself that this is going to be good. Not that it is ever easy to fool huge snook on artificial, it just felt right. I eased up onto the white sand flat next to the cut and staked out. We didn't have to wait long until we saw a couple of targets swoop out of the tidal pool into the cut." Man those are huge! Are you sure they're snook?" one of the guys said. I assured him that they are and told him to be ready. The pair popped up out of the cut onto the flat and started looking around for a meal. We watched them with amazement as they were out of range and coming our way. I saw them chase bait and break off a few times. Do fish play? I mean other than playing with your mind. They kept working toward us in a very slow disinterested fashion. I instructed them to cast and let the bait sit. I told them when the snook get close to crank fast and be ready for hell to break loose. A few moments later I said now, crank now and they did. The twins streaked after our offerings and nailed both baits. What followed could only be described as absolute mayhem. Both of them had 45"+ size monster snook hooked up and they were on fire. Drag screaming, heart pounding, line singing music to every fisherman's soul. Wow! I moved the boat up toward the shore as fast as I could to keep the snook out of the cut and on the flat. That proved to be much harder than it sounds but it worked beautifully. It was like a Chinese fire drill with the snook zipping around the boat, under the boat, over the boat and every which way but loose. Huge, long runs across the flats with the morning sun on us like a Hollywood spotlight. This was it! This is good! All to soon the slightly smaller of the two snook yielded to the efforts of a skilled angler and was boat side. The other twin followed a few minutes later. They took a couple of cell phone pics that I am still waiting for, and released the revived brutes. With great contentment and satisfaction, we watch them swim away.
What a great way to start the day and fill the morning. I repositioned the Hewes and staked out. We just sat there watching as the flat returned to normal. We just couldn't stop talking about how fantastic that was. "Man, two monster snook hooked up at the same time!" "Did you see how that slammed the bait?" "That was crazy!" And so on. We waited for another hour and didn't see another snook. The sun was up and starting to blaze and cook. I told the guys that I was sorry but I think that's it. They both looked at me like I had three heads and asked; "For what? That was great! Let's get some lunch." Next day was for fly fishing these bad boys early and the bayous in the evening.
