The clear, pale green halo of light stood out in stark relief, surrounded by inky dark water at the end of the boat basin. The properties and docks that encircled the water, normally bustling with activity, were eerily quiet in the pre-dawn darkness.
Captain Rick Grassett cut his outboard 100 yards away and used the electric trolling motor to ease us into position so we could peer into the netherworld below. Turning off the electric motor, we drifted into casting distance and quietly lowered the anchor. As we stripped line from our fly reels and prepared to cast, an ethereal world appeared. Schools of small baitfish and mullet darted into and out of the shadows and the dark shapes of snook and tarpon prowled the edges of the light.
On his first cast, a 30-pound tarpon tracked Grassett’s fly from the edges of the light, turning off only a few feet from the boat’s transom. On the next cast, a snook pounced on the fly just as it landed near the circle of light. The snook put on a characteristic aerial display with multiple jumps and a few spirited runs before it was landed, revived and released. The action put the other fish down and when we would have normally backed off and let them return, we decided to head to a local pass for the change of tide before dawn.
Grassett was one of the first anglers to popularize night snook fishing in the Sarasota/Venice area, and for more than three decades, he has divined the secrets of nocturnal gamefish.
These highly-sought-after species congregate around lights on the Intracoastal Waterway and in the local passes. The lights are a magnet to small baitfish, shrimp and crabs, and snook, tarpon, redfish and other predators target them there. Grassett has learned the best time to target fish at night is during a moving tide. Through trial and error, he has found that these predators prefer certain dock and bridge lights during a falling tide and others during a rising tide. He has also learned the important relationship between lights and nearby structure, ledges and grass flats.
After a short run to a nearby pass, we pulled close to a lighted dock and once again got into position to cast. The tide was just starting to come in and I wondered if the move might have been a mistake. There were a few fish in the lights and one occasionally came to the surface to chase a shrimp, but the action was slow and the fish deep in the water column. In the next few minutes, the whole scene morphed completely as the tide picked up steam and snook piled into the lights, crashing prey at the surface. In the next 45 minutes, we landed and released more than a dozen snook before the action started to slow.
We left the fish biting as the horizon started to lighten because we wanted to check a couple of other areas for tarpon before the summer sun chased us off the water. The air was cool as we headed towards Longboat Key and as a bonus, we were treated to a fiery sunrise over the Sarasota skyline. When we arrived at our first stop, we immediately saw a large tarpon roll in the basin we intended to fish. Moments later other small fish rose to the surface. I was fishing a sink tip line with a small white baitfish fly while Grasset used a DOA Terrorize on 8-pound spinning tackle. A few minutes later Grassett was hooked up to a tarpon we estimated at 25 pounds. The fish put on a hard 15-minute fight with several jumps before we landed and released it. Once again, we left fish to scout one more spot across the bay. The tarpon were thick in a basin there too but weren’t in a feeding mood so we headed back to the ramp before the sun rose above clouds on the horizon. The only time we broke a sweat was as we loaded the boat on the trailer, but the promise of air conditioning and the action we experienced that morning made it all worthwhile.
If you can forgo a few hours of sleep in the pre-dawn hours during our “Dog Days” of summer, you can experience some epic action. The combination of cool temperatures, with peace, quiet and action makes it one of my favorite times to fish. Grassett can show you the ropes, a good way to be introduced to this nocturnal world. He can be reached at 941-350-9790. Check out his web site at www.snookfin-addict.com.
