Winter Snook Slams Defined

Written by Mike Readling | 02 December 2009

Three of Florida's best tell where and how to slam your way to a trio of local gamefish.

Snook are considered a bell weather species when it comes to inshore habitat. In short, if an inshore area is healthy enough to support juvenile snook, it should be healthy enough to sustain more than 200 other species of fish, marine animals, plants and sea grasses.  Because of that, if you happen to fishing an area and see a snook or two, there’s a decent chance of catching one or more other species of gamefish. Included on that “bycatch” list are seatrout, redfish and tarpon. Catch three or more of those in one day and you’ve got yourself a Slam.

Each region of the state has its own definition of what a Slam is, the parameters being defined by the types of fish that generally inhabit that area.  The East Coast Slam and the Everglades Slam, for example, both include snook, trout and redfish. Those three species are most available all year long along the East Coast and throughout Everglades National Park, though still difficult to catch in one day. The West Coast Slam, on the other hand, includes snook, redfish and tarpon. West Coast anglers who catch a seatrout, in addition to the three Slam species, can boast a Grand Slam.

The trick to all three Slams is finding the areas healthy enough to hold snook and then covering that area sufficiently with your baits.  Snook are considered a bell weather species when it comes to inshore habitat. In short, if an inshore area is healthy enough to support juvenile snook, it should be healthy enough to sustain more than 200 other species of fish, marine animals, plants and sea grasses.

Capt. Ed Zyak personally knows
plenty of east coast snook.
Photo: strictlyfloridafishing.com

EAST COAST SLAM

Capt. Ed Zyak has fished the Treasure Coast almost all his life. He grew up fishing the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers and, today, runs his charter business out of Jensen Beach.

Zyak is known as a trout master, regularly weighing and releasing seatrout over 10 pounds at virtually any time of the year. That said, he knows where to find redfish, too. That’s easy because they tend to hang out in the same areas as the snook that the St. Lucie Estuary is so well known for. 

“I target all three species in the same zone, fishing for snook, trout and redfish in same water, in the same grass flats,” Zyak said. “It varies based on the time of year. But, in the spring and the fall, you can target all three species in the same zone. Where you’re catching snook and trout, you’re catching redfish.”

Zyak is lucky in that, during the winter when every type of fish heads for different types of water and cover, his three Slam species tend to stay in the same area. 

“When we’re looking for trout and redfish, we’ll do more fishing in areas with sunny shorelines, as those fish seek out the warmth,” Zyak said. “That time of year, the snook will be looking for deeper water.”

There are areas of the North Fork and South Fork of the St. Lucie River where 2- to 3-foot deep grass flats give way to 20- and 30-foot holes. The trout and reds will be on top of the flats, seeking warmth, while the snook will be in the deeper holes, using the thick layer of water as insulation.

Recognizable Everglades faces:
Capt. Rick Murphy and Mr. Red fish.

EVERGLADES SLAM

Snook, trout and redfish compose the Everglades Slam, as well, though targeting those three species in the Park may be a little different than how Zyak goes about it up north.

One of the tricks in the Everglades, especially during the winter, is to downsize. Smaller baits, smaller leaders, smaller hooks and lighter line.

Capt. Rick Murphy knows the benefits of going lighter and after more than 30 years of fishing the Everglades National Park, he knows the spots to hit with said smaller tackle.

Like Zyak, Murphy looks for grass flats that give way to deeper holes. The Everglades are much more sensitive to winds, thanks to the wide open expanses the Park affords. To that end, Murphy looks for flats and areas that are sheltered by the wind. 

“When the wind blows, it cools the water down,” Murphy said. “If you fish on the lee side of an island, the still water can absorb the sun’s warmth easier.”

Murphy seeks out those sun-warmed areas and throws a 4-inch Bass Assassin Sea Shad, dropping down from the usual 5-inch baits he throws. 

“With the smaller sized baits, Bass Assassin dimensionally drops the scale, meaning the bait's overall profile has been made smaller.” Murphy said. “I've found that tiny bit of engineering helps me to get more bites because my smaller bait is more realistic looking.”

When plugging away at the flats, pot holes, and ledges, his other wintertime trick is to fish s-l-o-w. The slower the presentation, the better chance you have of a trout, redfish or snook pouncing on your bait. Think you’re fishing slowly enough? Good. Fish slower.

For Capt. Jay WIthers, the best mornings start with snook.
Photo: insiderfishing.com

WEST COAST SLAM

The West Coast changes things up a little bit, taking advantage of the preponderance of tarpon in the area and overlooking seatrout, which are making a huge comeback after several years of Red Tide. 

“What we all talk about over here as far as a Slam is snook, redfish and tarpon,” said Capt. Jay Withers, who runs a charter business in the Charlotte Harbor area. “Fortunately, we have an area where that’s attainable any time of the year. If someone puts that under their belt in one day, that’s an achievement.”

Charlotte Harbor is chock full of mangrove shorelines and drop-offs that afford an angler every opportunity to find the perfect conditions for what they’re looking for. You can get out of the wind, into the sun, find current, structure, grass and sand in a variety of locations.

Withers has several of those locations in his GPS and has the tactics down when it comes to looking for a West Coast Slam. 

Withers’ favorite bait is a Sebile Stick Shadd, a topwater bait with oil inside the body, which causes the effect of scraped off scales when you stop it in the water. He’ll give it a twitch and then let the bait sit still for a few seconds before twitching it again.

After the snook is measured and back in the water, it’s on to species No. 2. 

“As the sun rises, I like to target the redfish that you can see,” Withers said. “Oftentimes, I can fish the snook under the mangroves and then turn around fish the redfish on the flats just off the mangroves.”

Again, the Stick Shadd is the bait he likes to use more often than not.

Two-thirds of the way home, Withers will turn his attention to tarpon. Of course, Charlotte Harbor is well known for its spring and early summer tarpon population, but there are silver kings in the area year round.

While many anglers will simply head to Boca Grande Pass and jig the depths to complete their Slam, Withers will usually stay in the backcountry where the red and snook are to look for his Slam. 

“There’s a spot that I have in the spring, like late February through early April, that I can catch tarpon, reds and snook all day,” Withers said. “I ran 20 trips out of this one spot in three months this year and it would be tarpon, two reds, and then we’d catch a snook. It was great.”