Capt. Mark Westra shows off an average-sized snook taken at the railroad trestle on the Caloosahatchee River. Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Capt. Mike Smith guided his boat through the narrow creek channels of the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. After winding through the mangrove islands for a time, we anchored in an opening within the refuge. The captain dipped the bait net into the livewell, scooped up a mess of pilchards and began chunking them into the mangroves.

Once those baitfish hit the water, we heard the welcome pop that's the distinctive sound of snook attacking them near the surface.

We knew the fish were here!

I tossed a line with a pilchard hooked through the tail into the mouth of a narrow side creek and let the baitfish swim along the mangroves, a distance from the boat.

I let the bait swim freely as long as it cooperated, working its way along the edge where a snook might lay waiting. The tidal current drifted the line and its attached offering past an overhanging mangrove branch.

As I pondered how I would ever get a snook out of those trees, I felt one hit! I pulled back hard and cranked as fast as possible, knowing that I couldn't let the fish retreat into the cover of those tangled mangrove roots.

Reeling a 30-inch snook back to the boat, I was thankful for the advice that Capt. Smith had given my fishing partner, Ken Freel, earlier that morning. I'd have never put the initial pressure on that fish needed to pull it out of the mangroves, if Freel hadn't asked Mike, "How much is too much?" when it comes to setting the hook and fighting a snook.

Well, to answer his question, Capt. Mike said that you can't put too much pressure on a snook. You lose more snook by babying them." Even if you believe that you aren't babying the fish, according to Capt. Smith, you probably are!

"Snook are like us Southern boys around a pretty woman," he said. "Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile."

And in this habitat, a snook doesn't need a mile to get into a tangle of mangrove roots and break your line.

MANGROVE BACKCOUNTRY
The waterways and mangrove islands of the Ding Darling NWR provide ideal habitat for snook to grow to maturity. These fish require a brackish estuary to thrive, and the freshwater inflow of the Caloosahatchee River into San Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound provides the conditions that snook prefer.

Snook spawn in the open water of the Gulf of Mexico around beaches and in the passes. Their eggs hatch offshore, and the baby snook make their way back to the inland estuaries and mangrove islands in the sound along Sanibel and Captiva islands. The mangroves provide shelter for maturing snook.

Even though these tight quarters aren't known for holding the largest of linesides, they can give up a greater quantity of fish, with some of decent size ó such as my 30-incher.

Capt. Smith likes to "test" an area to see if any snook are present.

Before we get out our rods, he'll toss a handful of pilchards (also known as whitebaits, but technically scaled sardines) or pinfish into the mangrove trees and listens for that pop of feeding snook.

He does this for two reasons: to see if the snook are feeding, and to find out where the fish are. If he doesn't hear any pops, we move on.