Their feeding habit -- to hold in areas outside the strong flow of water, waiting and watching with their sharp vision to ambush that one injured or unaware baitfish -- often gives them the unfair advantage.

Snook can be picky eaters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen them attack jumbo shrimp or finger mullet one day, and then watch them change their tastes the next day. Under what seem to be very similar conditions, the snook then target something completely different, like pinfish, pigfish or croakers.

Figuring out why snook pull these types of tricks is not only challenging, but very rewarding -- if you can come up with an answer.

Mojarra -- also known as goatfish or sand perch -- are like candy to snook at times, and at many of the ocean inlets south of Cape Canaveral, those baitfish are usually abundant from early summer right on though September. You can often catch them with a small cast net in spots where sand and rocks meet near a flow of water. At Sebastian Inlet State Park, the cove to the northwest of the inlet and the rocks lining the southwest shore of the park are good areas to start your search to net some of these palm-sized, bright silver fish.

Another couple of excellent baitfish species you can catch and then use to entice snook are pinfish and pigfish. These fish can be caught in the Indian River Lagoon to the west of the ocean inlets. Use a small hook and pieces of cut shrimp or squid for bait. I usually fish an outgoing tide over 2- to 3-foot deep grassflats for these prized baitfish.

At times, placing a bag of menhaden chum behind the boat enhances the chances of luring baitfish to your hook. Some anglers use small wire fish traps to take pinfish and pigfish from these same areas, baiting those traps with small pieces of shrimp, clams or crabs.

The vast majority of the time, snook demand fresh, lively baits. If you’re serious about catching some linesiders, you’ll need a livewell full of a wide assortment of bait before you start fishing.

Croakers are one of those baits that snook can hardly turn down, but croakers can be difficult to locate. They are also fragile and don’t stay alive on the hook for long.

Pilchards, menhaden and threadfin herring are also highly recommended snook baits that can be caught along most of Florida’s east coast.

There are other ways to land a snook besides going with live bait. One of the more popular methods is using a bucktail or synthetic hair jig.

Why are snook considered such great game fish? There are several reasons. These fish have earned the reputation of being hard fighters that usually make an immediate strong run with blazing speed. After the hookset, in fact, they may run at you or away from you!

Snook jump and at times, jump often. They live in tough-to-reach places, and can be very difficult to boat when hooked around docks or under mangrove limbs.

The characteristics of these fish lead some anglers to attribute personality traits to them. They’re described as “moody,” “smart” and “fussy eaters.” Snook are sometimes quick to pick up a bait and eat it, but just as likely to refuse a perfect presentation under perfect conditions.

This certainly adds to the image they’ve earned as a highly sought-after trophy.

One way to cut the time and effort it’ll take to discover the pleasures of hooking and landing a trophy snook is paying close attention to what triggers a snook feeding frenzy.