Snook fishing in Biscayne Bay

In Biscayne Bay, snook peak March–October and are around year-round, spawning in May–August, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. March: Season opens on the Atlantic calendar — check MyFWC; inlets and bridges.

1. JanuaryAroundSnook stack in the inlets and under the bridges on the outgoing.
2. FebruaryAroundSnook opens; kings and cobia nearshore; the flats reload between fronts. Snook harvest opens the 1st — the inlets and bridges. Cobia and kings on the wrecks; bonefish and permit on the flats when the water tops 72.
3. MarchPeakSeason opens on the Atlantic calendar — check MyFWC; inlets and bridges.
4. AprilPeakPeak tarpon at the inlets and bridges; the flats are full. The Miami tarpon run — the inlets, the bay bridges and the beach at dawn. Permit on the flats and the wrecks.
5. MaySpawningStaging at Government Cut, Haulover and Port Everglades to spawn.
6. JuneSpawningSurf and inlet snook at first light.
7. JulySpawningSummer: snook, snapper and bones before the heat. Fish the first two hours of light: snook on the beach, bonefish on the flats; then the reef and the bridges for snapper.
8. AugustSpawningInlet fish on the night outgoing.
9. SeptemberPeakThe mullet run brings them to the beach.
10. OctoberPeakMullet run peak.
11. NovemberAroundSailfish begin; bones on the fall tides; snook at the inlets. Bonefish on the oceanside flats on the big fall tides; snook in the inlets; kings and the first cobia on the wrecks.
12. DecemberAroundSnook closes mid-month; winter reef and inlet pattern. Last snook harvest to the 14th. Kings and cobia on the wrecks, snapper on the reef, bones only on the warm afternoons.

Biscayne Bay's grass flats and the finger channels between them, the bayside mangrove shorelines of the national park, the inlets (Government Cut, Haulover, Port Everglades), and the reef line within a couple of miles of the beach.

Fish Scouter charts 478 dock / pilings, 135 mangrove shoreline, 20 beach / surf, 18 pass / inlet, 1 channel edge spots in the Miami & Biscayne Bay map area — the kinds snook hold on.

• Pilchards (whitebait)Free-lined or under a cork, hooked through the nose on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook. The one bait that catches everything inshore.
• PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
• Finger mulletLip-hooked on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook and free-lined, or on a fish-finder rig in the surf. Cut mullet on the bottom for redfish and drum.
• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.
• CroakersHooked through the back on a 2/0 to 3/0 circle hook, free-lined or on a Carolina rig — big trout and redfish can't leave them alone.

• Leader30–50 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook1/0–5/0
• Jig head1/4–1/2 oz
• Braid15–30 lb

Feeds in 68–90°F water, best at 74–86°F.

All about snook · Miami & Biscayne Bay, the whole year