Giant snook rewards charter that braves windy, choppy conditions

A windy week of weather didn’t prevent anglers from having good fishing days, and no catch was as good as what Captain Will Osborne brought his anglers to last Monday in Sarasota Bay.

The young captain, who started guiding four years ago at the age of 22, has been catching plenty of snook and trout in the nice spring weather. On Monday, it was a bit windy where he wanted to fish around the eastern shores of Sarasota, but he took the chance anyway.

“We were just trying to hide from the wind in the morning, fishing down south behind the islands,” Osborne said. “I knew where fish were outside in the winds, so we made a run for it.”

The run into the wind was a wet one, and even when they started fishing it remained rough in the shallow water below Osborne’s 24-foot T-Craft.

“We got up shallow and it was white capping waves where we were fishing. But when the first bait hit the water, it was a fish on immediately.”

On the rod was Rick Von Hoene, no stranger to big fish. A week prior he was part of a trip that landed a 44-inch snook while fishing with Capt. Chip Peabody. Now he was on again, and his fish made a run toward deeper water, putting a little confusion into Osborne as to what was on the other end.

“When it took off I thought we had a big old jack. It was the first bait so I wasn’t expecting much. It screamed way out of the mangroves, and Rick said he was running out of line. By the time it stopped it had all that nasty surface grass all over it, and then headed back toward the boat with a big wake.

“When it came about 40 feet behind the boat I saw it’s head and shine, and knew it was a big snook. After that it ran up to the trees and got tired just before getting in them.”

The other anglers helped clean the grass off the line. When the fish was finally close to the boat, it took off underneath, forcing Osborne to assist Von Hoene and get the rod low to keep the line from being cut off. When it came back around, Osborne grabbed the fish.

“I lipped it right beside the boat, pulled it in and said ‘Damn! That’s the biggest snook I’ve ever seen!’

“I’ve caught plenty of 41’s and 42’s and I knew it was bigger.”

On the measuring tape it stretched out to 44.5-inches, and was the biggest snook Osborne had been a part of catching.

“I made sure to tell Chip that these guys got one just a bit bigger than his!”

Capt. Will Osborne fishes out of Cortez and can be contacted at 941-580-7293.

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Giant snook rewards charter that braves windy, choppy conditions."