Outdoors Column | West coast vs east: There’s no competition if you want to catch the biggest snook
At the young age of 23, Capt. Stone Dennis has become possibly the best big snook angler in the state of Florida. That was proven when his team took home the title for the 2021 BMF Snook Challenge competing against other teams from across the state on both coasts.
“The platform allowed anyone in the state to fish for the entire month and put together their four biggest snook during June,” said Dennis, who resides in Southwest Florida’s Punta Gorda area. “There’s a lot of guys who talk about east coast vs. west coast for big snook and that was the idea behind the tournament.”
For Dennis snook fishing has been a family tradition that’s passed down to him. In the 80’s and 90’s his grandfather was a marine biologist who was one of the first to successfully spawn snook and redfish in captivity for release at Piney Point. His father took a liking to catching big fish, often competing in tournaments and passing down the tradition of chasing giant linesiders.
“I know the salinity levels needed for fish to spawn along with the types of locations they do it in, despite what many think beaches and passes are not the only places this happens at. I also have the knowledge of knowing what types of bait fish they will more willingly eat before the spawn, baits that contain higher levels of oil needed to help their eggs flow during the spawns themselves. These fish are not only eaten as a food source but out of necessity for the giant breeder snook. These are just a few of the dozen tips and tricks I’ve been lucky enough to have passed down to me from my grandpa Clyde Dennis and my father Bucky Dennis.”
When the tournament started in June, Dennis didn’t take long to get his big fish. A week into the tournament he had four fish over 40-inches already caught and released.
“On the west coast a lot of the big fish are in small groups. You’ll see groups of five to 10 fish all over 40 inches. Those are what I like to target. Big snook love the areas around Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor where the rivers are and they are more numerous,” Dennis described.
“On the east coast there might be 1,000 fish together but most are 38 or 39 inches. It’s hard for them to get the biggest fish with all the more aggressive smaller ones mixed in. Big snook are lazy. Think about a human. As we get older we slow down and don’t work as hard to conserve energy. These big snook are the same way. A lot of times the biggest fish move to dirty water to easily ambush food and don’t move a whole lot, waiting for one big easy meal instead of using energy to eat a bunch of small meals.”
On June 12, Dennis and teammate Kyle Devries took home the Flatsmaster Tournament Series title when they landed a 43-inch snook and 21.5-inch trout. The next day, Dennis was back out to work on upgrading his BMF catch.
“I had some leftover bait like ladyfish and went to a nearby boat basin. A month prior there were about a dozen 40- nch snook that were killed because of red tide. I soaked a bait for about five or 10 minutes and thought it wasn’t happening so went to move. When I reeled my line wasn’t coming tight for a few cranks but when it did it felt heavy. That’s when the fish took off toward the mangroves and the fight was on!”
With a locked down drag Dennis got the big snook turned around. In less than a minute he had it netted and boat side.
“I knew it was a big one. When I got the Boga Grip on it the hook fell right out. On the ruler it was in the yellow zone (40 to 50 inches) covering up half of it. I got my video and the fish back in the water for the release and when it kicked off a huge weight came off my chest.”
That snook, at 46 inches, was the biggest of the tournament. Along with a 43, 44.5, and 44.75-inch snook Team Dennis would finish with 178.25 inches, besting east coast anglers Team NLBN at 172.75 inches and east coast Team Billys Best at 167-inches. Spots 4 through 7 would be west coast teams, including Palmetto’s team Double Bounty in a sixth place tie at 164.25-inches.
“A lot of west coast teams did better than people expected in this, I think we’re underestimated. But if you think back to where snook originated in Costa Rica the west coast of Florida is very similar to it with rivers and estuaries, and that’s what big snook love.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2021 at 6:00 AM.