When the fish aren't biting...

Break out the snatch hooks.

On a recent trip to St. Marks, I arrived early and began tossing topwater lures in hopes of hooking up to some Trout or Reds. I'm not sure what was going on that day, but I couldn't get a strike to save my life. Topwater, subsurface, DOA's. Nothing would work.

So as I paddled around in search of fish, I looked out to notice a massive school of Mullet. The water was practically teeming with them. And since I was practically starving to death while out there in the kayak, I decided I wanted to bring some fish home.

I know I've gone on and on about snatching mullet in previous posts. But it's something I really enjoy. Unless you've ever hooked up with one personally, I can't describe how hard they fight. It really is a good time, and I just love the feel of drag peeling off the reel.

I wound up keeping six total. That was in under 30 minutes. I counted, and had 4 casts within that time period where I didn't hit a fish with the snatch hook. I also hooked and lost about 10, and had 4 others in the kayak that flopped back out into the water. The school never sounded, and just stayed in the same general area the entire time.

I usually don't keep many fish. Part of it is because I like catch and release. The other reason is that I'm just plain lazy and don't want to clean fish. But I was craving a fish fry, and to me, few things beat a bunch of fresh mullet. Since I didn't bring a cooler with me, I kind of laid on the fish the whole paddle back to keep them out of the sun. It seemed to work decently, but I'm pretty sure I smelled like mullet for the next week.

So the next time you're out fishing and the fish just aren't biting, seriously give the snatch hook a try. Any fish on the end of your line beats no fish.