It had been three weeks since Tania and I could get out fishing. Unfortunately, life has a way of getting in the way of our pastime, but on Saturday the weather finally cooperated, and we were both looking forward to getting back on the water.

We left the house around 6:00 a.m. and, as we always do before a trip, we started our day with prayer. We prayed for a blessing of protection while out on the water, for open eyes to see all of the wonderful creatures God has created in the ocean, and that, if it was His will, we would be able to bring some fish home.

On the way to the boat, we stopped at The Fishing Center to pick up a few dozen shrimp, just in case we needed them. That turned out to be a good decision later in the day.

Snook season had opened just a few days earlier, so I had one thing on my mind—I wanted to catch a snook. I called several friends for intel on where we should start looking. I received a lot of different suggestions, but with 5-knot winds out of the south and seas around 1 foot, I decided we should head out the inlet and fish nearshore.

I had been hearing that a lot of snook were being caught around the inlet, so we started there and made a couple of drifts to see if we could make it happen. We started the morning using 160-gram slow-pitch jigs. Unfortunately, drifting the inlet is not my specialty. At different times, both Tania and I got stuck on the bottom, and with the boat drifting quickly, it made things a little interesting.

There were also a lot of boats heading out, which made it rougher than expected. Tania was not having any of that, so she was ready to move somewhere else. With the calm seas, I decided to head out to the boils. I knew we could catch snook there, and I figured it was worth a try.

When we arrived at the boils, we started working the west side, which is usually where the snook tend to hang out. We switched to our normal 30-gram jigs and began working the area. The water was very clear, and we could see schools of spadefish swimming around the boat. They were some of the largest spadefish I have ever seen.

Tania and I spent about an hour and a half working the boils, but there was not much life. We even started tipping the jigs with shrimp because the bite was slow. Even with the shrimp-tipped jigs producing bites, the boils did not give up the snook we were hoping for. We caught a jack and a porkfish; the action was not enough to keep us there much longer.

At that point, we decided it was time to move on and head to one of our nearshore holes. That turned out to be the ticket for us that day. We drifted the shoreline until we ran out of shrimp around 10:30 a.m. We caught countless short mutton snapper, but we still put together a very nice box of fish.

We ended the morning with:

• Seven very nice mangrove snapper, ranging from 12 to 15 inches
• One 10-inch lane snapper
• One grass porgy
• Numerous porkfish
• A few blue runners
• Many short black sea bass
• Countless undersized mutton snapper that were released

We also had several turtles come close to the boat, which was a nice bonus and always great to see while fishing nearshore. It reminded us that our prayer for open eyes had been answered as we enjoyed another beautiful day on the water.

All in all, we were happy with the trip. I did not catch the snook I was hoping for, but after three weeks off the water, it felt great to be back out there with Tania. The snook will have to wait for another day, but the mangrove snapper definitely made the trip worthwhile.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all our fellow anglers. May your time on the water be safe, blessed, and filled with tight lines and good memories. Until next time, keep casting, keep believing, and keep chasing those dreams on the water.