Death in a Lonely Land by Peter Hathaway Capstick

Author:Peter Hathaway Capstick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 2011-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

“Clothespin” snook lure.

Drag tension is very important in fishing the big snook, which are capable of lightning surges that may shock-snap even heavy lines. John emphasizes that tension should not be measured directly from the reel, but that the plug should be hooked to a tree or piling while the fisherman backs off twenty or so yards and adjusts drag as he would when actually fighting a fish.

Color preference in lures is a favorite subject. He’s a believer, through years of experimentation, in light, flashy finishes rather than dark ones, even for night fishing. John doesn’t think snook see too well and therefore catch flash better than silhouette. For after-dark snooking, he prefers the clothespin in silver or red head with white body. The only color jig he uses is all white, day or night. For daylight casting, he normally uses various weights of the clothespin in gold, yellow, or yellow with black vertical stripes to suggest the sand perch, one of the staples of snook diets and one of the less frequently used. He doesn’t go out lightly armed, either, and loses an average of a dozen jigs and several plugs per trip, which forced him through sheer economics to start molding his jigs in wholesale lots.

There are probably scads of fishermen who use the same types of equipment and tactics as John Gorbatch, yet without the constant results he manages. What’s the difference? In a phrase, absolute persistence coupled with expertise. John is a devotee and fervent worshiper of the law of averages. When he decides conditions are right, he knows there are snook in the passes and just doesn’t become discouraged. Neither mosquitoes, no-see-ums, thunderstorms, nor black nights deter him. He casts constantly with the irrefutable logic that you can only catch a snook if your lure is in the water doing its job. He probes every inch of water within reach, then works it again, aware that snook are usually moving and if there was nothing near his plug thirty seconds ago, there could be a critter fit to scare you under the next cast to the same spot. And it’s logical to conclude that when he does sink those miniature grappling irons into the gums of a thirty-plus-pounder, he knows his equipment can handle it. His hooks won’t straighten, his leader won’t fray, and the experience of twenty-six years of monster snooking is with him. Of course, as John puts it, “Maybe it does require just a smidgin of luck … .”

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