Welcome to the Snook fishing guide Victoria. Snook local fish species facts and Limits. Snook also known as shortfin pike are toothy critters that like shallow weedy areas. These long and fast silverfish are often a bycatch for those in Port Phillip bay targeting snapper, whiting, and flathead. They’re not considered good table fish but they are a lot of fun to catch on light spinning gear.
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Snook Facts & Catch Limits
- With the scientific name of Sphyraena novaehollandiae
- Snook has a minimum legal size limit of 30cm
- Daily bag limit of 10
- Snook can grow over a meter in size
- They make great bait for snapper and gummy sharks
Best time to catch Snook ( Seasons )
In Victoria, Tailor can be caught all year round however they are most active in Spring and Summer. They are often best targeted at Dawn/Dusk.
How to catch snook
Locally around Melbourne are generally caught as bycatch when targeting bream, flathead, and Pinky Snapper. They are vicious hunters that love clear and warm water conditions often following large schools of baitfish. Snook have sharp teeth and love to shred fluorocarbon leaders so using a suitable line is essential. Gear choices for Snook can be tricky as their sizes can vary depending on where you caught them. However, for the most part, a 2-4 or 2-5 kilo rod that’s 7 feet in length is perfect. Coupled with a 2500-size reel spooled with a 6-12-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader.
Snook can be caught during most months and times of the year. Handle with care these guys have rows of razor-sharp teeth that can do serious damage. This is particularly important when fishing from a kayak or boat. They will often shred your soft plastics and lures so make sure you have extra with you if that’s what your target.
Watch this video on how we catch big snook with soft plastics.
Best Baits to Catch Snook
Our best bait recommendations include pilchards, small strips of squid, and other small pieces of flesh bait. The are several ways to present baits for snook. Either a running sinker rig, dropper rig, and paternoster rigs are also popular choices. The rig choice will be dependent on where you are fishing and the conditions such as tidal strength. Where possible fish with as little weight. When land-based you may need a heavy sinker to cast out as far as you can.
We recommend the following baits to catch snook
- pilchard
- peeled prawn
- garfish
- squid
Best Soft Plastics and lures to Catch Snook
Snook will happily take metal lures, stick baits, and surface lures retrieved or trolled at a fast or medium pace. Soft plastics can also be very effective. These trolled slowly from a boat can also work to great effect to find the schools. Handle them carefully they have sharp teeth that can do some damage. If you getting hook-ups but dropping a lot of fish then consider using a stronger leader or light wire trace.
Snook love natural-looking soft plastics retrieved at a medium pace including minnows, paddle tails, and grubs. Adding scent to the soft plastics really seems to help. Snook also respond well to shallow and mid-diving hard body lures in shiny colours retrieved at a medium pace. Metal slugs and blades trolled slowly also work very well.
- OSP Bent Minnow
- Munroes 2.75 inch paddle tail in glass monkey
- Metal slugs
- Berkley gulp turtleback worm
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
- Savage Gear Fat Curl tails
- Daiwa Bautjunkie 4 inch grubs
- Zman slim Swimz
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Gulp 3 inch minnow
- Dawia Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Zman grubZ
- Squidges biotough grub
- shallow and mid diving hard body lures
Snook hot spots
- Port Melbourne
- Webb dock
- Werribee
- Geelong
- Mornington
- Campbells Cove
- Flinders
- St Kilda Pier
- Warrnambool
- Princess Pier
- Altona
- Corio Bay
You can obtain a free Victorian recreational fishing guide from the Victorian Fisheries Authorities
Thank you for reading our Snook fishing guide Victoria. Snook image supplied by VFA DPI. If you feel this fish species guide is missing key information or needs any corrections. Then please let us know by emailing our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. Thank you