I ve landed plenty of snook with a light bait-casting outfit. Don t fish for snook any other way. You can cane pole em with heavy lines off piers and bridges, or troll for em. But I like to scrub the bushes and make em hit top-water plugs. This was how Cal Stone introduced the author to light tackle fishing many decades ago in the waters of south Florida.

Steer through twisted mangrove channels, dodge noggin-knockers and oyster bars on outgoing tides, and join author Max Hunn as he brawls with tarpon and tangles with snook and redfish, mostly in the...