Tag Archives: Sanibel Island

Favorite Patterns, Saltwater

Norm’s Crystal Schminnow

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Part 1: Sanibel Island Diaries

Mark Beardmore introduced us (MKFF) to Sanibel Island in 2012 for his thirtieth birthday celebrations. These days, the twenties are merely an extension of your teen years with money and more alcohol. As opposed to the twenty-first birthday, the thirtieth is the true adult milestone. That being said, we are gearing up to fish and party island style at the end of April.

Norm Zeigler has popularized Fly Fishing for Snook with his ground breaking book, “Snook on a Fly: Tackle, Tactics, and Tips for Catching the Great Saltwater Gamefish.” The Schminnow is his own creation, developed to mimic the small silvery white baitfish, that live off of the beautiful subtropical beaches of Sanibel Island.

Snook can be sight fished off of the beach while in season; this requires an “ocean style” delicate presentation. Using a heavier fly like the Clouser will splash and risk spooking your prey. The Schminnow will catch the sunlight and float high in the water, enticing predator fish to attack!

Materials

  1. Mustad Signature S71SZ-34007
  2. White Danville Flat Wax Nylon
  3. Black Mono Eyes – Medium
  4. Estaz Opalescent White
  5. White Marabou

The fly is relatively simple to tie and finishes strong out on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is a general attractor pattern, not mimicking any specific baitfish and necessary in any Fly Fisherman’s arsenal. Norm designated it the Schminnow to indicate the pattern is part shrimp and part minnow. Another variation of this fly is with dumbbell eyes, the weight allows it to pursue species that live deeper in the water column.

Step 1:

Place the Mustad size 2 in the vice.
Place the Mustad size 2 in the vice.

Place the hook in your vice. Attach the thread behind the hook eye; try not to crowd the eye. Build a smooth base as you wrap down the hook shank. I stop just at the barn in order to tie in the White Marabou tail.

Start the thread and evenly wrap back to the barb.
Start the thread and evenly wrap back to the barb.

Step 2:

Tie in the Marabou tail, use four or five wraps of thread, and leave about ¼ inch more than a hook shank’s length of tail. In a later step we will clip the tail. The clipping of the tail to length allows the life like breathing and flexing, during strip retrieve, which truly appears as a wounded baitfish to Snook.

Tie in the White Marabou tail.
Tie in the White Marabou tail.

Step 3:

Clip off the excess Marabou stem forward on the hook shank, at an angle, allowing you to evenly wrap it down with thread. Now wrap back to the barb, tie in the tag end of a five-inch length of Estaz. Wrap your thread forward to the tie in point behind the hook eye.

Clip of excess Marabou stem, tie in Estaz, wrap thread forward.
Clip of excess Marabou stem, tie in Estaz, wrap thread forward.

Step 4:

Create a small thread bump about an eye’s length behind your tie in point. Attach the mono eyes with a series of cross wraps, circle wrap under the eyes in order to stabilize the structure. Add a few turns in front and back for good measure; check that the eyes are stable before moving onto the next step.

Cross wrap in the eyes.
Cross wrap in the eyes.

Step 5:

Evenly wrap the Estaz around the shank, creating body, until you stop just behind the eyes. Tie off the Estaz and cut off excess. Whip finish in front of the eyes.

Wrap Estaz evenly forward, tie down running end.
Wrap Estaz evenly forward, tie down running end.

Step 6:

Using a good pair of scissors, grasp the excess Marabou (over a shank length) in your hand and trim off the excess.

Before Clipping
Before Clipping
Norm's Crystal Schminnow
Norm’s Crystal Schminnow

Look for more of our Sanibel Island Diaries series.

Part 2 – Double Haul

Part 3 – Dock Lighting for Snook

Saltwater

Sanibel Island

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History

Sanibel and Captiva Island geologically formed roughly 6,000 acres ago. Early humans inhabited the area as early as 2,500 years ago; these indigenous peoples were known as the Calusa. While many local pirate legends are recounted, the first failed attempt at settlement was in 1832 and again in 1862. The now famous, Sanibel Lighthouse was finally completed in 1884. In May of 1963, a causeway linking the mainland was opened; combined with the post war boom, a real estate gold rush kicked off. Extensive local controls on growth have helped the island to resemble “Old Florida,” with buildings no taller than two stories and few fast food chains on the island.

Spey Cast at Sunset

Getting There

This trip was coordinated for Mark’s thirtieth birthday party; in this man’s opinion, there is no better way to spend the big three zero than fishing, eating Conch Fritters and enjoying a few “Man Sodas.” Departing on an 8 AM JetBlue flight out of Newark, we arrived in Fort Myers by 11:30 AM. This left enough time to fetch a rental car, purchase fishing licenses, secure drinks and wade out into the water. A perfect plan, combined with windless blue sky days is exactly what is required to catch a fish.

Sanibel Island has a Wild Side

Targeting Snook   

Snook are a tropical fish; Florida is on the northern part of their natural range. Warmer water makes for very active Snook, cold spells can result in mortality. They winter in the back bays heated by the sun, pass the spring along the beaches moving out to the in the ocean in the summer, come fall, they return along the beaches headed to the backwater.

Early AM Beach Blue Fish

What To Throw

The species, as an apex predator, will eat anything that fits in their mouth and cannot consume them; feeding in a manner similar to the Old Bucket Mouth (General Lee) residing in the farm pond out back. Mark and I stumbled to the beach around 5:30 AM; he netted roughly two dozen Green Back Shiners, we hooked them to our circle hooks. Not too soon later, I had a Snook on the end of my line. I hustled out into the flats chasing after this top water splashing Snook. Unfortunately, as I reeled him to shore he popped off the hook. The key lesson from this experience is to use a fly that matches the widely available baitfish in size and color. Looking back, the two flies I would select are the Chartreuse and White Lefty’s Deceiver along with a similarly colored Clouser Minnow. The aggressive Mackeral surely enjoyed Norm Zeigler’s signature Crystal Schminnow as well.

Gulf Toadfish on the Fly

That Saltwater Taste

The majority of what you have read here on Moose Knuckle is about targeting Trout. This Sanibel Island adventure is a new direction for the blog. Beach fishing has its perks; don’t get me wrong I love where Trout live. Nonetheless there is something good to be said about Fly Fishing, waist deep in 80 degree water while beautiful women stroll on the beach. Not to mention, the fish are huge and it’s a crap shoot what you might pull up. Further, the Lazy Flamingo’s Conch Fritters washed down with a pitcher of Yuengling is heavenly.

Dave's Sea Trout