There is nothing like getting a quick start to the day, and this was about one of the quickest starts I could remember.

True to his name, Capt. Fred Winters finds success on early season snook on the upper Myakka River.

We had launched near the El Jobean Bridge at the mouth of the Myakka River and motored a few hundred yards to the bridge pilings. The outgoing tide had about another hour to run, which is as good a tide stage as you can get for the bridge, and it wasn’t more than a few casts before Capt. Fred Winters hooked our first snook. Moments later one inhaled my jig.

Short run, a few casts and snook on. I love it! So did the scattered pedestrians and anglers on the bridge. We had our own little audience and for the next hour we did our best to put on a show. We lost about as many as we hooked, as snook tend not to grab jigs with gusto when the water is a chilly 61 degrees. Still, a half-dozen found their way to the boat, and a couple were in the 30-inch-plus range.

The Myakka meanders across a considerable slice of Southwest Florida before it empties into Charlotte Harbor. The portion Winters considers the best is the lower section from its junction with the harbor extending up to Interstate 75. As the crow flies that’s about 15 miles, although it’s probably twice that far as the river winds.

The lower Myakka is broad, shallow and bisected by a few well-marked channels. If you’re not intimately familiar with the area, pay close attention to those channel markers. There’s a lot of rock and oyster here, and as you move upstream from the bridge, the bottom gets a little harder in spots.

“Idle zones also tend to discourage a lot of people from running up the Myakka,” Winters said. “But, it doesn’t discourage the snook. What you get is an area that doesn’t get a lot of fishing pressure, is kind of remote, and has some of the best winter and spring snook fishing around.”

Remote doesn’t bother Winters. In fact, as a retired U.S. Army Green Beret with 27 years of service (who still has a remarkably good sense of humor) getting in and out of remote places is old hat.

“There are three good ramps along the river from the El Jobean Bridge to just about a mile south of I-75,” he notes. “They’re spaced about five or six miles apart, and while the two upper river ramps are in the idle zone, if you pick the right one you can get into the section of the river you want to fish pretty quickly.”

The character of the river changes considerably over its short length.

The upper section is mostly fresh water, depending on the rainfall, and has holes on some outside bends that go down to 18 feet. It’s narrow and the banks are lined with mangrove, cypress and blowdowns. Snook don’t mind fresh water, and in the winter they are looking for the deepest, most stable water they can find.

“This is the best deepwater refuge in the river,” Winters explained. “It would be my first choice after we get our first major cold front in December, and it can be good all through January.”

Snook Haven fish camp has a pay-to-use ramp a mile or so west of I-75.

“It’s aptly named,” noted Winters.

This is classic blackwater river angling. Winters starts his search on the deeper outside bends, where bigger snook start and end their feed. Look for where “wood meets water”—little eddies where snook bushwhack forage blundering along with the current. Short, accurate casts are the key, and Winters wants a bait that gets down quickly.

“A 4- or 5-inch soft-plastic jig is an excellent choice up here,” he said. “By changing the jighead weight you can control the depth it runs. I use anything from a 1⁄ 8- to a 3⁄ 8-ounce wide gap-hook jighead. The water is dark up there, so I like a dark body with a white or chartreuse tail.”