IT'S NOT EVERYDAY THAT YOU GET A CHANCE TO FISH WITH THREE GUYS NAMED "MIKE" AT THE SAME TIME. TO TOP THAT OFF THEY WERE FAMILY!!! "YEP", GRAMPS, DAD AND SON. NEITHER OF THEM HAD EVER CAUGHT A SNOOK BEFORE SO I WAS PUT TO THE TASK!! DO TO THE COLD WINTER THE BAIT HAS NOT YET SHOWN HERE IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS SO I GRABBED A COUPLE DOZEN LIVE SHRIMP AT THE LOCAL SHOP AND HEADED FOR THE BOAT RAMP. ONCE WE WERE ON THE WATER THE SON LIFTED THE BAIT WELL LID AND GASPED. "WERE IS THE BAIT"?, HE ASKED. I LOOKED AT HIM AND POINTED TOWARD THE 5 GALLON BUCKET WITH THE SHRIMP IN IT. "ALL THREE OF THEM LOOKED AT ME AS IF I WERE SOME KIND OF "SCAMMING SKIPPER", YOU KNOW , THE CAPT.WHO COULD GIVE A S--T IF YOUCATCH FISH OR NOT. "NO WORRY", I TOLD THEM , "WE PROBABLY WONT NEED THE SHRIMP EITHER"!! THEY WERE SPEACHLESS. I RAN THEM TO A BRIDGE I HAD BEEN SPANKING THE SNOOK @ FOR THE LAST FOUR DAYS WITH ARTIFICIALS AND GAVE THEM A QUICK RUN DOWN ON THROWING HARD BAITS RE: BOMBER 17A LONG A MAGNUM....... THE THREESOME TOPPED OUT AT 17 SNOOK BY THE END OF THE TRIP AND EACH HAD CAUGHT HIS "FIRST EVER SNOOK" USING A FAKE BAIT!!,,,,,,,,,, THEY WERE EXSTATIC AT THE END OF THE NIGHT AND SAID THEY HAD NO IDEA HOW FUN FISHING WITH ARIFICIAL BAITS COULD BE.,,,,,,, "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE THRILL OF THE HUNT"!!!! THE NEXT THREE PICS TELL THE TAIL!!