I will be in FL near Crystal River this fall. I would like to take the kayak and go fish the mangroves. My plan is to try to catch snook but i dont know anything about salt water. In Montana i use a 9' 5wt. I am vonsidering picking up a budget 7wt for the mangroves. I could use it streamer fishing back in MT. Would that work OK in the mangroves? I also need any other info. What flies, line, time of day, flys, tides, terain to target anything will help. Also if any knows a guide i would be willing to try that one day.

Grab a 17$ spinning rig at Walmart and some golden eye lures:  grey, black and silver.

At night,  go where there is a light shining in the water/. And where the tide moves the water…

Check local bait/ tackle shop for what’s working.  

Catch little fish to catch the big fish,   Cast net.

For slurpers,  baitfish or shrimp pattern

Go visit a couple tackle shops and talk about a guide,   Go the first day and wring him out for info…. Then maybe DIY

Google where yer going to find guides as well.

Good luck!   When its on you should be able to walk across the water on top of snook like sonobuoys.

Crystal River is a disaster area right now, due to the hurricane and flood.

Hurricane damage..?? By Fall..maybe ?

You will wish you had the 9wt when a 15lb-25lb..60lb tarpon or ? Bites.

Will it work ? Sure. You will just load up the rod completely on bigger fish. Plus..in general. You are throwing larger flys.
BTW..do not reach over and wash off your hands next to the boat after unhooking a fish or reaching into the water to unhook one.
Several incidents of sharks being keyed up to splashing near boats there recently. Like..following the boat and then getting a shot at whatever is being caught.

Totally forgot about this. And i just called my family down there to check on them. But somehow i didnt put 2 and 2 together.

If you are determined to use a fly rig, crab and shrimp fly patterns will catch pretty much anything from reds to snook. I prefer yellow/white or white/brown colors, although bright pink shrimp imitations work well too.  

I'd use a 6wt with a 6lb tippet,  but whatever you feel the most comfortable with.  I fish mangroves on the flats for reds,  never had a problem bringing them to the boat.   Might be different in Florida, but here a 2 lb snook is it, the reds are actually larger.

I know I'm late to the party on this but, I wouldn't use anything less than a seven weight preferably an eight weight. Rig it with about a 16 pound tippet. crab flies and a baitfish pattern will be your best choices.

Thanks guys. So i picked up a 7wt and a used salt water real. Real came with 2 spools and 2 line. One sinking on floating. Can anyone break down the line set up? Sounds like 16 lb tippet should work. Do i want floating or sinking line? Any specific backing for salt water? Any kind of special leader or things like tippet that keep the fish from breaking the line with their teeth? All i know are trout.

Somethings i read say to use salt water line. Mostly i see that it is important with warm tropical water. I think my temps should be around 50-70 degrees. Maybe less in December.

I just spent the month in CR, everything is fine. I don't think I would target snook there, they are around but it's somewhat rare.

Snook have sandpaper mouths, I don't target with fly, but 20# is frequently broken on small fish. I would go up to 30, I consider 40# the minimum with spin tackle.

Redfish and tarpon would be my target if I were inshore/near shore fishing. Lots of small trout around as well. Focus on oyster bars for the reds and islands/sandbars can hold them as well.

Most people I see aren't fishing the main river, usually near the entrance to the gulf. Or the shallows of the gulf. Good luck!

Thanks, i say snook but i really dont know what i am talking about. Red fish would be great. Really whatever i hook would be great. I might look at a map of where i will be. I might shoot you a pm about the area if you dont mind. I will be staying in Dunnellon and driving to the water. So i have some flexability. Only boats i have access to would be kayaks.

Sounds good