# Snapper Tactics



## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Well its one month to go before the Snapper bans here in Cockburn Sound, Perth, recently we have had not much luck,,despite being on top of Snapper schools some weekends the boats around us have enjoyed success, the yakkers have had little to show for it,, maybe bad luck or something else,,i am not sure.

Anyway to get finicky Snapper to bite or teqniques folks have ??, i was trying Berkley gulps last few times, i guess i don't really know how to use them,,i cast out and let them go near the bottom then slowly wind in,,sometimes i give a little jerk.

Plan B is i brought some Berkley line *vanish* supposebly invisble underwater,i am going to catch squid while i am out there and drift with one near the bottom, plus cast out with my Pearl White gulp, anything else i can try ?

In W.A everybody anchors and burleys up with Pillys and play the waiting game,,i would rather use a proactive approach.

We have two snapper trips planned for this weekend, i will take anybodys advice and report back the results,,thanks in advance


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## Crazy_Horse (Nov 3, 2006)

Try using Tommy Ruff (Australian Herring) fillets. They are gun on finnicky snapper in SA.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

I never anchor up, prefer to drift or paddle into the wind/current, have one rod in the holder with just enough line out so the SP just bounces off the bottom and cast with second rod. Fish as light as possible, I go down to 8lb when there finicky.....you can go lighter 
3 mtrs of leader, vanish is crap throw it in the bin, only fit for bream or whiting, I use Yamatoyo, but there are other good quality fluorocarbons around. 
Use the lightest jig head that will get you to the bottom, they should take at least 10 secs per 10 mtrs to get there, the slower the better. Lime green soft plastics are the go here, nuke chook, lime tiger or others.

In the end its a matter of practice and perseverance, what works here may not work where you are, but you'll get there in the end and be reaping the rewards.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

I was looking at the nuke chook today but i heard,,pearl,,watermelon and pumpkinseed were the go on snapper,,BCF only had pearl in stock,,,i am thinking the same the lighter line the better,,,what pound leader ?

Will give the herring a go also .


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## Revo (Aug 3, 2008)

Hi Shorty
Thanks for the posting - I'm looking forward to the replies too for I'm looking forward to getting into the snapper on the south coast of NSW in the coming weeks. I noted in the September 2008 issue of Modern Fishing mag an article called "The Snapper Guarantee"  :shock: :? In this article, Scott Amon talks about his "sure-thing" way of catching snapper on sp's. I'm keen to give his approach a go.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

The method Sunshiner taught me has great results on SP. Set up drift and cast downwind (provided drift is the same direction as wind)estimating the cast distance to be the same as the depth you are fishing. Then DO NOTHING untill the line starts to rise in the water behind you, wind in and repeat. When the line goes tight you know your on.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Gee never heard of that one before Breambo, will give that a go sometime over the weekend,thanks for that,,,,


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

i agree with breambo except when you do decide to wind in give the line a few jerk and pause's initially before crankiing it ,every so often you get one on the way in that has been watching the sp and see it start to jerk and hammer it :twisted: hammer time....


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## blaggon (Jan 14, 2008)

Breambo said:


> The method Sunshiner taught me has great results on SP. Set up drift and cast downwind (provided drift is the same direction as wind)estimating the cast distance to be the same as the depth you are fishing. Then DO NOTHING untill the line starts to rise in the water behind you, wind in and repeat. When the line goes tight you know your on.


exactly the method i use and works very well  
go light on your jig head weight, i mostly use 1/8 jig heads as you want them to sink slowly for snapper, and they more often than not take it on the drop


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Just looking at what i have,,i use 1/2 (3/0) for 7" jerk shads for Snapper,,,,,,,,,,,the 1/8 i use forTommy ruff,,,so i need to use a 1/8,?can i still use the 7" shad or do i use the small nuke chicken i use on the Tommys ?

1/8 HOOK (1/0) seems small for Snapper but i will give it a try if you say it works.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

I use 3.5grm/#2/0 heavy duty extra sharp, or 4.5grm 3/0 or 4/0. The starlo and bushy Squidgy Finesse Jig heads seem to work pretty good me, $6.50 not as dear as some of the others. You will lose a few this method as you want to be finding the bottom. I use 3,4,5 inch shads usually fit perfect on the before mentioned hooks.
Also try a flasher rig with some slender cut bait to sweeten the jigs, can be just enough to tempt a bite if there not chomping.


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

blaggon said:


> 1/8 HOOK (1/0) seems small for Snapper but i will give it a try if you say it works


i think blaggon is referring to the jig head weight not the hook size,im a novice but have been using large hooks 5/0,6/0 for the last 12 m0nths and have getting great results,good luck


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

I better do my homework, i thought bigger the weight the bigger the hook, so you can get a 1/8 size with a big hook ? mine comes with a 1/0 in that weight,,,,,,,,,,,

Will look in BCF tommorow and learn more about all the different jig heads, i spend so much time looking at all the lures on display never had time to look at anything else, lol


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

yeah i didn't mean the 1/8 jig head comes with a large hook ,i just meant id' had good luck with bigger hooks ,probably 1/4 ounce jhead weight. cheers .ps told you i was an amateur :lol:


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## blaggon (Jan 14, 2008)

Shorty said:


> I better do my homework, i thought bigger the weight the bigger the hook, so you can get a 1/8 size with a big hook ? mine comes with a 1/0 in that weight,,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> Will look in BCF tommorow and learn more about all the different jig heads, i spend so much time looking at all the lures on display never had time to look at anything else, lol


i like the nitro jig heads which are 1/8 oz or 3.5g ( jig head weight ) they are fitted with owner brand 3/0 hooks, not cheap but are very good quality,
if there is a fair current running i will go up to 1/4 oz or 7g jig heads, but never any heavier for the reefs in my local area as they are quite shallow 11-18m
i prefer to use Gulp jerk shads in either 5" or 7" but good results can be had with many other brands and sizes as well


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

O.K thanks fr all the info,i am off to BCF this morning to do a little shopping,,,our great Snapper bash for this morning was called off last night due to a terible forecast of strong winds and less than pleasant conditions.

Would you believe i woke up to a perfect day , no wind and blue skys  :lol:


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Well i ended up using Pumpkinseed jerk shads in 7 " on Nitro jig heads, was about 7 boats and three yakkers at a popular snapper spot,,,was very windy just had the one rod out and was drifting it along, first up a Pinky grab my SP but the hooks pulled ? and he was off in a few seconds,,,a minute later i was on again,,but i got reefed about 30 seconds later, most of the time you catch one you are home and hosed the bottoms fairly free of major structure,,but i was passing over a reef bombora section at the time.

The main pain was seeing the tails bitten of by which i suspect are small tailor,i wanted to get into SP's to save the mess of bait and the cost of buying the bait,,seems SP's can be a more expensive option .

I am now thinking of looking for the smaller 3,4 or 5 " and hoping to catch the annoying tailor, plus get more SP's for the money.

I never saw anybody else get any action, everybody anchored and threw out unwieghted Pillies which is the only way 99.99% fish for snapper here,,,so i think i might get an edge with SP's.

Thanks for all the advice so far i will keep trying them.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

They reckon the bigger sps get the biggest fish, its just that the smaller ones get smaller fish as well. I cracked and got some 5", only 6 in a pack after yesterday I got 3 nice ones to 60cm on the Guzzler 3 3/4 inch, the other chap, who coincidently paddles a yellow disco also got 3, 2 over 80cm, he was using 5". So I went and got some. :lol:


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Breambo said:


> They reckon the bigger sps get the biggest fish, its just that the smaller ones get smaller fish as well. I cracked and got some 5", only 6 in a pack after yesterday I got 3 nice ones to 60cm on the Guzzler 3 3/4 inch, the other chap, who coincidently paddles a yellow disco also got 3, 2 over 80cm, he was using 5". So I went and got some. :lol:


Looks like the 5" Guzzlers are the go Breambo......what colour are you using?

Shorty nobody said it would be cheaper, just sometimes more productive.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

AWTY I was using a electric chicken 3 3/4 " Guzzler and the other bloke was using a variety of 5" gulps and Exude.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Well the Tailor were giving me grief biting the ends off my SP's yesterday arvo, so i said fugg it, ripped the head off a squid i caught and put that down, caught 4 using the same squid, going out again this arvo,,,do SP'S work when its dark ? oh and i got two on the SP jig, took the SP's off and threaded the squid on.

Oh Akff "Shufoy" got 3 and AKFF member Abner one in a stinky, each of our largest just topped the 80cm mark.


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## DolphinChaser (Sep 7, 2008)

Couple weeks ago I got myself ontop of the grain silo's and lookout tower (as an excursion as a Quarantine Officer), and saw a magnificent sight (site) for snapper hot spots. Apparently along the end of the boom where I've indicated there is massive amounts of snapper daily along here, they feed off all the spare grain that falls off between the boom and the ship and this is a fair amount weekly, we're talking a ton here, a ton there etc.

So if you haven't already, I'd recommend going in there. Without a MSIC (Marine security ID) you can't get out on the boom, but when there aren't any ships filling up I imagine a Yak would get out there under the bridges real easy. :lol:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/ ... C00721.jpg

As its a rather big file and 150kb wouldnt do it justice.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Well i was looking at old posts because i knew i asked a question about using SP'S and maybe HB lures for snapper,,i have not been out much targetting snaps and the 3-4 month snapper ban did not help over summer.

Hopefully people get some ideas on SP'S in this thread and i am proud to annouce my first trolling HB Snapper today (84 cm),i have half hearted used SP and HB in the past and gave up pretty quick,,this morning i persisted for pleaseing results 8)


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Bloody nice fish Shorty. And a nice thread to dredge up.

What happened with the whole chatterbait thing? No longer the prefered snapper attractor? Also on hard body, how do you arrange to get down to them, paravane?

dru


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