|
As the hours of daylight shorten with crisp, foggy mornings testing out the snooze buttons on most alarm clocks, the snapper fisherman stirs.
Winter signals the arrival of quality snapper to a lot of inshore areas of Australia. This gives many anglers the opportunity to catch good numbers of fish normally reserved for the lucky ones amongst us with a boat larger than six metres.
Traditionally a species of fish targeted by bait fishing, recent times have seen snapper being targeted by fisherman armed with soft plastics lures as an alternative to pilchards or squid. This style of fishing is proving to be an exciting and increasingly productive method of targeting this species.
The aim of this article is to provide information on equipment and techniques used to target snapper on soft plastics.
EQUIPMENT
As with any soft plastics fishing, it is important to have crisp and direct contact with your lure. This is achieved via the use of low stretch fishing line, like a braided or Super Line (e.g.; Fire line), used in conjunction with a good quality graphite fishing rod. This ensures that every inquiry you receive from a fish is instantly transferred up the line allowing you to react appropriately.
Personally, when using soft plastic lures, I have caught fish in depths in excess of 80 feet deep. Fishing with monofilament line at these depths gives you little or no indication of what's happening to the lure, thus resulting in missed bites, and less captures.
My preferred combination of lines and fishing rod is; 10lb Platypus Super Braid, 15 lb Ande Fluorocarbon leader and an ISB 703 Shikari spin rod, custom built by Gary Howard of Australian Rod Manufacturers. This gives me the non-stretch, sensitive feel required to sense exactly what's going on at the other end of my line.
SOFT PLASTICS
There is a large variety of soft plastic lures on the market at the moment varying in shape, colour and size, thus appearing to make the decision on lure selection a quite difficult one. From my experience, any three to four inch lures in styles such as curl tails, paddle tails, squid patterns and jerk baits are all successful.
A nice snapper caught in Morten bay, S/E Queensland, weighing 13.8 pounds. 10lb braided line and 15 lb leader was all that was required to land this nice specimen. A ½ oz Tournament Series Jighead and 5/0 hook used in conjunction with a 4 inch pumpkinseed Berkley Drop shot Minnow was the lethal combination on this particular day.
As in most situations when lure fishing, colour selection is often governed by how the fish is feeling on the day. Natural colours such as watermelon or pumpkin are good places to start. However, don't discard colours like chartreuse, pink or lumo.
I have got to admit that I am hooked on the Berkley range of drop shot minnows in both the three and four inch size range. All the colours in this range have proven successful at one time or another, but my favourites would have to be smelt scale and pumpkinseed. Yet, I must add that snapper is one species of fish that don't appear to be very fussy on what you present to them, but more importantly how you present it.
JIGHEAD SELECTION
It is crucial to present your lure to the fish with the most natural action possible. This is achieved by using the lightest jighead weight that still allows you to place the lure in the strike zone. If conditions are perfect, examples of weight selection are; when fishing in around 5 metres of water use a 1/8 or 1/6 oz jighead, when fishing in 20 metres of water, try a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jighead.
There are two variations in conditions that will govern jighead selection, these being current
flow and wind speed. If you are fishing when current flow is fast or wind speed is high, a heavier weight jighead is often required to get, "in the zone". If this is the case, increase weights gradually to ensure that you are using the lightest weight possible. This will result in more captures due to the lures action remaining as natural as possible.
As well as jighead weight, it is important to select a hook size that gives the lure as much action as possible, whilst still being the correct hook for the size fish you are targeting.
I like to use a jighead that allows the hook point to be positioned level with the centre of the lure, for example; when using a three inch bait use a jighead with a 3/0 hook, when using a four inch bait, use a jighead with a 5/0 hook.
A very nice one metre plus snapper caught off the west coast of South Australia. This fish was caught using a 1 ½ oz Tournament Series Jighead and a 5 inch pearl white Terminator Snapback.
TECHNIQUES
When targeting snapper in shallow water, I prefer to cast the lure as far as possible toward the structure, or area where the fish are thought to be. As soon as the lure hits the water, engage the reel into gear or knock the bail arm over. Snapper love to strike the lure on the drop, and at times the fish are very close to the surface. If you are not ready, the fish may inhale the lure and scream away with it before you have the reel in gear. This normally ends in the fish being lost.
In deep water, it is very important to first locate fish via the use of a good quality sounder. There is no point being where the fish aren't.
Once you have located fish, you must attempt to free spool the lure all the way towards the bottom. This can be difficult when wind or current is strong, but this is when jighead selection is so important. Use a jighead just heavy enough to get the lure to the bottom. This keeps the action of the lure looking as natural as possible.
Allow the lure to sink towards the bottom and you will find that snapper strike at the lure with unmistakably sharp hits.
It is important to wait for the rod to load up before setting the hook. Be patient, as some times the fish can be quite finicky and appear to play with the lure before having a decent go at it. If the fish strikes the lure but doesn't hook up, pause slightly, lift the lure a foot or two then allow it to fall again. This seams to encourage another enquiry.
If the lure reaches the bottom, allow it to rest briefly, as snapper will regularly pick up motionless baits. If no interest is received, begin working the lure back to the boat with short lifts and pauses, before allowing it to fall back to the bottom.
The information mentioned in this article appears brief, however, this is not rocket science. This is a simple matter of being confident that you are fishing in the right areas, and remembering that "persistence pays"…….Good Luck!
THE TOURNAMENT SERIES EDGE
We have developed, and will continue to expand this range of jigheads to provide a solution to as many fishing situations as possible. We have anglers fishing with our product all over Australia so as to give us continuous feedback on how to improve this range.
With the seemingly endless variety of jighead weight and hook size combinations currently in the Tournament Series range, you will find an appropriate size jighead for your situation.
It is our belief that this is Australia's most comprehensive range of jigheads available.
| 
