snapper so easy

winter brings schools of snapper into cockburn and warnbro sound to feed and breed. with these large schools inshore, alot of boaties get out and get a feed until the closure is set in place to help protect these wonderful fish. i personally do not like targeting spawning fish i believe they should be left alone to do their business and produce millions more for the future. when i target pink snapper i do so outside of the spawning areas and do so very successfully.

snapper can be caught from 2m-200m of water and finding them can be easier then you think, sometimes the best way is to anchor in a known snapper area and burley, this is my preferred way to target pink snapper this allows me to fish light lines and have alot of fun catching these hard fighting beautiful fish.
a spot that has been regularly producing for me is on the edge of a reef system in 13m of water, the key to success is burley and lots of it! sometimes it may take an hour or so until the first pink snapper shows up but if in a good area and enough burley is used, normally you can have a good session.

Reece and i decided to head out on Sunday the 18/8/13 as the weather man was promising glass like conditions and he delivered, the water was magical we sounded around the edge of the reef and seen some fish on the sounder and knew pink snapper were here! the reef anchor was deployed and with no wind the boat just sat right on the spot, Reece had a small yellow tail down first and within seconds missed a solid bite, i dropped a large yellow tail down on two snelled 8/0 hooks and a small running ball sinker, Reece was fishing with snelled 5/0 hooks and a running bean sinker.
the second bait Reece dropped down was smashed again and he hooked and landed a nice 56cm pink snapper, all within 5 minutes of dropping the anchor.
we were in for a great morning session with the high tide at 730am,
i hadn't had a bite for about 10 minutes and thought  the yellow tail may have been to large a bait at about 15cm long so i wound up and cut it in half, i used the head of the yellow tail as pink snapper love eating the heads of fish. when the head of the yellow tail hit the bottom the little stradic screamed as a solid fish took off like a freight train under the boat and was heading north.
while fishing 20lb braid is great fun catching snapper and Reece and i have successfully landed fish to 91cm sometimes something a bit bigger comes along and we just cant stop them. this fish was no exception and was on a mission to get me to the edge of the reef to bust me off and he was successful, after re rigging and sending a whiting down i hooked up almost immediately again and landed a 75cm pink snapper, the next two baits were smashed and i got an 86cm pink snapper all the fish had been successfully released and the big fella needed some assistance from the release weight, remember it is a legal requirement to carry a release weight on board any vessel targeting demersal species to help ensure survival of any under size or unwanted fish.
with me now landing 3 nice pink snapper in a row Reece was starting to feel left out so he started to cube some mulies up and really get our burley trail flowing when his little sustain 5000 started screaming he hooked  a solid fish and just had to stand there as the fish was peeling line and had no intentions of stopping he was busted off on the reef as well and had us scratching our heads as to what was down there that seemed unstoppable.


we spent the next 4 hours catching and releasing over 13 big snapper between 55-86cm and several under size pinky's, it was defiantly one of the best shallow water snapper sessions i have ever had.

the wrecks in cockburn sound produce fish when they are spawning and you constantly get groups of boats, sometimes up to 100 boats fishing a large school of snapper for hours keeping their bag limits, this puts alot of stress on fish stocks and interrupts their breeding so next time you decide to head out chasing pink snapper maybe drive out through cockburn or warnbro sound find a nice lump on some shallow reef by yourself and start burleying you may be surprised with just how well you do.

catch ya next time
Corey

video on how to tie a simple snell

hey guys if you want to know how to tie a simple snell rig, this is a short video i did on how to tie it, i use this knot in 99% of my rigs as it is quick and easy with nearly 100% knot strength as there is no actual knot merely a few wraps around the shank,
catch ya next time

corey

shallow water success

The forecast was for 0-5 knot northerly winds for Saturday arvo so the call was made and plans were changed. The boat was packed and at the ramp by 3 pm on Saturday the intended destination just outside Warnbro sound on a patch of reef i know produces some good fish.
we had the anchor in the water and it was so calm the boat was holding without the anchor rope even being tight.
the sounder had some nice red arches and we knew we were in for a solid session in 14 meters of water,
my cousin fishes with a shimano sustain 5000 spooled with 20lb braid, i have a shimano stradic ci4 4000 spooled with 20lb braid on a storm gomoku keiyro micro jigging rod. This little white beast with the green EVA grips looks like it belongs in the river chasing bream but it holds its own against some big fish with a rating of 0.4-1.0 PE.

we had quickly popped out into the sand and caught some fresh sand whiting for bait before dropping the anchor. they were the first on the hooks and down they went on 2 x snelled 5/0 suicides 60lb leader and a small ball sinker, the baits were hit and we were stitched up in the reef immediately, this happened two more times and we decided to let the anchor rope out about 10 meters when the boat finally shifted with the tide as their was no wind Reece dropped a yellowtail down and the second it hit the bottom he was on, first call was a little pink snapper, but to his surprise a very nice 56 cm dhufish circled up on 20lb gear in shallow water it fought hard and made his day as it was his first sized dhufish.

we had been throwing in cubes of mulie, scaly mackerel, and yellowtail along with a burley pot hanging along side the boat,
i dropped down the largest whiting we had on the little gomoku and stradic combo and it wasn't long till i seen the rod tip bounce, i picked the rod up and the fish came back and smashed the bait i hooked up solid to a nice fish, the gomoku bent in two and the stradic screamed as the fish was peeling 20lb braid off like nothing, with some really solid head shakes i was calling it for a pink snapper, after several tense minutes as it kept heading back for the bottom i had the fish beat, up came an 86cm pink snapper!
high fives and pictures were taken.

the sun had just set and the Skippy had turned up in such huge numbers they were everywhere and made it difficult to get a bait past them, mulies and squid as bait were a no go, whiting and yellowtail were the only baits to get past the hordes of Skippy. Reece decided to get out my little daiwa freams 2000 with 4lb braid and a shimano ballistix rod and have some light tackle fun floating pieces of mulie cubes out the back, he hooked up some solid 35-40cm and was having a ball, when the big baits starting getting some more attention and the next few hours were great fun we successfully landed and released 12 pink snapper from 48-57cm and the one big fella at 86cm, my cousin on the last drop of the night picked up a second dhufish but he was only 48cm and swam off strongly, gotta love shallow water! catching pink snapper on 20lb gear is alot more fun and easier then you think, next time your at the tackle shop check out a 4000 sized spinning reel and rod to match and consider using it as your go to shallow water snapper combo, you will not be disappointed!
by staying in close we saved a fortune on fuel and had caught many more fish then most had by heading out 20 mile.
the key to success when fishing in shore is BURLEY i hype on about it in all my posts but its the main reason i catch fish, with out it i probably wouldn't have any pics or stories to write a blog!

catch ya next time
Corey Chandler