Top 5 tips for successful snapper fishing

Here are a few insider tips that should help you put more fish in the boat.

The foot soldier of the marine world, whether live, dead, or sliced into strips, the striped or skipjack tuna is beloved by everything from bream to billfish.

Snapper are no exception. Dogged performers in their own right, a Christmas tree lure trolled behind the boat in open ocean waters is the best way to put a few stripies on board.

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Tuna’s rich, bloody flesh just oozes fish appeal, and salting can enhance longevity both in the freezer and on the hook. This not only toughens the bait, but means the pickers can’t rip it to pieces like they would with a pilchard.

Simply fillet the tuna, lay it on a couple of sheets of newspaper (bait fishos curse the day that The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald went from broadsheet to tabloid), and coat the flesh side liberally with coarse salt.

Wrap it up in the newspaper, bag it, and freeze. The salt draws the moisture out, thereby toughening the flesh.

The same approach can be taken with frigate mackerel, mackerel tuna, bonito and slimy mackerel.

Chicken or layer pellets are a cheap and convenient berley source, not just for reds, but all manner of species.

Baitfish such as yellowtail, slimy mackerel and garfish lurking on the same patch of reef respond to them particularly well. Get the bait active and feeding, and the snaps will fire up too.

Other easily obtained berley sources are prawn, crab, crayfish and mussel shells. The good thing about these is mutton birds won’t eat them, so the berley continues to work.

Getting a lightly weighted floating bait past the brown scavengers is another thing though!

A little, often, is the key to effective berleying. Sharpen their appetite, don’t satisfy it.

At the end of the day, it’s immensely satisfying to find bits and bobs of berley in a snapper’s gut back at the cleaning table. It says you’re doing it right.

While catching reds on lightly weighted floating baits is the preferred way, the classic paternoster rig of two droppers above a snapper sinker remains extremely effective.

It’s now possible to buy commercially tied paternoster rigs with mylar and flashabou tied to the hook for added appeal.

When the pickers are ragging soft baits like pilchards, a yellowtail (yakka) or slimy mackerel head split down the middle and fished on two ganged hooks will keep the bait viable until big red finds it.

This is a long game option, and sometimes the split head only produces rays and wobbegongs, but when it does get eaten by a snapper, it’ll be a cracker!

These days a lot of people are putting those big reds back, but they can suffer from barotrauma — an inability to compensate for internal pressure changes — as they are brought to the surface.

If photos are required, an Environet won’t damage the fish’s scales, fins or that all important slime coating.

Otherwise, unhook the fish in the water and use a release weight on a length of VB cord or similar to return it to the depths.

Hook it over the fish’s bottom jaw, lower it to the bottom, and a tug on the line releases the weight.