The Panel – Winter Snapper on Plastics

This installment of  the Berkley Pro Panel looks at Plastics techniques for winter snapper. Location specific, there are pro techniques from QLD, NSW and VIC. Read on and find out how the Pro’s fish for winter snapper on plastics in your area.

Angler – Gary Brown
Location – Bate Bay and Shark Island off Cronulla
DRIFTING
If the conditions are right and there is not too much swell you could try drifting at the back of Shark Island or over the Osborne Shoals. If you are drifting too fast (due to the wind) you will need to slow your drift down with the use of a sea anchor. Once you have set up your drift you will need to cast as far as you can in the direction of where you are going. This will allow the jig head and soft plastic to work its way down to the sea bed.
While the jig head and soft plastic is floating downwards you will need to slowly wind in enough line so that you stay in contact with it, as sometimes the take of the snapper will be quite light and you will need to feel this take so that you can strike and set the hook. On the other hand the snapper can also take off with the soft plastic at a great rate of knots and all you need to do is lift the rod to set the hook. When drifting for snapper I will use Outfit No 1. (See tackle section)

At ANCHOR
There has been many a time when I have been targeting silver trevally and snapper while at anchor, only to have snapper start feeding in my berley trail. This is where I will use two outfits. Outfit No 1 will be used the same as if you where cubing for tuna, by slow feeding the soft plastic and jig head (weighted to suit the current) out the back of the boat in the berley trail. When I had let out about 50 metres of line I would wind it back in and start the process over again.

Outfit No 2 would have a lighter jig head and I would cast it about 20 metres out the back of the boat and sit it in the rod holder. The weight of the jig head would enable the plastic to slowly float down through the berley trail, but not reach the bottom. This process would also be repeated, but you will also need to remember to keep the berley trail going.

Tackle
Tackle No 1 – Pflueger Asapro 7ft, 3 to 6kg rod, mounted with a Pflueger Supreme 8035MG spinning reel spooled with 10lb Fireline with 15lb Trilene leader.
Tackle No 2 – Pflueger Supreme 7ft, 3 to 6kg rod, mounted with a Pflueger Trion 4740GX spinning reel spooled with 12lb Trilene leader right through.

Rigs – 1/4 oz to 3/8th oz Nitro 2/0 to 5/0 jig heads and 3/8 oz x 4/0 Pogy Heads connected with a uni knot.  Tackle outfit No 1 has a 6-7ft leader that is connected via a double uni knot to the Fireline.

Preferred Soft Plastics – 5 inch Jerk Shads, 3 inch Shrimps and 5 inch Swimming Shads

Preferred Colours – Nuclear Chicken, Blue Pepper Neon, Bone Jack, Jelly and Peppered Prawn, Smelt and Sardine.

Angler – Neil Schultz
Location – SE QLD
Here in South-East QLD, although snapper are available year round, winter is when we target them close inshore. This shallow water snapper fishing suits my style of fishing with light tackle.  Oftentimes I’ll fish my bass gear on winter snapper.  Areas that produce regular catches include rocky reef, gravel or rubble patches and man made structure like pylons and wrecks.  When planning an outing we don’t worry about tides or moon phases, all will produce fish.  What is the dominating factor is wind and swell.  Its all about having a steady drift rate to allow light weight heads to be fished.  Too much wind will push a vessel fast enough to plane plastics up in the water column.  On a calm day, even with the lightest lures, the line will hang vertically.  Time of day too is critical in shallow water fisheries.  Often the bite will only last for a couple of hours after first light.  A typical outing sees us launching kayaks in the dark to be fishing 4km offshore as the first hint of light appears over the water in the east.  We’ll usually start with a 1/6oz head and work up in weight as the conditions dictate.  You’ll need enough weight to get your jig and selected plastic, down to the depth the fish are holding.  At first light the fish will often be holding mid-water, hence the light weight head for first casts to allow the plastic to slowly sink down, spending plenty of time drifting through each level in the water column.  Strikes will let you know when you have it just right. 
As far as technique goes this is the easiest form of plastics fishing to master.  A long cast is made and the angler then imparts zero action through rod movement.  The lure’s subtle movements as it sinks are all that is required to tempt a hungry snapper in shallow water.  Hopping or jigging the lure with the rod will almost always yield less snapper in shallow water in S.E.QLD than a dead drift.  We’ve been so successful with 5” and 6” plastics that we now rarely try anything smaller. 
Favourite plastics; 5” Hollw Belly Swim Shads in Trout, Gizzard shad & Purple Tiger and 5” Gulp Alive Jerkshads Lime Tiger & New Penny.  Also the 6” Gulp Saltwater Grubs in New Penny, Camo & Sardine have been successful.  All are rigged on Nitro Saltwater Pro jigs from 1/6 to 1/2oz with hooks from 3/0 to 5/0.

Angler – Andrew McGovern
Location – South Coast NSW
Technique – Winter snapper from the rocks
Winter and early spring along the south coast is prime time to come across some snapper in the wash zone close to the rock ledges. Generally the fish aren’t big (up to 3.5kgs) but they are great fun and excellent table fish at that size. Early morning and late afternoons are best which coincides with the coolest parts of the day so you can mostly have the rocks to yourself. We have done well on the MF50s, dragged through turbulent white water over the past 3 or 4 months. The by-catch of salmon, bonito and tailor also add to some interesting tussles on relatively light gear. Make sure you beef up the trebles on the MF50s. I remove all hardware and upgrade with a single suicide hook at the tail. Try sliding on a fluro bead on the hook shank for low light spinning. Best time is after heavy seas when the water has been churned up. Rocks close to the months of estuaries or lakes are worth a look.
Like any rock fishing please take your safety seriously! Don’t fish alone, always watch the waves, and remember no fish is worth injury or risking further disaster.

Tackle
Reel = Pflueger Supreme MG 8040
Rod = Pflueger Trion 2.1metres 3-6kgs
Main line = 10 or 14lb Berkley Fireline Green
Leader = 20lb Berkley Vanish. 1.8 m connect to braid via Albright knot
Rig – Nitro Saltwater Pro jig heads 3/8 or ¼ oz (7-10 grams)

Preferred Plastics – MF50s, 3″ & 4″ shrimp, 4” minnow
Preferred Colours – Chartreuse, Bandicoot, Green, Punk Prawn

Angler – Nigel Webster
Location – Sunshine Coast QLD
My preferred method of targeting fish is undoubtedly drifting for them. Having found fish holding in deep water, I like to drift back across them while dropping a soft plastic down to their depth range. By dropping a plastic to the depth of the fish, and then slowly drifting it out of their domain, as the boat moves, a lot of quality fish can be taken. The key is making sure you get down to the fish, and watching that line and controlling the lure throughout. Bites register as sharp bumps to savage rushes of the line from the reel. A very important tip is that this differs little from bait fishing. You cannot strike at a fish until there is solid weight registered. This is a form of advanced bait fishing, and those snapper will hold on to a Gulp for a very long time. I have now caught several single fish on two rods. Yes that is right – they will eat one plastic on a particular rod, and then move on to another plastic within range and eat it as well!
Fishing shallow reef is a similar process when drifting, however, to do this, I am careful to keep the boat away from the zone I am targeting. In shallow water, the fish will spook easily and as such the approach needs to be considered. A standard retrieve involves casting the plastic across the zone being targeted, and letting the plastics sink to bottom. When on the bottom, jig the plastic up a few feet, and then with the line tight, let it sink back to bottom. Watch for bites and keep persisting until you experience some success.
If the weather makes for tough drifting, you will be required to anchor. At anchor I like to fish a couple of rods. One rod is cast behind the boat, and with the reel engaged, the plastic is left to slowly sink. The first inkling you will often have of a fish is when the drag starts to scream. The other rod I like to keep in hand and drop plastics behind the boat, and work through the water column. I feed plastics to bottom, watching for bites registering through the line, and then jig them off the bottom, so as to tempt fish from top to bottom!
If fishing a berley trail behind the boat, you will often bring fish to you. However keep in mind, that an important skill is to fish your plastics through the berley trail – so watch where the trail is sinking to, and target the area with suitably weighted jigheads.

Tackle
My snapper outfits consist of Dropshot Pro rods in 6’10 – 6to 8kg and 6’6 – 8 to 10kg. These rods are matched with Abu Soron stx60’s and loaded with braided lines ranging from 15lb Code Red braid to 30lb Stren Sonic Braid.

Rig
I have a variety of jigheads to match hook size with the plastic I am fishing, and weights to suit the different water depths being fished. Hook size should give you a good gape protruding from the plastic so as to hook fish that mouth the bait. The weight of jighead should be selected on the basis of developing a presentation that will subtly get to bottom. For example, snapper love a gently sinking bait. If your jighead is plummeting to bottom, you wont fool midwater fish – and this is often where the active ones are feeding! So a good rule of thumb is start lightly weighted and increase your jighead weight until you just get to bottom.

Preferred plastics
I fish three soft baits predominantly during the winter months. These consist of the 7 inch Gulp jerkshad, 6 inch Gulp grubs and the 4 inch Gulp Pogy. These baits cover the majority of options I will need to satisfy when fishing different areas and variations of snapper feeding activity (i.e. aggressive to timid fish).

I fish a plastic size that matches the aggressive quality of the bite on any given day. If the fish are aggressive, fish bigger plastics and heavier line class leaders (20 to 40 lbs). If the bite is timid, fish smaller plastics on light leader classes (i.e. 10 to 15lb). I typically fish with natural coloured plastics like new penny and peppered prawn, unless I know the moon phase is producing phosphorescent activity – in which case my go to colour is nuclear chicken. There is something special about that glowing green – and don’t forget that the phosphorus glows down deep during the day as well!

Angler – Steve Wilson
Location – NTH NSW
Shallow Reef Snapper
My favourite offshore fishing through the winter months is chasing snapper in shallow reef areas. The reefs that I like to fish on the northern NSW coast range from about 5m to 20m. The winter snapper love to move in close to shore at this time of year and early mornings at first light are the prime times. It’s a good ploy to have a number of  spots as if one reef isn’t  firing you just keep moving around till you come across some fish.

Snapper on shallow reefs require a bit of a stealth approach and an electric motor is a must. Not only will you move around the area quietly but you can get a good drift making it easier to fish.  A slight current is good, but too much current seams to make the fishing hard and the snapper not to keen to bite. The strong current usually means clear blue warm water of more than 20deg snapper like it cooler than 20deg and greener. Keep your boat positioned a cast away from the reef, a good sounder and GPS mapping is a big help. Work along the edge with long casts and let your jig slowly sink towards the bottom. When you think it is near but not on the reef a double hop will lift the jig up and away from the bottom and if there is a snapper around will give the fish the impression of a wounded baitfish and hopefully a strike. Keep working the jig back towards the boat and when you think is near enough wind in recast and repeat again. Another technique that I like to use is the burn and kill, as the jig sinks down near the bottom and is worked back to the boat I wind as fast as I can for about 10 turns and then I just stop and let it sit for a couple of seconds, if there is something following then hang on. This style of fishing is addictive and the bi catch is amazing you just never know what that next fish is going to be.  So get out there have a look closer to shore you may be pleasantly surprised.

Tackle
My favourite outfit for this type of fishing is a 7ft Supreme 6kg to 10kg rod  with a 050 size reel  loaded with 30lb Stren sonic braid make sure the reel is fully filled as this type of fishing can produce anything so be prepared.  Just make sure the reel will hold more than 250m. The leader that I like to use is Stren Coral Pink Leader in 30lbto 40lb. This is the best leader that I have ever come across. I know your thinking this is slightly heavier than the norm but we are talking big fish in rough country and in a blink of an eye they will run you straight into the reef.

Rig
The hooks I like to use are the saltwater pro range from 1/4oz to 5/8oz in a 5/0 size. It pays to match the jig head weight to the depth that you intend to fish. You want the plastic to slowly sink as the snapper are always looking up for a meal and often hit as the jig is sinking, so be prepared.

Preferred plastics
Now the plastics that I like to use are the 7inch jerk shad or the 6 inch grub in colours BBQ chicken, Pink Shine, Pearl white, Blue Neon Pepper, watermelon Neon, Peppered Prawn and Sardine.

Angler- Shane “Bunga” Dyason
Location- Melbourne Victoria.
In Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay we are lucky enough to have a great year round snapper fishery. The much talked about major influx of fresh run breeding fish move through the heads in  October, and peak fishing usually continues up until Christmas.  After the breeding and feeding frenzy, the fishing settles down, and the rest of the year and right through winter provides excellent snapper fishing.
Due to the relatively slow tidal movement in Port Phillip Bay the fish don’t have to station up somewhere out of the current and wait for their food to come past, so there’s no need for them to make a snap  decision as to whether they will eat it of not, they get plenty of time to check out their meal before they eat it!
For this reason i like to fish as light as i can to achieve a gliding type of action on my baits rather than a hard core jerking action, that way i can keep my bait in front of the fish longer.
The technique i use is very similar to how you would fish a blade whilst targeting bream, with 90% of the hook up’s on the lift after a 5 second pause.
 

Tackle used – Reels/line  
Pflueger XTS 2500 spooled with 15lb Spiderwire Code Red.
- Rods    7ft Pfluger Supreme rod or 6,10′ Berkley Pro Tactic rod.
- Leader    15lb Berkley Trilene flourocarbon.
- Jigheads   Berkley Nitro Jigheads between 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz.
- Baits    Berkley 5″Gulp  Jerkshads and Crazyleg Jerkshads, Berkley 4″GulpMinnows   and Berkley 6″Gulp Saltwater Grub!
Angler – Steve duff.
Location – Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. Victoria.
Winter snapper on Port Phillip Bay means Pinky snapper, more commonly known up north as squire. Schools of fish congregate on the inshore reefs around the bay and feed actively at sunrise and sunset, with sunset being the optimum time period. These fish range in size from very small 300gram fish to peak around 2.5kg with larger fish to 4kg caught from time to time. These fish are targeted in water depths that range from 2 meters to 10 meters and as the sun hits the water on the horizon at dusk the action can be every cast and a real lottery on the size of fish caught.
Targeting the inshore reefs around the bay its generally not hard to find the schools of fish on the sounder or more offen these days by the amount of boats anchored up.
The technique used is a simple lift and drop method by putting in as long a cast as possible and letting the bait sink to the bottom, (normally gets hit on the drop) then using double twitches work the bait back to you with pauses in between until you get hit. If its hit and missed then stop the bait and let it sink for a few seconds and if they don’t return to the bait then crank it back and repeat the process.

  
In early to mid spring the first run of new snapper enter the bay and this is when the bigger gear comes out with fish reaching 10kg plus. Lures used here are berkley gulp jerkshads in 5-7 inch with similar colours  as above doing the damage.  But this topic is better left to another day. 

Tackle
Rods used are in the 1-4kg or 2-5kg class spin rods matched with pflueger supreme xts 2500 reels spooled with 4lb crystal fireline and 6-8lb berkley vanish leader. Gear better known for chasing bream or bass but offers great sport on winter pinkies.

Plastics
Lures used are normally plastics with Berkley  gulp power minnows being my preferred bait in 3 and 4 inch in colours – smelt, watermelon pearl, sardine, peppered prawn and lime tiger rigged on nitro bream pro jig heads from 1/16th to ¼ oz in weight.

Angler  “Wishey”
Location Moreton Bay Islands
Snapper can be caught all year around many of the Moreton Bays Islands. I like to concentrate on Peel, Green and Mud Islands. During the year each of these islands will fire on different stages of the moon phases and seasons. If you fish a couple of days either side of a full/new moon it’s a great start.
The depth of water I fish can vary from 4ft to 30ft depending on location. A good sounder helps in the deeper water to find bait fish as well as lumps and bumps which will hold fish.
I start fishing just before the sun is up and cast lightly weighted plastics towards the reef edges dead sticking with the tide or using a slow retrieve. Bycatch in the shallows are Spangled Emperor and Grass Sweetlip. Once the sun is up, I move out to about 18ft to 25ft using aggressive hops to imitate a wounded or dying baitfish.
Most times snapper hit on the drop like a freight train, but sometimes will mouth the bait before taking off. Like bream I don’t strike hard too rip there lips off, I lean back on the rod and let the rod and drag hook the fish. When the fish takes off, its full steam ahead on the electric motor to lead the fish away from trouble, the harder you pull on snapper, the harder they go. If you use the gently does it approach, you can coax the fish away from trouble and a lot less bust ups. This can be a hard thing to get your head around, when the drag is screaming at an alarming rate. It does work and patience is the key.
I use light leaders, because the snapper in the bay do see a lot of lures and baits, and you do get more takes the lighter you go.
The average snapper around the islands is from 40cm (legal length) to 60cm. if you are there on the right day fish to 6 kilos is not impossible.
If you fish Peel remember there is a green zone with a 2 metre depth contour around half the island, it pays to check the EPA website. Good luck and hang on tight when you catch one.

Tackle
Rods  Berkley Dropshot 2-4 kg 7ft, Berkley Pro Tactic 2-4kg 6’10ft
Reels  Soron STX 20

Rigging  - Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon 6lb, 8lb and 10lb leaders connected to Stren Microfuse 4lb with an improved Albright.

Jigheads 1/30th to 1/4th Berkley Bream Pro Series jigs.

Plastics 3 inch Shrimps, 3 and 4 inch Minnows and 4 inch Turtle backs.

Colours –  Banana Prawn, Peppered Prawn, Cocktail Prawn, Mango Ripple, New Penny, Lime Tiger, Pumpkinseed. Keep changing colours and styles to suit, snapper wise up quickly in Moreton Bay.

Angler – Hodgey
Location Victoria
Winter is usually a very slow and gruelling time in southern Victoria. The weather is unpleasant, the water is freezing and the bream are sluggish. Traditionally this is a time when fishing takes a back seat to the warmth and comfort of the couch with the footy on the TV.

 
That was until the Melbourne snapper, which most of us thought leave the bay and the surrounding tributaries during winter, started to make an appearance as a common by-catch in the Yarra. The schools of big snapper leave Port Phillip Bay once the water starts to cool however some of them make their way into the cold waters of the Yarra and Maribyrnong much to the delight of the anglers.

Targeting the river snapper is awesome fun, and while they generally range in size from 30cm to 40cm you never know when the larger model is going to send your reel into overdrive.
Locating the Yarra snapper can sometimes be difficult. However fishing the drop off, deep reefs and channel markers at the change of tide will seriously increase your chances of finding snapper. Once the fish have been located and they are on the chew, catching them can be relatively easy but when times get tough the Turtle Back Worms seems to still get the bites when everything else is failing to produce. I think this is because of the many tube worms that are on the bottom of the system. Quite often after getting snagged I’ll pull up a bunch of tubes which I assume the snapper are feeding on.

Snapper, when feeding are an aggressive fish and working the plastic aggressively can invoke the most awesome takes that have your rod loaded before you really know what’s happening. However the fish are not always fired up and ready to eat. This is when keeping the bait close to bottom is a must. In most cases jigheads ranging from 1/12 to 1/4 with a 1/0 to 2/0 hook will be all that you require. Slowly working a Turtleback in the face of even the fussiest snapper will eventually tempt him to take a bite. 
Now is the perfect time to target the river snapper so grab your bream gear and a couple of packets of Turtleback worms and have some reel screaming fun.

Hodgey

Tackle – Berkley Pro tactic, 3lb Crystal Fireline with 6lb Trilene leader
Jighead – Nitro Bream Finesse 1/12 or heavier, on a 1/0 hook.
Preferred Plastics – 4″ Turtlebackworm

Angler Jason Ehrlich
Location Brisbane
Snapper are a great target species all year round for Brisbane based anglers. Winter is a top time to target them and even small boats and kayaks can get into the action. The Brisbane River mouth is a top location and can be fished even on the windier days while the many southern Moreton Bay islands can be reached when the wind is kind. These islands such as Coochemudlo and Peel are a close run and even within paddling distance for kayak fishermen.

The northern, and south eastern reef edge around Peel is a top spot. Be sure to stay outside of the green zone on top of the reef. Here small plastics like 3” Gulp Minnow Grubs and 3”-5” Gulp Minnows are ideal. Light Nitro jigheads of 1/6-3/8 ounce, depending on the run, will get the plastic slowly to the bottom where it can be hopped back to the boat. Plenty of hits come on the drop and you can expect a mixed bag of species including snapper, tailor, bream, flathead and grassy sweetlip. The deeper holes around Coochemudlo can also fish well. When fishing the bay islands, look for signs of bait as the snapper can make it shower across the surface when they are actively feeding. Keeping a close eye on the sounder will also reveal any signs of bait and bigger fish below.

The drop offs to the channel inside the river and around the loading wharves are ideal areas to waft a plastic. The run inside the river requires a heavier weighted plastic with ¼ and ½ ounce jigheads required to reach the bottom. Plastics like 3” Gulp Minnow grubs and Turtleback Worms are effective. Like the bay islands, it is important to cover the water and look for signs of bait fish using the sounder. Once you find this, the bigger predators won’t be too far away.

Stealth is important for success and likely snapper spots should always be approached by drifting and using an electric motor. The fish are wary in the clearer winter water. Lighter leaders and lines will produce more bites when the fish are finicky in daylight hours.

Top Moreton Bay Plastic – White Gulp 3” Minnow Grub
Top Brisbane River Plastic – Pumpkinseed Gulp Turtleback Worm
Bay/River Outfit – 2-5kg 7’ Pro Tactic fitted with a Soron STX20 spin reel spooled with 8lb Spiderwire and a 14lb Vanish fluorocarbon leader
Preferred Colours –Camo, Pumpkinseed, Disco prawn, Banana Prawn, Peppered Prawn, Cocktail Prawn, Mango Ripple, New Penny, Lime Tiger, Pumpkinseed. Keep changing colours and styles to suit, snapper wise up quickly in Moreton Bay.