BETTER SNAPPER STRATEGIES
Catching Black Snapper and Chumming
EDITOR'S
NOTE: With snapper season in high gear this summer,
I've collected new and better ways to catch more and
bigger snapper. And there’s plenty of good news
on the Upper Gulf Coast this summer. If you look at
the area Hurricane Dennis went through in July, 2005,
you’ll see the resulting destruction, but not
nearly as much as Hurricane Ivan caused. Many of the
charter boats are still up and running, however many
of the fisherman normally there at this time of the
year aren’t, but you should be and here’s
why. Right after a major disturbance in the Gulf of
Mexico, like Hurricane Dennis, bottom feeders like snapper
and grouper migrate. If history repeats itself, the
Alabama/Mississippi Gulf Coast would have a tremendous
influx of grouper and the Florida Panhandle, including
the Destin and Panama City area, should have a huge
influx in snapper. Right now, you have a window of opportunity
to travel to the Upper Gulf Coast and catch more and
bigger snapper than ever before.
I
love catching black snapper. You'll often take them
incidentally when you fish for red snapper. But most
often you'll see them coming up near the surface off
the stern of a boat after you've already caught several
red snapper. Black snapper shy away from lines and hooks.
If you put a conventional bottom-fishing rig out on
the stern, you'll rarely catch them. I try to keep a
spinning rod, like the ones used to catch cobia, near
me on the stern if I plan to fish for black snapper.
I like to use 20- or 30-pound-test line and a bronze-colored
snapper hook. I try to put the hook into a cigar minnow's
mouth as far as it will go to hide as much of the hook
as I can. Then I free-spool the line off the spinning
reel behind the boat and watch the cigar minnow as it
floats down to the black snapper. Even if I don't see
the snapper take the bait, I'll continue to feed out
line.
I've learned that often black snapper will drift further
behind the boat than I can see, or they'll hold in water
so deep that I can't spot my cigar minnow. Once the
fish takes the bait, I'll let the line free-spool off
the reel for about a three count until the fish tightens
up the line. Then
I'll set the hook. Next, I'll back off the drag so that
the snapper can run with only slight drag pressure and
to keep from breaking the fish off. Take your time bringing
black snapper in because of their strength. If you try
to overpower them, they often will cut the line.
Chumming:
Anglers in Mississippi and Louisiana have chummed snapper
for years - much longer than fishermen in the Panhandle
of Florida and Alabama. Most anglers view chumming as
a major hassle as well as a stinky proposition. However,
two products make chumming much easier and more effective.
Try a Killer Bee chum bag that comes in a frozen container
and has a type of onion-sack bag inside the container
filled with frozen chum. To get the chum in the water,
hang the bag overboard. As the chum thaws, it leeches
out through the porous sack and into the water. The
wave action of the boat moves the sack up and down in
the water, causing more chum to leech out each time
the boat bobs in the water. Often the snapper will follow
the
chum right up to the surface of the water. This tactic
allows you to:
*see the snapper you want to catch,
* cast lighter lines without lead to the fish you hope
to take,
* pick out the fish you want to cast to,
* use fly tackle to catch big snapper and
* pull the snapper away from wrecks and rigs where the
fish may break you off.
For more information on Killer Bee bait, visit www.killerbeebait.com.
To learn more about fishing at Alabama’s Gulf
Coast, go to www.orangebeach.com,
or call (800) 745-7263
TOMORROW: CHURNING UP SNAPPER
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