We are again looking at a fairly windy weekend, but with the wind mainly coming from the west it should knock down the sea further and provide an opportunity for good conditions for in-shore fishing, particularly for snapper and kingfish.

From a fishing perspective snapper usually come on the chew after heavy seas, so chasing the reds using bait and soft plastic lures will probably be a good way to celebrate Her Majesty’s Birthday this long weekend.

There has also been lots of surface fish like salmon, tailor and bonito around Crookhaven Heads and off Culburra Beach.

These species of fish are great fun to catch using lures on light tackle, especially for kids.

If you want to throw a line in off the beach trying around the entrances to the Shoalhaven River (Shoalhaven Heads) and Lake Wollumboola (Culburra Beach) for tailor, bream, salmon and maybe a mulloway.

Last week we starting talking about the basics for fishing for snapper.

This week I’m going to focus on the most popular method of catching them, that’s on bait.

First of all let’s talk tackle.

Most anglers that target snapper these days are using rod and reels, however handlines around the 15kg mark are still very effective in catching them.

My favourite snapper combo is a Shimano Sustain 5000FG spinning reel loaded with 15kg Power Pro braid line and a Samaki 10-20lb rod.  

This set up is light to fish with, but has some serious stopping power when it comes to big snapper.

It can also be used for both bait and soft plastic fishing for snapper.  

I’ve got a couple of different combos for fishing for snapper, including light 4kg outfits for fishing soft plastics on open ground, don’t think you won’t land a monster red on this gear as our PB in Jervis Bay is a 7.4kg on 4kg braid line.

Baitrunner style reels are great for fishing for snapper, particularly when using floating baits as you can engage the baitrunner mode and really let the snapper take the bait before setting the hook.

Both Shimano and Penn have quality bait runner reels on the market.  

The Shimano Baitrunner D are the ‘ants pants’, however the Baitrunner OC and ST models will do the job just fine.

When it comes to purchasing fishing tackle, particularly rods and reels you can set some good quality gear at a reasonable price these days.  

Using quality gear means it won’t fail you when you got that fish of a lifetime on and it last longer with regular maintenance.  

I prefer using Shimano reels and when it comes to rods there are that many at a reasonable price to choose from these days.   

Value for money I reckon it hard to go past Shimano’s Raider series of rods, from finesse fish for bream to snapper they perform well and are very robust.

It all comes down to personal preference and affordability, but duck in to your favourite tackle shop and they will help you out in selecting a quality set up in your price range.

In regards to what fishing line to use this is really about personal preference as different types have their advantages and disadvantages.    

For example braided lines have less stretch and you better bite indication, particularly when using soft plastic lures for snapper, however mono fishing line is more abrasion resistant.  

As I use my snapper outfits for both lure and bait fishing for snapper I stick to braided lines like Power Pro or Finns.

If you are using braid fluro carbon leaders around the 10kg to 15kg breaking strain in my opinion is a must.  

It’s important to make sure the connecting knot you tie for the leader is solid as this is a potential point you could break off a big Snapper.

When fishing floating baits I normally use a 4 to 5 sized suicide type hook with a ball sinker straight above.

The sinker weight you use is very dependent on the current, but as a general rule go as a light as you can.

If I’m fishing on a reef I just fish floating baits, but on the gravel (or broken ground) I usually have that they have an ‘up and downer’ out as well.  

An up and downer is fished directly onto the bottom, usually with a 1/4lb sinker and two hooks set apart above it.  

If there isn’t much current then drop down your sinker size using this rig as well.  

Remember its general rule across the board when bait fishing to use only as much as weight as possible to get the bait down to where the fish are.  

A lot of people don’t catch fish because they are using too much weight, less weight is actually more when it comes to bait fishing.

When it comes to bait you use WA pilchards, squid, fresh strip baits like mackerel, striped tuna or other oily fish.  

When using floating baits let them float down the bottom with the bail arm open as snapper will often swim up the burley trail and take baits that are drifting down in the current.

Snapper often will pick up the floating bait and start to run with it, give them sufficient line to take the bait before setting the hook.

It’s important to have a solid drag setting when fishing around reefs or other structure for snapper as they will try to take you into or around the reef when they are hooked up.

Can’t reinforce enough the need to have a good burly trail going when fishing for snapper, get a trail of small pieces of pilchards or other small cubes of fishing happening if you want to catch quality Snapper.

Another thing I want to reinforce when fishing for snapper is do it sustainably, that is only take enough within the legal limit for a feed and consider letting the real big ‘trophy’ fish go as they are the breeding population – it’s about fishing for the future.

Next week we talk about probably the most exciting way to catch big snapper on soft plastic lures and we’ll also have a look at the fast evolving mirco jigging technique.

Tight lines, Steve ‘Jonno’ Johnson