LAST weekend proved challenging to find a fish inshore due to the water still being a very murky colour from the recent heavy rain. The water temperature was sitting around 18 degrees, so this is a good sign for when the water clears for catching snapper and other reef fish. As usual we were still able to find a few sand flathead drifting in close to the beach using small cubes of pilchard as bait.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As the water clears up in the Crookhaven River it will be worth targeting bream and mulloway around the river mouth. After heavy rain I’ve always found using live yabbies (nippers) really effective on the bream on the last two hours of the runout tide.
Now I grew up on bait fishing for snapper and don’t get me wrong this is probably the best way to put together a good bag of reds, however over the past five years I’ve been right into fishing for them using soft plastic lures.
Soft plastic lure fishing has become increasingly popular over the past 15 years so it’s no surprise that tackle manufacturers have developed specific tackle and continuously worked to improve the quality of soft plastic lures.
There is no doubt that snapper like soft plastic lures, in fact you catch big snapper on them. The PB from my boat is a whopping 7.4kg and I’ve lost them bigger when they have buried me into the reef or kelp beds.
There is a huge range of soft plastic lures on the market, but if you’ll find the Burkley Gulp, Shimano Squidgie and Z-Man the most productive. I tend to steer towards the Burkley Gulp in the 7inch Jerkshad; again it’s all up to the personal preference and trying different soft plastics to see how they perform.
That said, the Gulp 7inch Jerkshad are my “go to” soft plastic lures for snapper and they come in a big colour range, from pilchard (often very effective in Jervis Bay) to your whole “chicken” colour range. There is the ever reliable Nuclear Chicken and also Satay Chicken, Tandoori Chicken and Curried Chicken to name a few. Lately I’ve had good success using the Fire Tiger colour, particularly around inshore reefs. Colour selection, well that depends on the time of day and conditions, but I like to use the brighter colours in lower light and darker colours when the sun is out.
Jig head selection is really important when soft plastic lure fishing, so you really need to have a range of jig head weights on in your tackle box. Don’t skimp on quality when it comes to buying jig heads, get decent ones with good quality hooks; I’ve had big snapper crush down hooks on jig heads and subsequently lost the fish. A range from 1/16 to 1/2oz will have you covered for most in-shore soft plastic lure fishing, but if you are fishing out wide it pays to have a few bigger size jig heads to get to the bottom.
In terms of tackle I used from a 4kg to a 15kg combo depending on where I’m fishing. If you’re fishing on a reef or boulder bottom you need some serious stopping power, some anything from 10 to 15kg is advisable, out in more open ground you can drop down your line class and have some serious light tackle fun.
In terms of line, braid is a must as you don’t want much stretch in the line and it definitely helps you feel and see bites easier. Sometimes when your soft plastic lure is on the drop (going down to the bottom) you will see movement in the air or on the water in the braid, big chance this is a snapper having a crack at the lure so don’t be afraid to strike.
Most of the time when you are fishing soft plastic lures you are drifting or using an electric motor to cover the grounds you are fishing. Fish with the wind at your back as this will help with getting long casts in. I tend to leave the bail arm over once I have cast as snapper do like to pick the soft plastic lure on the drop and run with it; if this happens give them some line and strike.
Once on the plastic I like to use a double whip retrieve, which is two sharp movements of the rod tip, then let the lure settle back on the bottom. Now snapper like many fish on soft plastic lures can be fussy on any given day with the retrieve you are using, but as a general rule if they are feeding aggressively use a more active retrieve, but if they are a bit quiet on the bite then use a slower retrieve with lots of twitches and pauses. There are plenty of instructional videos on using soft plastic lures for snapper on YouTube which are worth watching, but you can’t beat getting out there.
Tight lines.