Snapper tutorial needed, free boat fuel bait - Melbourne

[kzrocky]

Ok fellas, Im sick of going out and not catching snapper. I wanna catch some.
So heres the deal, in return for someone showing me how to do it.

+ Free boat ride (2 yo stabicraft 589), no fuel costs.
+ You get to keep your own snapper
+ You get to meet me, keen learner
+ Im not a p - oof
+ Free Beer
+ Any day of week (im not working - too hard)

- You have to show me how to rig the lines
- You have to listen to me whinge if we dont catch anything
- Im a novice
- You dont get paid


I have several rods, sounder, gps, vhf. Safe boat.

Im in SE melb, can launch anywhere.

Let me know if your interested?

ps: If we catch 2kg plus I buy you beers afterwoods

[tassie]

What a sweet deal, if only you were in QLD............................
I can see this thread filling up in no time mate.

[reddybayfisher]

Sounds like you have all the gear / boat etc.....I too am located in QLD but to offer some assistance if no one goes out with you.....
1) There is a book called 'Encylopaedia of Australian Fishing' - it has every possible rig you can make virtually and shows a couple rigs to target snapper with....
2) There is an awesome DVD called 'Snapper Down Under' - this DVD is presented by Brendan Wing & Warren Carter - they go over everything to target snapper - rigs, collecting bait, knots, SPs - it is set in Melbourne and shows a couple spots on maps with where they were.....has some very big snappers being caught also....I have seen a few fishing DVDs before and this is definatetly a quality DVD about snapper....

Hope that helps...

Cheers,
Reddybayfisher (aka Brendan)

[lusco]

Glad to see us mere mortals are willin to try anything to land a snapper.i will be willing to do the same for anyone in brissie who knows a bit about scarborogh

[outsiderskip]

pity u r not in qld
no snapper down there
or here

pete

[wilcara]

I'm tempted to pretend I'm a snapper expert just to get the ridealong, but sadly I ain't by a long shot. Have caught quite a few though but not in PPB, can't see what the problem would be for you, what do you think you are doing wrong? If you are going in daytime then forget it!

[iceknight]

Glad to see us mere mortals are willin to try anything to land a snapper.i will be willing to do the same for anyone in brissie who knows a bit about scarborogh

find some ground befor dark, use an anchor without chain, and be really quiet in the shallows, burley hard out, but not making any noise, ( pre done in tubs) throw out handfulls away from the boat. and then use large slab baits or cuttle heads, and whole squid works ok from time to time. youl get a few wobbys to start with. but then the snapper should come on filthy quick

[kzrocky]

Thanks all from Qld fro potential tutors.
Unfortunaltely my Victorian fellows arent up to the challenge

I went out today and caught a baby snapper.
All the boats around me were pulling in big ones.
I dont get it, Ahhhhhhh

[sleepygreg]

ok - heres a tip. Go to the ANSA website, and look up the contact for the Greensborough Sportfishing Club, I used to live in Melbourne and these guys were 'gun' snapper fishos, though I didnt do a lot of fishing while I was down there, my mate was a member of that club and thats what they mainly targetted...Im sure if you went along to one of their meetings and put that offer on the table you would get some takers.

Cheers
Greg

[Rod Fishing]

big baits big fish


Cheers Rod....

[Jeremy]

All the boats around me were pulling in big ones.

You can't be far off. You already know WHERE and WHEN. That is at least half the battle. Make sure you take notes of the tides and moon when those around you were catching them.

Maybe try to have a chat to a couple of them back at the ramp. What type of reels (baitrunner I am guessing)? mono or braid (mono I would guess)? How heavy is the line and leader if any they use (lighter the line and leader the more natural the presentation)? Hook size and pattern and rig they use?

Not asking too much for them to give you this info, most of it you will get for yourself with a quick look over their gear.

Good luck, you will get there soon.

[Aussie123]

I used to fish the snapper in the bay and also corio bay for many years with enormous success.
My prefered area was off Frankston in various depths depending on the day and one of my favourite spots was in 7m off Mile Bridge on the reef there.
Once you see the group of boats have a sound around and you will see the snapper on your sounder so get upstream and quitley drop the anchor.
The rig I always used was 20lb main line to a swivel and then 30lb trace down to a 2 hook rig.
The 2nd hook was used as a slider and would be pinned into the tail of the pilchard and then half hitch the line around the tail and hook shank to hold it tight.
A small ball sinker was also needed which just slid onto the trace and sat down on the pilchard while casting.
Throw your baits out and give lots of slack line and then set the reel in free spool,baitrunners on a 7ft rod are awesome for snapper fishing.
Set out as many rods as allowed and burley heavy with cubes.
Other successful baits we used were squid,squid heads and live gars were awesome baits.
Flathead frames are also a fantastic bait for large snapper.
Other areas i liked to fish were the channel markers off St Kilda and the old spoil grounds near Altona which fished very well in the dark.
I think the most important thing for those snapper down there is using chemically sharpened hooks.They have very hard bony mouths and normal hooks like to just fall out and you will lose a lot of fish so buy good hooks when you do,well worth the extra bit of money.
I remember the days when a dozen fish on a tide change up to 20 odd pound was an average session with the average size fish being around 4 to 5kg.
Western Port is another great snapper bay but so much harder to fish due to the stronger currents there.
Lance