Now we’re in the cooler months of the year, it’s time to dust off the snapper gear and go chase some big winter reds in the shallows. The east coast of Australia is famous for its great snapper fishing all year round, but leading into winter is when the east coast current pushes out to sea, forcing the temperatures down. This really fires up those big trophy snapper up in the shallows, making it the perfect time to target them.
There are many techniques used to target snapper along the east coast, whether that’s floating baits back in a burley trail, or slow-pitch jigging out in those deeper reefs. They are an awesome sportfish targeted by many anglers around Australia, and a great fish on the dinner table as well.
My favourite way to target trophy reds is throwing soft plastics on light tackle in those harsh shallow reefs scattered up and down the coast.
Generally, finding where snapper live is fairly easy, but some days it’s hard to get through those smaller fish to get to the bigger fish. There are a few key factors that I consider when targeting snapper, which generally get me better odds in finding those big snapper.
My first step is looking at key bite times. Snapper tend to bite best at dawn and dusk as it provides the perfect time to find good cover, seeking baitfish that push into the shallows to look for cover and hide from predators. Also, keep an eye on tide changes during the day.
Snapper do feed at night but with that first ray of sunlight the baitfish will suspend off the reefs and start to look for deeper water, which the snapper see that as a perfect time for an ambush feed. I start normally fishing in up to 10 metres of water at first light, then work my way towards the deeper reefs as daylight progresses. I reverse this if searching for an afternoon bite – start in the deeper water and work my way into the shallows. This technique has worked for me many times over several years and has greatly increased my catch rate.
Moon Phases
Moon phases play a large role in a snapper’s behaviour in the shallows as they will tend to bite better around a new moon due to less light in the water, which gives the fish more cover to hunt around those bait schools sitting on the reefs. So, I will generally fish heavier when there is less moonlight as the fish won’t be as spooked by leader sizes. I will start fishing a 30lb set-up at dawn and once the bite slows I will swap back to my 20lb set-ups when the sun comes up and the fish become more wary. Around full moon I will fish a lot lighter than the new moon, starting with 20lb at first light then as the day progresses switching to 16lb if it’s a slow bite. I also like rig my soft plastics on a lighter jig head to slow the sink rate of my lure, which will also trigger a bite in those slow grind situations.
Fishing different depths and conditions will also determine which lures and weights I run to make the most of bite times. Fishing the washes, the fish will generally push right up in hard against the rocks feeding off all the shellfish and barnacles, so I like to have my lure right up in the zone and fish my lure as light as possible with a maximum weight of 1/4 oz and all the way down to a 1/8 oz depending on the depth of the washes. The longer the lure is in the zone hard up against the rocky ledges where the fish are feeding, the better chance you have of converting the bite.
Fishing shallow reefs is my favourite way to target reds, as they are found around bait schools. This can lead to several trophy snapper in a session and the chance of catching some incredible by-catch such as pearl perch, kingfish and even cobia. Setting up the right drift is critical, so knowing what way the wind and current are going to push you will help determine what way your boat will drift. Minimal boat and engine noise will also help to get more bites as unnatural noise can alert the fish that there may be danger in the area, which may shut them down on a calm day. Generally, reefs from 10-30 metres deep will hold large bait schools, so it’s important to keep an eye on your sounder while fishing these reefs. If you can see bait schools suspended mid-water or flickering on the surface, I’d definitely be marking a waypoint and focusing on those schools on your next drift. I will fish these areas mainly with 1/4oz to 3/8oz jig-heads depending on my drift speed, wind and current, but the lighter the weight you can fish and easily get your lure in the strike zone, the more chance you will have of getting the bite.
Sounder Set-up
Having a good sounder is the handiest tool to have on your boat for fishing shallow reefs for targeting snapper as you want to be in the right areas in those prime bite times. I use a Lowrance HDS Pro 12 linked with an Active Imaging HD transducer and this set-up has been a game-changer for snapper fishing. I like to have a split screen with one side on traditional sonar 200kHz for best clarity and the other side on my maps chart so I can line my boat up for the perfect drift over a reef. Having a map card with relief shading in your sounder is very handy when exploring new ground as it will give you an in-depth image of the reef you are coming up on and you can easily find steep ledges that will have pressure points, which is a good area to look for a big snapper. Identifying fish between the baitfish can be difficult on some sounders but knowing how to fine-tune the settings in your sounder can help find the fish, so never be afraid to play around with your gain and sensitivity to optimise for the best picture in your sounder.
The soft plastic market is huge these days, with a variety that can make it daunting walking into a tackle store for people new to lure fishing. I like to take it back to basics and match the hatch, with lure size and profile similar to the baitfish in the area. Big snapper aren’t afraid to eat a big bait so I like to use soft plastics around the 7 to 9-inch mark as in my local area of Port Stephens. Baitfish are commonly found around 5 to 7 inches long but I find if you’re throwing bigger lures you can get through the smaller fish and find the bigger fish. Colour of lures does help some days as well, depending on the water clarity – when the water is dirty I like to use a darker-coloured soft plastic such as red, brown or black as they put off a solid silhouette, making it easier for the fish to see from a distance. In clean water I will run a brightly coloured soft plastic such as white, pink or yellow as I believe it creates a glow that will attract the fish in to investigate their next feed.
If I had to pick two rod and reel set-ups to chase big snapper, I would choose a 4-8kg 7ft 6in rod matched to a 5000-sized reel for a 20lb set-up, and a 12-25lb 7ft 10in rod matched to a 5000-sized reel with 30lb braid. These set-ups will cover all shallow water snapper soft plastic fishing up and down the east coast, and have enough pulling power to slow up most of those trophy reds this winter.
Snapper are a great table fish so preserving the meat is importing, and having a brain spike is a handy tool to instantly kill the fish and subdue its nerves before putting it into the Esky. Many anglers choose to catch and release big snapper, and it’s a good practice to take only what you need. Looking after snapper is important as they suffer from barotrauma, so when releasing snapper I like to have a large container with sea water in it ready, and as soon as I get the fish into the net I can put it straight into the container so the fish can revive while I’m setting my camera for a few photos. Once I have my photos I quickly get the fish back in the water for a powerful release.
Words & images: Jack Hammond
