Here in cod deprived SA most anglers thoughts turn to snapper come Dec 1. We headed out to a local drop recently to find good numbers of fish, I hope it's a sign of a good season ahead.

Here's my first ever snapper on a blade


The afternoons catch

Nice snapper there Allroy.

Cheers...Brett

hey allroy, interested to know what sort of blade yr using and techniques. The snapper here in PPB tend to be lure shy with only a few that i've heard taken on a trolled rapala magnum x rap, blue pilchard imitation.nice haul there btw...

Thanks for the comments guys.

Ray, the blade is a Jazz Deka Bokun which is 9cm & 30gms. Motackle had a 20% off sale on them a while back so I grabbed a couple. The action they impart is wild to say the least! I mix it up a bit so far as techniques go. On this occasion I cast out a fair way from the boat, let the lure "flutter" to the bottom then hop it back to the boat using a couple of short sharp jerks on the rod then a couple of turns on the reel to gather slack thats about it. Once at the boat I fish it like you would a jig all the way to the surface.

You might notice in the pic the hooks are splayed all over the shop....it was a nervous fight towards the end as I felt one set pull from his mouth in the end he was only stuck with one barb in the corner of his eye socket! Great fun on light baitcaster tackle though
Both lures will be getting the "Owner" treatment before their next swim. My goal for 2010 is to catch a cod & a jewie on them

cheers allroy...thanks for the tips..god luck on the rest of the season, hey i hear those snapper chase the sand craps in and the whites chase in the snapper...mates says they get pretty big over there, approaching 1.5...any truth in that?

no worries Ray. Yep the big ones lurk in the shallows gorging themselves on crabs @ certain locations/times of the year over here. Biggest I have seen with my own eyes went 142cm my PB is 94cm so 150cm is certainly not out of the question!

Yes those pesky whites love a feed of snapper, given the amount of sightings we have had already I reckon someone might be in the wrong place @ the wrong time this summer

i'm glad we don't have the whites over here Allroy, I hope to also get a red out wide and jews in close in the sytem over here...went down to have a look at the spot and scope out a spot to launch the yak, and all i see is schools of 3" mullet swimming everywhere...i reckon some soft plastics on a run out tide might be the go...and now there's blades..
sounds like fun though...have a feed of crabs whilst yr waiting for the snapper to play then bring them in quick enough to avoid the whites...

Too many lures too little time Ray
I also got a 60+cm fish on a 110 squidgy flick bait during the same session, but I'm really getting into the blades at the minute, they are so versatile & you can really keep in touch with what's going on under the water...can't wait to get my first native on one.

just a matter of time..any news on the season this year?

Those closer to the source than me say it will be closed all of 2010 in SA.

Thank Cod I will be fishing the bidgee over xmas & the Murray upstream of Robinvale in January