If you ask many anglers in South Florida about snapper fishing, they'll probably tell you to keep heading South to the Keys, Tortugas or maybe even the Bahamas. The truth is that both the Keys and Bahamas are the premiere locations to catch snapper but that doesn't mean you have to go there to put together a nice catch. The best thing about fishing right here in South Florida is that you don't have to leave town or even miss a day of work. All you need is a morning or an evening and you can be in business.
Now let's get right down to the details. The first piece of advice I can give to anyone looking to snapper fish is to be flexible about the location, depth, and type of structure to be fished. A lot of anglers make the mistake of deciding exactly were they will fish before they even get out on the water. This is a mistake because conditions change day to day and hour to hour.
There are basically two approaches that I use when snapper fishing. I can either fish natural reefs and ledges or I may choose to fish around wrecks. My decision can be based on the general area I want to fish or the conditions, current, etc. If I am strictly targetting yellowtail snapper I will fish shallower from 30'-90' depending on the amount of current I encounter. Stronger currents will dictate that I fish shallower while lighter currents will force me to fish deeper. If I'm targetting mutton snapper I like to fish no less than 80'. Once I've had a chance to check out the conditions dealt to me and the decision has been made as to where to fish I need to properly position the boat.
Precisionanchoring is crucial to your bottom fishing success especially if your fishing a ledge or wreck. One of the keys to good anchoring ismaking sure that you have thecorrect anchor, amount of chain, and anchor line todo the job. A lot of people spendtens of thousands of dollars on their boats only toskimp on the anchor set up.Using an anchor retrieval system is also a very good ideaespecially when anchoring deeper.
Once you've had a chance to decide what depth you'regoingto fish take your time and scope out the area looking for life on the bottom.Another good idea is touse your chart plotter in order to determine how faraway from your target you want todrop you anchor. Remember that the idea here is to anchor upcurrent and attract the fish to youusing chum. Anchoring directly over a wreck will just lead to a lot of hang-ups and lost fish.
Now that your boat is in the proper position, the next step is to deploy your chum. There are all kinds of chum on the market and most of them work fairly well. Make sure you use a chum bagwith holes large enough to allow the chum to flow freely. Give the chum ample time to work before youput your baits out. Waiting a few minutesallows the fish to feed on the chum without any interference and will make them comfortable with the boat.
After chumming the area for awhile it is finally time to put your baits out. Remember,these fish are under a lot more pressure thanthe fish in theBahamas or theTortugas so you can't fish a 80# leader and 9/0 hook and expect them to eat. The most important thing here is to scale down your tackle and hook size. I would also reccomend fishing at least one bait (prefably a live bait) on the bottom. While that bait is soaking on the bottom other baits can be floated back in the chum slick as flatlines. Most of the time yellowtail will hit these flatlines and the muttons and mangrove snappler will eat those fished closer to the bottom.
Over the years, I've learned that there are more fish in our waters than we've been led to believe. Sure, you might have a tough day from time but that can happen anywhere. The key to achieving success is to pay attention to details that usually get overlooked. I hope you have found this article informative and that is will help you in your quest to be a better angler. If you'd like to book a snapper fishing trip and see some of these techniques first hand give me a call at: (786)266-0171 or check usoutout on the web. www.fishingchartermiami.com.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Orlando Muniz
Nomad Fishing Charters
www.FishingCharterMiami.com
(786)266-0171