# The best snapper bite Ive ever been on....



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

....was a few days too early.

I had a buddy in town and we decided to fish somewhere different because my old spots are getting hammered. Funny how that works.

Anyhow, we get out there at dawn and even this spot is loaded with yakkers, great to see but I want to put my buddy on some fish so we hit the water as fast as we can to beat the crowd!

First plan was to go from spot to spot dropping down jigs looking for cobia. We hit a few spots with nothing to show for it but a small lane snapper. After doing this for a couple of hours we decided to settle down and try to just get a tug on the line.

At first the bite was literally non existent. No live bait could be found so he was soaking frozen cigs and I was still dropping jigs.

Then, around 9:30 the bite just turned on. We were pulling up BIG snapper left and right. No joke, I only caught ONE under 25" and big fish went 31".

Between the two of us we got around 2 dozen 12-20lb snapper.

Only issue was the sharks. They were out in force, big ones too including about a 7ft bull that was caught (hey, got him up to the leader so it counts) on a jig. We eventually lost all of our jigs and a couple packs of hooks to sharks so I decided to fish for triggers for awhile. I ended up catching a 29" snapper on a 1/0 light wire circle hook! The hook was nearly bent completely out when I landed the fish, couldnt believe it held.

With sore arms and bruised guts we decided to call it a day and head in.

On the troll we saw tons and tons of flyers and only grabbed a couple bobos and a couple of spanish. My buddy missed a run from a king. 

Felt good to get out there and fish for my self again!

Of course, just like last year, the opening of snapper season is going to be too rough to get out there!!! :thumbdown:


----------



## Ginzu (Nov 16, 2011)

Beast shark! Glad you got on the fish while we were hangin with the family on the beach.


----------



## dthomas142 (Jul 18, 2011)

Nice JD, sounds like an action packed day man. You sound pretty well prepared for those snap season from the size of the ones you found!


----------



## chaps (Aug 31, 2009)

Great report! What jigs do you like to use for the snapper, etc????


----------



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Just bucktail jigs. Buy ALOT. Sharks love em for some reason.

I havnt even brought my bottom rods in the last several trips. I pretty much only jig fish now. Though, I will admit, the jig bite isnt always hot. Last Friday I took my buddy out and he was using a traditional bottom rod with frozen cigs and hammering the snapper where as all I had was my jigs. I only caught one small snapper in the 18" range and one 24" grouper all day. For whatever reason it just varies.

Yesterday they were hitting the jig on the way down some times.


----------



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Oh and guys PLEASE remember to vent. I had to vent all fish yesterday. Be careful venting, research proper venting techniques. Do NOT use a knife, use only a proper venting too. Go under a scale just under and to the rear towards the tail a bit of the pectoral fin and go up towards the top of the fish. Do not go down into the gut cavity. Do not squeeze the belly either, simply let the fish deflate. Also, since there were alot of sharks around, I brought my snapper back to just over the structure to release so hopefully they could get down fast enough and hide from the sharks. I held them with my grippers in the water to get them some fresh o2 while pedaling back to the spots. Kind of nerve racking with sharks literally circling the boat but since us yakkers do not have the luxury of running from spot to spot, we need to preserve the fish we have on the very few spots we have!


----------



## Aquahollic (Sep 24, 2009)

Nice report. BTW, that doesn't look like a bull to me. The nose is too round and it has a black tip on the dorsal. I think it is a Blacktip or Spinner. My guess would be Spinner


----------



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Aquahollic said:


> Nice report. BTW, that doesn't look like a bull to me. The nose is too round and it has a black tip on the dorsal. I think it is a Blacktip or Spinner. My guess would be Spinner


Thats two different sharks. The first Im fairly certain was as bull. Its head was as big as the hatch on my PA and kind of short. The second two pics are of a giant black tip. No black on anal fin = black tip.


----------



## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

nice session! i watched everyone slay the snapper on Sunday while i yoyo'd to keep away from them and into other fish but still managed a solid one myself. seems the opener is a week late.

regarding the shark pics, of the three the first is a bull, second two are hard. could be a big black tip but that third pic has dusky written all over it.


----------



## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

The last two are of the same shark.


----------



## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

I'd call 'em sand bars, nice ones none the less.


----------



## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

JD7.62 said:


> The last two are of the same shark.


I've only seen one dusky, and it was close to 9ft from a boat. I've only seen black tips from the beach. so we'll go with black tip. :thumbsup: lots of them out there. 

you said you like bucktails, do you ever use butterfly jigs or heavy irons and yoyo it?


----------



## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

JD7.62 said:


> Thats two different sharks. The first Im fairly certain was as bull. Its head was as big as the hatch on my PA and kind of short. The second two pics are of a giant black tip. No black on anal fin = black tip.


For sure the first one is a bull, the last two pictures are of the same blacktip. The bullshark has a short blunt nose and small dorsal fin.


----------



## scaly neck (Jul 19, 2009)

*Good words......*

Good Words.....its great to see a big snapper revived and turn tail and head to the bottom instead of floting on the top helpless..... thx JD keep up the good work , tight lines to ya.



JD7.62 said:


> Oh and guys PLEASE remember to vent. I had to vent all fish yesterday. Be careful venting, research proper venting techniques. Do NOT use a knife, use only a proper venting too. Go under a scale just under and to the rear towards the tail a bit of the pectoral fin and go up towards the top of the fish. Do not go down into the gut cavity. Do not squeeze the belly either, simply let the fish deflate. Also, since there were alot of sharks around, I brought my snapper back to just over the structure to release so hopefully they could get down fast enough and hide from the sharks. I held them with my grippers in the water to get them some fresh o2 while pedaling back to the spots. Kind of nerve racking with sharks literally circling the boat but since us yakkers do not have the luxury of running from spot to spot, we need to preserve the fish we have on the very few spots we have!


----------



## Ivarie (Mar 2, 2010)

Yeah, I hear ya on snapper season. Assuming the fishery keeps improving, they should start to relax the season restriction a bit. I hope atleast.


----------



## Night Wing (May 16, 2011)

Great report and photos. If there is one fish that scares me when I'm yak fishing, it's a bull shark. They're unpredictable.

Thanks for sharing your report and photos.


----------



## Blake R. (Mar 17, 2009)

Ivarie said:


> Yeah, I hear ya on snapper season. Assuming the fishery keeps improving, they should start to relax the season restriction a bit. I hope atleast.


Lol.


----------

