BETTER SNAPPER STRATEGIES
How to Rig for Drift Lining
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: With snapper season in high gear this summer,
I've collected new and better ways to catch more and
bigger snapper. And there’s plenty of good news
on the Upper Gulf Coast this summer. If you look at
the area Hurricane Dennis went through in July, 2005,
you’ll see the resulting destruction, but not
nearly as much as Hurricane Ivan caused. Many of the
charter boats are still up and running, however many
of the fisherman normally there at this time of the
year aren’t, but you should be and here’s
why. Right after a major disturbance in the Gulf of
Mexico, like Hurricane Dennis, bottom feeders like snapper
and grouper migrate. If history repeats itself, the
Alabama/Mississippi Gulf Coast would have a tremendous
influx of grouper and the Florida Panhandle, including
the Destin and Panama City area, should have a huge
influx in snapper. Right now, you have a window of opportunity
to travel to the Upper Gulf Coast and catch more and
bigger snapper than ever before.
When Captain Jack and Debbie Wilhites drifted cigar
minnows off the stern of the boat, one factor caused
their baits not to get down to the depth where the snapper
fed. The current would wash the bait past the snapper
is the bait didn't have enough weight to fall into the
area where the snapper concentrated. To solve this problem,
the Wilhites added a small slip sinker to the line to
get the bait down and used spinning tackle to cast the
bait in front of the boat. "The current determines
how much weight you add to the line," Jack Wilhite
reported. "If the current is moving at one knot,
you'll have to add a 1/2-ounce sinker. With no current,
you won't have to add any weight to the line. But generally,
we use a 1/4-ounce, egg-shaped slip sinker ahead of
the bait." Wilhite recommends you fish with a 7-foot
spinning rod and either an Abu Garcia 904 or a Penn
950SS  spinning
reel. He uses 30-pound-test monofilament line and tries
to match the color of the line to the color of water.
"We've learned that fish can see clear line in
clear water, and we get more strikes using green-colored
line," Wilhite emphasized. "If the water has
a little stain to it, then we'll use a gray-colored
line to receive more strikes."
On the line, Wilhite attaches a 1/4-ounce, egg-shaped
sinker and a No. 5/0 bronze-finish Eagle Claw hook.
He prefers the bronze to the silver because the silver
attracts more king mackerel, which will take the baits
and cut the lines. With the bronze hook, he catches
more snapper and fewer mackerel. When you prepare to
cast, the lead will slide all the way down the line
to the eye of the hook. Wilhite baits with a whole cigar
minnow or herring, placing the point of the hook at
the X-mark between the eyes and the mouth of the cigar
minnow. He brings the point of the hook from the X-mark
on top of the cigar minnow and out below the gills.
"Once you've got your bait on the hook, cast upcurrent
of the boat," Wilhite explained. "Make about
a 40-foot cast. Then when the bait enters the water,
the current will pick it up and wash it back toward
the boat. I usually try to hold the boat right on top
of the artificial reef we're fishing. We've learned
that by casting upcurrent, the bait will drift back,
pass about 40 feet above the wreck and then drift back
about 10 to 20 yards behind the wreck before the lead
finally reaches the bottom." As the bait enters
the water, the lead begins to fall away from the hook
and the bait. Because the lead is heavier than the cigar
minnow, the lead will slide down the line and away from
the bait. By the time the bait floats 30 to 40 feet
from the bottom, the lead may have fallen 5 to 10 feet
below the bait. When the line begins to come back to
the boat, free-line more monofilament off the spool
by simply pulling the line out and allowing the current
to catch the line. Then the lead can continue to fall
even after your  line
has passed the boat. When the snapper spots the cigar
minnow moving down toward the bottom, it sees a free-floating
bait that presents an easy meal.
As the snapper takes the bait, the line will pick up
speed and come off the reel much faster. When you notice
the strike, put your reel in gear. Point the rod tip
at the water in the direction you see the line running.
Let the fish take up the slack. When the line becomes
taut, strike the fish with a solid hook set. "We've
found that using this drift-line technique helps us
consistently catch more double-digit-sized snapper,
weighing from 10 to 25 pounds, than any other technique
we've tried," Wilhite advised. The biggest snapper
the Wilhites ever have boated using this tactic weighed
26 pounds. But they catch 10- to 15- pound snapper on
almost every trip when they employ this drift-line method
and other species, including amberjack and grouper.
How to Play the Fish:
When a fisherman hooks a fish, and it heads toward
a reef, often an angler will pull hard against the fish,
attempting to get his rod to the 12 o'clock position
and then reel down to the 4 o'clock position. However,
Wilhite has discovered that an angler can land more
fish if he'll pull his rod to the 11 o'clock position.
Then when the fish quits fighting against the line,
he can reel down to the 9 o'clock position and try to
pump the fish back up to the 11 o'clock position. "You'll
put more fish in the boat using a short, pumping action
than you will if  you
use a long-pull, drop-down-low and try-to-take-up-slack
tactic and also gradually gain line," Wilhite emphasized.
"Little short pumps on the rod will keep a fish
coming to the surface faster and its head turned toward
the surface better than when you drop the rod tip drastically
and attempt to take up a lot of slack at one time."
Wilhite has discovered, and I have to agree, that drift
lining produces big snapper. All the tactics we’ve
discusse this week will produce action for the saltwater
bottom fisherman.
For more information on snapper fishing, go to www.orangebeach.com,
or call (800) 745-7263.
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