How
to Catch Big Snapper
Where to Fish for Big Red Snapper
EDITOR’S NOTE: While at the Red Snapper World
Championship in Orange Beach, Alabama, that runs from
April 21, 2006 – May 21, 2006, I talked and fished
with Dennis Treigle, the first mate of the “Shady
Lady” charter boat, captained by Butch Tucker
and based at Zeke’s Marina in Orange Beach. Treigle
probably could have been anything he wanted to be. With
degrees in biology and nursing and as a former high-school
teacher who also considered becoming a marine biologist,
Treigle of Pensacola, Florida, is a renaissance man
who has chosen fishing as his profession. According
to Treigle, “I’d spent some time in Mississippi
years ago working with marine biologists there. One
of my professors told me that if I wanted to be a marine
biologist I should plan to be poor. I decided I didn’t
want to be broke the rest of my life, and I also didn’t
want to sit around and do paperwork. I wanted to fish,
be with fishermen and be on the water. I love working
with different people daily. Therefore, being the first
mate on the ‘Shady Lady’ for the past five
years has been the perfect job for me. After teaching
high-school students for four years, I feel like I’m
a better deckhand. I know how to teach people to catch
big snapper. Teaching also has taught me how to communicate
better and how to coach people to catch big snapper.
Most people know how to catch fish, but there are some
fine points I can teach as the first mate that helps
them be more successful – especially with folks
who’ve never fished previously.”
Question:
Dennis, most people consider red snapper a bottom feeder.
But you encourage your clients on the “Shady Lady”
to fish well up off the bottom. Why?
Treigle: Big snapper are predators, and they won’t
remain in close to a reef. They’re not afraid
of anything but a shark. The red snapper swim on the
outside of the reef, searching for baitfish to eat.
You’ll catch big red snapper right on the bottom.
But we often locate big red snapper holding way up in
the water column. On a 130-foot bottom, we’ve
taken plenty of large red snapper only 30 feet below
the surface.
Question: Dennis, how do you get your anglers to fish
high in the water, instead of letting their baits go
all the way to the bottom?
Treigle: I explain to our fishermen that the higher
we can hook our snapper in the water, the better our
chances will be for landing these red snapper, and the
less likely the fish will be to run into the reef or
the wreck. Now, if a porpoise shows up, the porpoise
will run the snapper down to the bottom. We’ve
watched over and over again that when we catch undersized
red snapper and throw them overboard then if a porpoise
comes up and eats those small red snapper, the other
red snapper will go to the bottom or hold tight to the
wreck. If a porpoise shows up around your boat, generally
the red snapper bite will shut down.
Question:
So, what do you tell your anglers to get them to fish
high in the water?
Treigle: I tell them to let their leads and baits drop
and count from 1001 to 1006, which is about 6 seconds,
and then stop their baits and engage their reels. After
we’ve fished at that depth for 5 to 10 minutes,
if we don’t get any bites, then I ask them to
let their leads fall for 2-more seconds, stop their
lines and engage their reels. If we still don’t
get any bites, I suggest they let their leads fall all
the way to the bottom before reeling up four or five
turns off the bottom. Once we start catching snapper
and bringing them up to the boat, the snapper will move
up higher in the water column, and we’ll then
catch them closer to the surface. I’ve seen snapper
so high in the water before that their tail fins almost
will be out of the water. But that doesn’t usually
happen until later in the summer. The main thing to
remember is to fish as high in the water as you can
get a bite. The further away from the bottom you can
catch the snapper, the more of a cushion you have to
keep the snapper out of the wreck or the reef. Remember,
I said that snapper are predator fish that don’t
generally stay in a reef. And, that’s true –
until those snapper get hooked. But often when hooked,
the snapper will dive down into the wreck or the reef
and cut you off.
For
more information on fishing with the “Shady Lady,”
you can call Captain Butch Tucker at (850) 380-3321
or write him at 1rct@frontiernet.net. To learn more
about the Red Snapper World Championship (you can participate
for $5 per day), which has a guaranteed payout of $155,000
plus a $500,000 prize for a new world’s record
snapper and a new truck for a new state record snapper,
you can call (251) 981-6539 or go to www.orangebeachsnapper.com.
For accommodations, restaurants and attractions, call
the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau
at (800) 745-7263 or visit www.orangebeach.com.
Tomorrow: How to Set the Hook
on Snapper
|