How
to Catch Big Snapper
How to Set the Hook on 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, how do you teach anglers to set their hooks
on snapper?
Treigle: I tell anglers not to set their hooks on snapper.
Most of the time when they try to set their hooks, they’ll
miss the snapper. Red snapper are not largemouth bass.
They don’t attack baits and eat them like bass
do. If you set the hook as soon as you feel the bite,
you’ll miss the snapper. After the snapper hits
the bait the first time, the fish usually will circle
around and hit the bait the second time. The circle
hook we use is a self-setting hook. It rolls to the
corner of the fish’s mouth and hooks into the
side of its mouth. If you jerk hard on the circle hook,
you’ll pull it out of the snapper’s mouth
before the hook’s set. I tell my anglers to let
the snapper pull the rod down. Once the snapper pulls
the rod down, then all my anglers have to do is start
reeling. This way the circle hook will set itself, and
the fishermen will catch the snapper.
Question: Once you’ve got the hook set, how do
you teach them to bring in the snapper to the boat?
Treigle: After the snapper is hooked, angling skill
plays a major role in whether or not we land the snapper.
I try to teach my anglers to work the fish with the
rod. I have them lift up on the fish, and then reel
down until they can lift up again. But, I don’t
want them to jerk the rod up, and then drop the rod
quickly to pick up slack. If they do, they’ll
lose their snapper. Instead I tell them to raise their
rods until they reach a certain point and then reel
down as their rods come down. Then they can begin to
lift again. Jerking up on the rod and then dropping
the rod tip and trying to wind up the slack usually
will cause the snapper to pop the line, throw the hook
or get an advantage that allows the snapper to get back
in the wreck or the reef. But, if you can get that snapper’s
head turned-up and keep it turned-up with steady pressure,
you‘ll get the snapper to the boat.
Question:
You said that you like to try and coach your angler
when he or she gets on a big snapper. What are you saying
to the angler then?
Treigle: I’m telling him or her to, “Reel,
reel, reel.” Even if the snapper’s taking
drag off the reel, I want my angler to be turning the
handle on the reel. That snapper wants to get back in
to the wreck or the reef because it knows that if it
can get there that it can break the line. So, even if
the snapper’s taking drag, I still encourage my
angler to reel because as soon as the snapper quits
pulling drag, you’ll start taking line back. Then
the snapper won’t have a chance to turn its head
toward the bottom or get into the reef. Now, once you
get a snapper up high in the water column, you don’t
have to reel as hard or as much. But that first 15 to
20 seconds after you know you have a snapper on, especially
if it’s a big snapper, you’ve got to be
turning the handle on your reel if you want to land
him.
Question: O.K., Dennis, after your angler gets the
snapper up in the water – about 30 to 40 feet
in the water, what are you telling the fisherman to
do?
Treigle: I try to calm my angler down and tell him
to go slower, take his time but continue to move the
snapper to the boat. Because the circle hook does hook
the snapper in the lips, after you get the snapper broken
away from the bottom you don’t want to continue
to put so much pressure on the fish that you tear the
hook out of its lips.
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: Don’t Stand
the Snapper Straight Up
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