Breakdown to Success
How to Hit the Home Run on a Big Red Snapper
 Editor’s
Note: Brian Bracknell of Mobile, Alabama, has fished
out of Orange Beach for most of his life. Two years
ago, Bracknell got a new boat, the “Crowd Pleezer,”
and decided to make charter fishing his primary business.
One of Bracknell’s unique characteristics is that
he’s learned how to snatch victory out of defeat.
In the 2006 Red Snapper World Championship, Bracknell’s
never-say-die attitude earned him over $5,000 and enabled
one of his anglers to catch the red snapper of a lifetime.
 “If
I could set up the ideal scenario for how to produce
a big red snapper, I’d fish an old school bus
that was sunk on the bottom that no one else had found
for at least 3 years,” Bracknell reveals. “Then,
I’d want to hook up that big snapper on a drift
line out behind the boat so that as soon as the snapper
takes the bait, the angler sets the hook and starts
taking out drag. I’d engage the motors and pull
the boat away from the school bus and hopefully pull
the snapper away from the bus, enabling my angler to
fight the fish out in open water, which is the real
secret to getting a big snapper. The problem with this
scenario is if a tournament-winning snapper  takes
the bait close to the bottom and starts to make a hard
run into the reef while pulling off drag, there’s
nothing really that the captain or angler can do to
stop that fish’s run to prevent breaking the fish
off or having the line cut. A 30-pound snapper can strip
off 20 to 40 feet of drag almost as quickly as you can
blink your eyes. So you don’t have a lot of opportunity
to change what will happen once the fish takes the bait.
During an average season, we’ll usually put 10
to 15 snapper on the boat in the 20- to 25-pound range.
When you reach the 25- to 30-pound fish, I’d say
those big fish are very few and far between. The snapper
we catch each day usually weigh about 12- to 15-pounds
each, and our keeper snapper generally will weigh 7-
to 8-pounds each.”
 To
fish with Captain Brian Bracknell, you can contact him
at (251) 471-2868, or (251) 379-8099. You also can write
him at Captain Brian Bracknell, 2405 South Vaughan Drive,
Mobile, Alabama 36605, email him at brackimk@aol.com
or visit his website, www.crowdpleezer.com.
To learn more about the Red Snapper World Championship,
check out www.orangebeachsnapper.com.
For more information on the Orange Beach area, go to
www.orangebeach.com
or call the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau at (800) 745-7263.
Tomorrow: Not Just Big Snapper
Wins
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