Snapper Bait or which lure should I fish in PPB ?
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How you bait your Pilchards Half Hitch on the End to secure your bait[/caption] I would suggest fishing your maximum of 4 rods in Victoria. On each rod I recommend having 3 rigged with Snelled hooks and the other with Reedy's Rigz Snapper Snatchers. This is my main set up when I'm fishing out wide on the mud and sand. When I'm fishing in shallow water on a Reef, I may mix up my rigs with 2 of each rig type per rod. For bait I prefer to use Sandy's Silver Whiting and Gotcha Supa Pilchard. If you have fresh bait by all means use that. I find a Salmon head or fresh Garfish works extremely well. Try not to worry too much about your bait in Snapper Season as I have found Snapper aren't fussy, especially during the spawning and migration period. As for lure's it's my opinion that only experienced fishermen should use them. I believe that using a lure is not a more productive way to catch a red, its simply another method to use when your sick of catching them on bait and you feel you want to challenge yourself. Once you have your tackle and bait ready the next thing to master is timing. I find the first run of Snapper in Port Phillip bay is just before early September or late August around the Full Moon. Reds use the big spring tides around Moon to migrate into the Bay and over the next two moon's leading up to November. This will continue every month through late August to early November. School by School they move in and around PPB, eventually peaking early November or late October depending on the Moon. Then the spawning process starts. This is when you begin to find "Christmas Tree's" on your Sounder, which will continue to around Christmas, then majority of the fish will leave the bay. Some Reds will stay and exit closer to Easter when the water temperature starts to cool down. So basically its the same every year that the Reds will be scatted around the bay until the start of November before they start to school up for the spawning process. I find up and around Mordialloc to Carrum are great place's to fish in November, then towards Frankston/Mornington in early December. Around early Season they can generally turn up anywhere, but I prefer to fish up North towards Melbourne and Altona. image of Some Early Season Spots in Close 5/7 meter Up near Melbourne look for Reef Edges Etc
Fishing Rigs I Fish in Melbourne's Port Phillip bay Rig tying Video Guide to A Quick Snell. Tie fishing rig with Snell hooks perfectly for Port Phillip Bay. Here I have made a simple video to show you guys how I tie a Snapper Rig easy and I guarantee it will fish excellent in Melbourne. I have created a new video below for this Season, 2017. Knowing which rig is best & when to fish it can be somewhat tricky. Over the years fishing Port Phillip Bay its generally considered you use Snelled twin hooks to rig a full Pilchard bait. The other rig we fish is Reedy's Rigs by Snapper Snatchers. Which are Available Here. But today we will focus on a Snelled twin hooks to make a Running Rig. The type of fishing hook you choose to fish is entirely up to you. I would recommend some of the following brand's, Owner Cutting Point SSW hook are super sharp and would be a great choice. Then followed by Mustad Big Red. If you want to buy this rig pre-tied, then I suggest Reedy's Twin Hook Snell Available Here. which are the Snapper Rigs I fish with in Port Phillip Bay.
The Rigs I Fishing In Port Phillip Bay Snapper How To Tie it Video
Snelling Hooks to Make An Awesome Fishing Rig for Melbourne Snapper , Hook size i use is 4/0 for snell rig & 5/0 of 6/0 on the Reedy's Rigz .. the Choice is up to you.
Burley Making it Cheap to Lure in those Reds video A simple Video how i make cheap burly Hopefully one day a tackle company can make 20kg bags then i would Support there product because the size of the bags & buckets dont cover my usage .
General tips to Help you Port Phillip bay snapper Catch a Fish :
* Be on the water at the right time - Sunset & Sunrise are fantastic, but in season the fish will bite anytime of day its generally just a matter of finding them so don't just give it up . * Move/Try somewhere new if your not catching after 15-30 minutes - this is where an anchor winch really comes in handy. * After rough weather try fishing in shallow on a reef - Mordialloc and Ricketts Point are great * Always use Burley - I made a video on how to make your own Burley Below * in Port Phillip bay there are many Scallop Beds that hold fish . observe you Anchor when it comes up , in the past I have found in the clumps of mud on the Anchor. & have scallop shells in the clumps . a Sure way to know your in a good spot , Mark it on your gps . You can Also see them on your Sounder.. *when sounding Snapper, Faster then trolling pace .put the sensitivity up a little , think it as a volume knob to give you more power. but don't over do it . * When there is wind against current you can bridle your boat if its not rough weather , or do what I do and change the rigs 2 flasher rig and 2 snell . *Don't Be a Knob and Anchor Close to People >>> *Always Check your Drag nothing Setting's, before setting your spread, I set mind to under 1kg of pressure maybe 3/4 of kg , in recent times I prefer lite drags & going easy on the fish .. *Don't confuse bait on the sounder with snapper . there is bait every where out there . *Reds generally display fairly large on your sounder , pinkies will look the same but smaller. *spawning snapper will stack up and look like a xmas tree, Like in the below image , the xmas it self will be wide say 2/ 3 meters and high , smaller tree's are pinkies. *last but not least believe in what your trying , As modern technology progress its the same in fishing , the best way to catch a snapper still hasn't been found yet , so keep trying new things . You become a better fishermen for it . cheers and good luck this season
