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| Snapper Blue |
Hello fellow fishermen, as you can probably see now we are entering the fall and that means great fishing. One of the things i love to fish for in the fall is snapper blues. These little guys start out at maybe six inches when you catch them and as the season progresses they get bigger until late October which is when they leave for the south to warmer waters. At about that time they are 10-12 inches. Snapper are fun to catch when you can't get out on the water for stripers and bigger blues and make great bait for fluke and gator blues who happen to like to eat their little brothers and sisters.
The set up for snappers should be a little 5 foot fresh water rod that has around 8 pound test on it and a steel leader. As for the fly fishermen out there (like me) you can use a 3 or 4 weight rod that has a strong tippet and a steel leader on it to prevent losing flies. Always flush your rod with fresh water after using it in the sound so nothing corrodes and your rod and reel stay well cared for.
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| Kastmaster |
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| Snapper popper setup |
For lures what i found works best is a snapper popper or a spoon. A snapper popper can be bought at your local tackle shop or made with a popping cork, a steel leader, and a snapper fly or a size size hook with live silver-sides or mummiechugs. To fish the popper cast it out into an area with action or just where you think the fish would be and pop the bobber like it was a popper. Pop it fast and non-stop. When the snapper strikes they normally hook themselves and all you have to do is reel it in. For a spoon you want to use a 1/8 of an ounce Kastmaster or similar. Cast it into the action or if there is none the where you think those little bluefish will be. Remember that these fish move around a lot so fan the water and if you don't get anything try again. Reel in fast and twitch the rod along the way. If you feel a bite do a little sweep set and reel in.
For the fly angler i would recommend a 4 weight fly rod with a bass tippet and a steel leader so you don't get bit off. as for flies i would go with any sort of small flashy fly. So a size six deceiver or such.
i tie my own special snapper flies on a size 6 hook with epoxy so that they last longer against the teeth of the snappers. ill make another post with instructions on how to make this fly later.
To find the snappers look for rocky shorelines that hold a lot of bait-fish such as silver-sides. the fish are where the bait are.
good luck and tight lines! i hope to see you on the water.
