Previously, Mark Kitteridge covered soft-baiting tackle, setting up, where to find snapper, and basic casting. In this segment, he covers how to hook and land them…

Technique

Casting and retrieving soft-plastics is usually the most effective way for soft-baiters to find and hook snapper in water ranging from one metre to 30 metres deep. However, even 50 or 60 metres can produce good fishing if you know what you’re doing. (The other popular method is ‘dragging’ – see tip 40 onward.) First, my recommendations for the shallows (one to 15 metres)…

24) Use the lightest possible jig-head required to get your soft-plastic in front of fish. The lighter the lure, the longer the snapper have to see and respond to it while it’s sinking.

25) Position yourself in the boat so you can generate good casting momentum and cast at the desired angle (see tip 27). This may mean co-operating with fellow anglers and taking turns casting or even rotating positions.

26) Don’t have too much or too little line hanging from the rod tip when casting – about 25-35cm works well.

27) As the water gets deeper, current and/ or wind has progressively more effect on your casting angle – for better or worse. Look for angles that enable line tension to be maintained throughout the lure’s descent to the sea floor, as well as when it’s worked back to the boat along or near the bottom. NB: Most soft-plastic exponents recommend casting ahead of the boat’s drift direction, which is fine if the wind is light or the current and wind are moving in a similar direction. However, if the wind is coming from an opposing direction, holding the boat up or making it move sideways, you’ll find casting in the opposite direction – or variations thereof – can work much better, especially if the current is quite strong and your jig-head is relatively light.

28) Avoid excess slack line blowing about after casting; this makes re-establishing contact with the lure after casting much tougher. Engage the bail-arm splitseconds before the lure hits the water to tighten the line, then dip the rod tip downwards so the water catches and holds the line. Or try making an inverted ‘C’ with your thumb and index finger, and driving your hand downwards over the unloading line just prior to the lure landing. In addition to tightening the line, this tactic also speeds the lure’s entry into the water. Then, with the rod tip held low, wind the reel handle a time or three to further straighten out the line and ensure it’s correctly placed on the bail-arm roller.

29) Keep the rod in front of you and angling downwards along the line as the lure descends, to maintain direct contact; if slack line occurs, wind it out (if slack line is evident throughout the lure’s descent, you’ve cast in the wrong direction).

30) Watch your high-visibility line like a hawk, as many fish bite during the lure’s descent. If you have cast at a good angle, bites will show as sharp jolts, jiggles, and sudden slackenings or tightenings in the line.

31) Respond to any unusual line movements by quickly winding the reel’s handle two or three turns, rather than striking. If a snapper has the lure in its mouth, winding the handle will pull on the lure, prompting the snapper to clamp down harder to prevent its ‘food’ getting away. However, if you’ve missed the bite, with the lure already let go, a wind of the handle brings the soft-bait back to life, often re-igniting interest in it and eliciting another bite.

32) At this point, if you’ve kept the rod tip low and in line with the descending lure, your braid will tighten to your reel, signalling it’s time to lift the rod – but only a bit initially. If the rod starts bending, whip it up firmly to set the hook. Should you miss the hook-up, let the lure fall again or give it a couple of small jiggles – you’ll often get another chance.

So why no striking?

Well, a hefty, unsuccessful strike usually whips the lure completely out of the snapper’s immediate sight, preventing further interest.

33) Lighter jig-heads are especially worth using in reefy territory, as they hang above the weed for longer and allow a slower retrieve. There’s no need to touch down after each jiggling rod lift – you’ll snag up too often. Instead, have some faith that a snapper will motor up a couple of metres to slam something it wants to eat. Try touching back down every four or five jiggles and drops. Quick responses are required though: as soon as the line slackens, jiggle the rod tip upwards quickly (as opposed to just winding, as you need to lift the lure high enough to clear the weed).

34) Wind can complicate soft-bait fishing, buffeting the line around so bites are harder to determine. Tying on a slightly heavier lead-head (1/2oz instead of 3/8oz, say) will keep the line tighter, so bites can be seen more easily.

35) Similarly, anglers lacking good lure/ line-control skills can use heavier leadheads to keep the line tighter during the descent and reduce adverse effects from current. However, more weight means a faster lure descent with less time for fish to spot the lure and respond to it on the way down. Also, when fishing over weedy ground, you’ll need to employ a faster retrieve to avoid snagging (which will still happen too often!).

36) Speaking of snags, don’t keep hauling on the rod if you snag up. Ease the reel’s drag or open the bail arm instead, and then move the boat well up ahead of the snag. Once in position, put the reel back in gear, wind in fast with your rod pointing at the snag, and when the pressure comes on, hold the spool so it can’t release line and pull the whole outfit straight back, fast and hard – the lure will usually come free.

37) When fishing over a sandy/muddy/ pebbly fisher-friendly sea floor, try slowing the retrieve right down and allowing the lure to trundle along, kicking up puffs of sediment so it appears to be feeding. Or retrieve the lure in short, staccato winds with frequent pauses over relatively flat bottoms, especially when it’s windy. As usual, keep the rod tip lowered and pointing along the line, giving you plenty of opportunity to tease a fish into biting before lifting the rod and setting the hook.

Plumbing the depths (20 metres and over)

38) When fishing in deeper water, long casts become an even bigger advantage because a long cast is more likely to reach the bottom (that’s why I recommend 7’6”-8’ rods).

39) In depths over 20 metres affected by significant current, it can pay to whip off some extra line (the deeper the water, the more extra line you should release) so the soft-bait sinks more quickly and naturally in the early part of the descent, before coming tight to the angler for the last part of the descent and ‘swimming’ down towards the bottom in a slight inward arc. The majority of bites occur during this phase, so coming tight to the lure around 10 metres up from the sea floor (at the earliest) is critical. Done right, some lureretrieval distance should remain after it touches down.

40) If what I’ve just described sounds too complicated, a baitcaster or light overhead outfit might suit you better, as the line feeds directly off the spool as the lure sinks, keeping good contact throughout, making bites easier to detect and react to. You may need to use a slightly heavier jig-head though, and I find my hook-up ratio is somewhat lower using a baitcaster, probably because it’s less familiar

Dragging strategies

Once the lure has been retrieved along the bottom to nearby the boat, it’s decision time: wind up and recast or drag for a while?

41) Just why dragging can be so much better than casting and retrieving at times has me wondering; maybe it’s because the snapper are grubbing around in the sand or silt for various tasty critters, rather than on the lookout for swimming prey? Whatever the reason, if the action is slow and you’re fishing over a relatively clean sea floor, try dragging.

Dropping a lure down and dragging it along sounds simple, but incorporating a few small refinements will make a big difference to your success.

42) As the lure must stay near the bottom to be effective, a slightly heavier jig-head may be required – but not always, with the tide and wind playing a big parts in how much weight is required.

43) You want the lure to trundle along, kicking up puffs of sediment as it hits striations on the sea floor, which register on the rod tip as regular ‘tic-tics’. Interestingly, sometimes adjusting the length of line/line angle will achieve this, so experiment with line length to get the lure trundling properly.

44) If the lure’s weight is borderline, the water pressure on the line will eventually lift the lure off the bottom, so release more line to let it drop back down again. This lifting and dropping action can prove very effective, but eventually the lure ends up so far behind the boat it must be wound in and redeployed. For similar reasons, heavier lead-heads should be let out further occasionally, or wound in a bit, as snapper are often stimulated by changes in action.

45) DON’T move the lure around too much; rods left in the rod holder, simply rocked around by the waves, attract plenty of bites, but hook-ups are harder to achieve. So try ‘being a rod holder’, holding the rod steady and moving with the boat’s movements, rather than compensating for the effect as we usually do. It’s amazing what a difference this makes, and you can react to bites now.

46) It can still be worth dragging lures from the rod-holder when filleting or eating lunch, but be careful: it’s often the larger fish that hook-up, their power and momentum driving the hook home.

Place the outfit in a rod holder that allows the rod to bend safely if it hooks-up. Conversely, avoid positions that will turn the rod into a bent staple. This may mean trailing the lure well back behind the boat. Also, be aware that many soft-bait rod butts are exposed graphite and vulnerable to damage when placed in rod holders. Bare graphite resting against a sharp metal edge can cause the rod to snap off at that point, leaving you with just the butt. So cushion the rod with a piece of cloth shoved into the rod-holder.

The hook-up

47) Upon hooking up, DON’T DROP THE ROD TIP! Keep it well up and the rod bent, winding if necessary to maintain good pressure. Then, with plenty of pressure on the line, slowly lower the rod before lifting it again firmly to ensure the hook’s well set.

48) If lots of line is leaving the spool against a properly set drag, don’t panic and increase the drag pressure further; the drag’s simply fulfilling its purpose, preventing the line breaking. Be prepared to chase the fish with the boat if necessary.

49) Be careful how high you lift your rod while fighting the fish, especially close to the boat. Graphite rods are getting stronger and tougher all the time, but they are still susceptible to pointloading, especially when the fish is straight down.

Finally, if you really want to achieve softplastic fishing’s full potential, my last big tip is:

50) Leave your bait-fishing gear at home! That way you’ll have no option but to keep at it, becoming more competent and successful as a result!

	This article is reproduced with permission of    New Zealand Fishing News March 2018 - Mark Kitteridge Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited