Is this the BEST Snapper Lure EVER? (Insanely hot session!)

[@louisfishingodyssey]

Gotta love it when they are chewing their heads off , what a sesh , nice one Will 👌

[@willkitching]

Thanks for the comment mate. Yeah how good is it to get onto a hot snapper bite?! They’re so angry too when they’re fired up and feeding - great fun to catch 😎 cheers Louis 🎣

[@scotthumpries-norton3942]

Absolutely awesome job bro, what a day with family. 👍

[@willkitching]

Thanks mate I really appreciate the comment! Yeah we all love fishing and spending time together, we have made some amazing memories and I know there are many more to come 😁👍 tight lines mate 🎣

[@TusVlog]

nice video! big up from Greece!

[@willkitching]

Thanks so much mate, I really appreciate it! I hope the fishing has been good for you in Greece 🙌🎣

[@EndlessWeekendFishing]

What a session 🔥 🙌

[@willkitching]

Thanks heaps mate, gotta love when a plan comes together! 😁👌

[@Side85Winder]

Awsome session you had there, well done. One of the first videos where i seen some one who knows how to bleed a fish properly. Way to many cut the bottom throat part or cut the actuall gills. The way you did it was perfect the clear membrain behind the gills. I like to use snelled hooks as well its a deadly rig and fish find it hard to miss the hooks. I am in victoria our size is 28cm so I like to use 4/0's. The top hook is a octopus suicide (bent back eye, and offset point) so it sits square. The bottom hook i prefer a straight eye to the shank, but still offset. Both hooks are a standard J not circle. If i am using a circle hook a decent chunk on a 4/0 mustad demon.

[@willkitching]

Hey mate, thanks heaps for the comment! I appreciate the kind words. Yes we were lucky to be taught the correct bleeding method by a man named Terry Hitzke (Sammy Hitzke’s father). It makes a massive difference to the quality of the meat when you take the fillets off that’s for sure! It’s awesome to hear you chase snapper down in Victoria, it seems like a very different fishery. For example, your season seems to be over the warmer months where as ours is in the cooler months predominantly. As well as that we do a lot of our snapper fishing over solid reefs and structures. Yes the snell rig is definitely a great one for the snapper, we use 4/0’s too however for the bigger fish it wouldn’t hurt to use 5/0’s. We don’t like circle hooks for snapper either - they’re not a fish that slowly swallows the bait and turns to swim away. They just smack it hard and fast 😁👍 Thanks again for the comment and enjoy your fishing down in Vic mate!

[@Side85Winder]

@willkitching thats correct. Our snapper season is warmer months, its starting right now, and the weather has been SHIT!. I can highly recommend mustad demon hooks for snapper. I use 4/0 demons since our fish only need to be 28cm, but for up north you may want to consider a 5/0 or 6/0. They do work better with a snell knot but i dont find them to be as strong. Considering the demon has a straight shank a uni or what ever you prefer will work fine. You only need to pin the bait, pilchard doesn't matter to much as its soft, but a big squid strip just pin once at the top. I think a dropper loop (paternoster rig) would be very effective over reef. Nearly all fish take the bait and run, they are not stationary after eating it thats for sure. We are getting more under water footage every day on YT. From what i have seen fish tend to smash the bait and run because of the competition of the other fish trying to eat it. Circles are very effective on snapper when used correctly thats for sure. I like to point my rod in the line direction or just low will do. When i feel a bite just wind the reel, you will feel the weight load up keep winding (don't stop winding) and you can lift the rod up, not strike just lift. You can give it a strike after if you feel the urge, but they are a thin gague and penetrat very easily.

[@willkitching]

@@Side85Winder Thanks for the information mate I really appreciate that! I’ve actually used the Mustad Demon circle hooks before in a 3/0 size, and caught my PB 89cm flathead as well as some mangrove jacks which was cool. So I know that they definitely work 😁 maybe I’ll have to give them a try for snapper one day

[@CamBill]

Good one mate some nice fish there 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@willkitching]

Thanks Cam! Yeah we’re always happy to catch a few fish for a feed but when the quality of fish is this good, it’s great 🙌🎣

[@robtaylorshotwater]

Hectic session Will. That's the kind of fishing we all hope for. Did I see a grinner at the start???

[@willkitching]

Yes mate, target species acquired!! It’s always a good day when you start with a grinner 🤣🤣 Yeah these are the memorable days snapper fishing that we fish for - they’re not all this good! 😁

[@andrewz4888]

When your doing your sounder work to find the action how fast as you going. Like I’m sure you have a few spots to scout (learnt over time) but in terms of honing in on the “spot” any tips ?

[@willkitching]

Hi mate, great question! We usually put whatever mark into the GPS that we want to go to, and then when we’re almost there we will pull up around 150 metres early and slow right down. Your sounder will have a better reading the slower you go, so at first we’ll slow down so that the motor is basically just clicked forward in gear and we’ll have a detailed look around. We also go as slow as possible over isolated bommies/lumps that we have marked as you get a really detailed reading of the bottom. If there’s nothing much showing and we have to search around a bit further, we might speed up slightly to cover ground and search around the area a bit quicker, but as soon as we see anything interesting on the sounder we pull it back and slow right down again if that makes sense? Something else to consider is if the conditions are a bit sloppy, sometimes you have to get a bit of speed up just to keep the boat driving straight while sounding around. Also, we’ve found brand new snapper and reef fishing spots while trolling lures for Spanish mackerel in 40m of water at a decent speed, but since you’re going a bit faster in that situation the shows of fish on the sounder will look smaller than what they truly are as you’re going over them quicker. I hope that makes sense mate, if you have any other questions feel free to ask away! Tight lines 👍🎣

[@jasonsamra3434]

Great video thanks mate and was that last Monday ?

[@willkitching]

Thanks mate I appreciate the comment! No this session wasn’t last Monday, it was on Wednesday the week before 👍🎣

[@nathanmcgrath9038]

As long as there not salted will pilchards are good snapper bait and over the years I've caught many good Jews on pillies as well

[@willkitching]

Hey mate! Yeah the pillies are good for snapper as they usually just smash them on the way down. If you’re fishing somewhere with a lot of small pickers it can be frustrating as the pillies are a soft bait. We don’t salt our baits, we just buy the Tweed Bait packets of individually frozen pillies. That’s awesome that you’ve got some solid Jewwies on Pilchards before too!! Funnily enough we’ve never got a jewfish out on the reef while chasing snapper!

[@nathanmcgrath9038]

@@willkitching livies are best but from time to time jewies take them keep up the good work 👍

[@willkitching]

@@nathanmcgrath9038 Yeah I agree mate. Thanks for the kind words and support, tight lines 😁

[@EndlessWeekendFishing]

'We came here to get away from the Snapper' 😅🙌

[@willkitching]

Hahahah I never thought I’d be saying that!! That’s when you knows it’s been a hot session 😂😂

[@ashleymitchell-qs5et]

Well done Will. Great session. What size jig head were you using?

[@willkitching]

Thank you mate I appreciate the comment! It was definitely a good session, they’re not always like that. We usually use a 3/8oz or 1/2oz in waters up to 50 metres depending on the conditions. We always try to use the lightest option possible. Some days if the wind gets up towards 10 knots or more, it can make it hard to fish with this technique. We sometimes use a heavy 3/4oz jighead in these situations, but it doesn’t work quite as well. On a calm day you can even use a 1/2oz in 60 metres of water at times! I suggest just starting off with a 3/8oz and experiment from there mate. It’s okay if your line is on an angle about 45 degrees out the back of the boat. I hope this helps!!

[@andrewz4888]

And I guess if it’s not that heavy you just let it float down slowly right ? Like how long in 50 meters should it take to hit the bottom - just as a gauge

[@andrewz4888]

And what size hook usually ? 4/0 or 5/0?

[@willkitching]

@@andrewz4888 Hi mate, I’ll be making a video to fully explain this whole technique in the next couple of weeks, so make sure you stay tuned for that. But yes just keep letting it slowly sink down until it’s almost at the bottom before clicking the bail arm over. It usually takes a couple of minutes usually to get down there, I just estimate and click the bail arm over when I think it’s getting close. You can always open it and let a bit more line out after a while too! The more you do it, you’ll get the hang of it and be able to learn how long it takes to sink. Something else you can do is drop the plastic right beside the boat and count how long it takes to sink down for a couple of metres, and then estimate how long it will take to sink in 50 metres for example. We just use a 3/0 hook for the 3” plastics and run a light drag so they don’t straighten or pull out of the fish. We only use 12lb braid. If we go to a 5 inch plastic we use a bigger 5/0 hook. I hope this helps mate and as I said, I’ll be making a vide explaining the full technique in the next week or two! 👍🎣

[@andrewz4888]

@@willkitching yeah thanks very much super light setup I’ve been on 30 and 40lb braid and chunky leader .. time to size down

[@MattKitchin-k1q]

Great fishing, thanks Will. Approximately how far out were you?

[@willkitching]

Hi mate, thanks for the comment! We were approximately 8-10km out and fishing in around 40m of water. This was an exceptionally good session. It’s very important to look for good shows of bait on the sounder. Was it you that came to say hello at the boat ramp with your kids? 😁

[@andrewz4888]

Nice it’s not even that far out. 💪

[@MattKitchin-k1q]

@@willkitching Hi Will, thank you for the reply. Yes, that was two of my kids and I who came to say hello. Thank you for taking the time to have a chat with the kids, they were thrilled and are waiting with anticipation to see if they make it into your next upload of video.

[@MattKitchin-k1q]

By the way, we went out for a fish the morning after we chatted to you (as we had discussed). We caught some good size sweetlip and a squire in the 40m water depth early, then the fishing dropped off. We then picked up a few good sized squid at Mudjimba, before returning home, which was fun too and very much enjoyed by my boy.

[@willkitching]

@@andrewz4888 No mate not really! It’s not like we’re heading all the way out to somewhere like the Barwon Banks or Caloundra Wide or anything 😁 Snapper move into the closer, shallower reefs in the cooler months and through spring 👍

[@redringo]

You should also mention after you bleed them out put them in ice saltwater slurry.

[@willkitching]

Hey mate, yes for sure, that’s very important. 👌 We do try to mention it in most videos!

[@n5688434]

Dam mate u killed them !! Soft plastic is doing damage!

[@willkitching]

For sure mate!! It was slaying them that session, they definitely love it on the offshore reefs. I’m keen to give them a try in the shallower water in the bay at some stage 👌🎣

[@n5688434]

@@willkitching They work in the bay as well in Moreton Bay at least . I have some good success on gulf minnows as well they do the damage but the problem is they dont last long. Watch out with the TT jid head the really big snapper 70 plus will chew threw the jig hooks. I have changed to BKK now.

[@willkitching]

@@n5688434 Yeah that’s awesome mate!! And yes we’ve had the smaller TT jig heads straightened/crushed a couple of times. For some reason it seems to be when we’ve tightened the drag too much, that’s another reason we like to use lighter 12lb braid with them. BKK jig heads would be good though!

[@n5688434]

@@willkitching lol i use 12lb they just cut me clean.i am doing 20lb now big snapper is no joke haha ! Good fun . U should do a few video on moreton bay !

[@willkitching]

@@n5688434 Yeah that makes sense mate if you’re getting busted off 👍 I’ll definitely be trying to do some videos in Moreton Bay, I’ve been meaning to but haven’t got around to it yet!