Texas Gulf Coast Fishing

How to Catch Bigger Red Snapper

I've been offshore plenty of times trying to catch my share of Red Snapper. One of the things I noticed was the size of the baits that folks tend to prepare for snapper fishing. The standard fodder was squid or fish cut up into 1" to 2" chunks. Sure you catch your share of snapper and I've caught a few big snapper with this but, with today's limitations on size and number, it's costly to catch your share of good snapper. Increase the odds of catching a bigger snapper to help offset the limits by adjusting your tackle and methods with a few tips:

• Chum them up. Sometimes you can bring snapper to the surface by throwing out chum or hanging a chum bag overboard.
• Pull them away from the wreck or the reef. By sinking the chum bag up current of a wreck or reef, you can pull the snapper away from the reef and catch them in the open water.
• Use bigger baits for big snapper. I have caught big snapper on a piece of cigar minnow or squid about the size of my thumb but, I've taken more big snapper using a 6" to 8" mullet, sand trout, croaker, pinfish, or cigar minnow. Large snapper generally just prefer bigger baits.
• Don't get in a hurry to send your bait rippin' down to the bottom, ease your bait down. I've noticed that the bigger snapper are usually suspended on top of the smaller snapper that congregate near the bottom.
• Use a Grouper Rig which is made of 30" of 150 lb. test monofilament. Utilizeing a plated heavy hook, a swivel and a 4 oz egg sinker with beads on each end.

Grouper Rigged Mullet