Snapper Tips

[Guest Jody]

A few tips I have found to work well:

* drop down in hook size to a 2 and fish the sardines weightless or as a carolina rig with a long leader (24 plus inches). The larger snapper will hit small tackle first, in most cases. They didn't get large by being dumb.

* for a secret hole, get some of the plastic 250 gallon totes you see for sale on the road-side and cut a hole in the top of it. Take it off-shore, open the bottom valve and dump bags of gravel in it until it sinks. Tie a 10 foot line to the top with a large float that will help you ID it on a sounder. In 1-2 years you will limit out on this small structure.

[KFDM COOP]

I have to start over this year. Going in a week or so and buying a new rod and reel..Jody any suggestions on what brand??

[Guest Jody]

I have to start over this year. Going in a week or so and buying a new rod and reel..Jody any suggestions on what brand??

Here you go. If you need a heavy duty tuna rod, I have an extra. It's a 80 lb class and is very nice. Probably too much for Snapper.

shimano tld-30ll speed.

shimano tld-50ll speed (L.R.S.)

Avet 4/0 wide 2-speed. I would consider a full array of offshore equipment all you need is four rod and reel combos.

1- spinning combo shimano baitrunner 6500, spheros 14000 w/matching rod. 15-30lb. class. With this reel you can sight cast to tuna with a big popper. Spooled up with power pro, McCoy's Meen Green, or some type of quality braided line.

1- bottom combo shimano tekota 800 or tld-25 w/matching rod. Allstar gulfstream 5 1/2 ft. 50-80lb. class. Lightweight, lots of lifting power. Since shakespeare bought out allstar their selling these rods really cheap. They normally retail for 130 bucks. Academy has them for 39.95

1- small baitcasting reel, shimano torium 30 w/matching rod. This set-up can be bottom fished flatlined for lings and kings also small tuna. Academy has 6 1/2ft. or 7ft. allstar rod for 39.95 this is a great live bait set-up.

1- trolling outfit. For our area the tld 30 would probably work, but to be sure the avet or the 50 l.r.s. might give you a little more insurance.

As you can tell I am a shimano man. There are other great products on the market. Penn, daiwa, newell. Just stay away from the okuma.

Hope that helps.

[KFDM COOP]

What about for freshwater?

[Guest Jody]

What about for freshwater?

Bass fishing?

[Guest Jody]

What about for freshwater?

What kind of fishing?

Bass

Crappie

Catfish

Perch

ALL of the above?

[KFDM COOP]

Yep!

[KFDM COOP]

Bass mainly??

[Guest Jody]

Yep!

Shimanno Reels

1st Curado (on ebay about $120-130)

2nd Citiga (on ebay between $50 and 70)

Diawa has a good reel out, but it is very expensive. Shimman has more expensive reels, but these two have caught a ton of fish for me and I have had most of them over 10 years with no problems.

Rods

Everyone likes something different. All-Star-Platinum Series is a decent rod for $99.00 at Academy, but you can also get a Falcon at Bass Pro-Shops for the same money or less. Pick one up and see what you like. Shimmano makes a lower end rod called a Convergence. You can pick one up at Academy for about 30 bucks and it is a decent all-around rod. Don't buy the Shimmano rod that starts with an S (Siolis I think). That rod sucks. I'll give you one of those if you want.

Waterloo rods and Tempest rods are good, but Tempest is having trouble with the quality of craftfmanship when tieing the eyes on. We have asked them to address this, so maybe it will improve. They are very good blanks and handles. These run between 130 and 250 each, so not your average weekend angler's choice.

I like the Med/Heavy 6-6 to 6-9 rods for worming and soft plastics.

I use a med/med heavy rod with a little more action in the tip for crank-baits and spinner baits.

I have a med action flacon rod with a shimmano spin-cast for very light tackle and for finness baits. Not a lot of meat in this set-up, so I usually throw a bradied line / mono combination to add some insurance in the line.

The majot brand lines (castaway, all-star, etc) seem to be getting lower quality with buy-outs and mass production. Look for a rod with quality eyes, a good feeling blank, and eyes that are double wrapped on both sides of the eye. If it's not double wrapped, look to make sure the thread is wrapped onboth sides of the eye. Also, there should be a good thick epoxy coat over the eye thread.

[KFDM COOP]

Thanks..

[PNG Proud]

They quit making the Curado as we know it. They made a newer version, but it cost $80 more. The replacement is supposed to be the Citica, but I haven't heard any reports about it. If you can find a Curado, you'll love it. You'll probably have to adjust the bearings inside the real to fit your casting abilities, but it's by far the best casting real I've ever thrown. I wish I had 2 more!

[PNG Proud]

Another snapper tip (or 2). For the novice, you can't go wrong with Snapper Slappers. Get the medium sized ones, and tip it with some squid. But don't waste too much time with them, when they work, they work good, but when they don't they DON'T. Also, Jodies right about the big sanapper. You've got to fool them, which is tricky, since they see REAL good. I got away from the wire leaders and went to a big mono, like 200# test. (Make your own) Make the leader long and BURY the hook in the bait. If they see it, they WILL NOT bite it. Also, try to find structure instead of rigs. They'll pay off better in the long run.

Be Safe out there!

[Guest Jody]

They quit making the Curado as we know it. They made a newer version' date=' but it cost $80 more. The replacement is supposed to be the Citica, but I haven't heard any reports about it. If you can find a Curado, you'll love it. You'll probably have to adjust the bearings inside the real to fit your casting abilities, but it's by far the best casting real I've ever thrown. I wish I had 2 more![/quote']

You might also look for the Japan version of the Curado on ebay. I think they call it a scorpion. It is an awsome reel.

I have 3 or 4 Citiga reels and they are just as good as the Curado for casting. Shimmano's drag system and castability is second to none (MHO). I have owened Curado's since they were $60.00 and red, which was LONG ago. Very good reels.