Home Made Snapper Micro Jigs.

[Hiramasa 32]

After having a lot of success last snapper season using jigs and switchblades and with this weather not allowing much fishing time I hit the shed to make up a new assortment of micro jigs. I came up with my own idea of using old salmon lures, old lucanus style jigs, and plastic squid to make up the jig.

 

The plastic squid retail at $2:95 per pack for 5. A pack of decent jig assist hooks are also cheap as the quality only needs to be good enough for big snapper. I used Williamson assist hooks, but as per one of the pics you can also just use standard 8/0 suicides and 80lb leader to form your own assist hook. Add in a few split rings and youre in business. Each of the jigs below range from 70g through to 100g. I prefer them heavy as I fish deep drops for reds and heavier jigs allow you to 'bounce' the jig along the bottom and get it down easier in stronger tides.

 

The metal part of the jig (salmon lure) doesn't need to be anything fancy, as it only acts as the weight to get it down.. it's the squid with the hook that does the damage.

 

I've found that these work best for drifting across the drop. My technique is to firstly use the sounder to find the fish, then once they appear on the screen cast the jig up drift of the fish. This will allow the jig time to sink. I then simply bounce the jig along the bottom through the school. Usually it gets taken on the drop as it's bounced along the bottom.

 

Snapper tend to fight much harder if the boat is drifting, not anchored. They can petty much free swim when drifting instead of being yanked into the current.

 

Here's a few pics of the jigs both on the table and how they would appear in the water. Add in a light rod, 10lb braid and hang on!

[Ale 301]

Very, very cool mate!!!! Thanx for sharing

[trihull 177]

Saw a YouTube clip on those,  you know you could also add the larger lumo beads into the heads of the plastic squids..... fills them out better and stops squid from fouling hook

 

 

Well Done !!!!         

[Cal 480]

They look excellent mate ,nice work.

A thing I do with those plastic squid is you get polystyrene balls from craft,cheap shops like spotlight[2$ for about 20] poke a hole in them and insert them into the head of those plastic squid.

Thread line through and tie on a hook,they make the best surf poppers ,heaps better than the ones you buy as they are more durable and you can put on a quality hook of your choice.

Cheers

[bjorn2fish 4,612]

Those jigs look awesome. I'd love to see them in action.