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Land based snapper - Pulley rigs and rock crabs


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Afternoon everyone, its about that time I went and gave some land based snapper a decent try once more, While I'm no stranger to land based snapper and know the ideal conditions and locations to maximize success its been a good 3 years since I've gone out targetting them so I've got a few questions, I used to use just a plain old running sinker rig with the sinker attached via 12-15lb with a small sinker moving freely on the main line before the hook trace, while good it does tend to get snagged fairly often resulting in lost tackle.

I've seen a bit of information about pulley rigs for snapper but never used them myself, I did some googling last night but could only find information about using it with an impact shield. My question about the pulley rig is I'd still like to use the breakaway sinker trace, that way I've thought about it was using 40lb line connected to the hook with a bead to stop the sinker from the mainline running up to the hook trace/knot so it doesn't get trapped in there or anything and then using a small sinker with maybe about 2-3cm of 20lb line connected to the sinker, I'm just worried about possible entanglement while casting such as the bait twisting around the hook trace while casting

I've also recently been catching quite a few rock crabs in my nets while crab netting off the jetty so I've kept a few to try as some snapper bait as this time of year the pickers are really out in force as the local snapper grounds get invaded by pickers. thinking this may be a way to get around that although this may increase catches of dog sharks being that they specifically feed on benthic invertebrates.

Has anyone here used rock crabs for snapper before? also would using something such as say the claw or a bunch of legs grouped together work on a single hook rig? I've read in some of the information I saw that sometimes a snapper may come in and have a go at the legs/claws before taking the body itself, While this may not be the case with the bigger ones there is a few pannies that get around at this spot so taking the legs/claws off and fishing them as a separate bait to the carapace may be a way for me to get around this but as I've said I've never tried using them as bait before so its all new ground to me

I've looked up some info about using the rock crabs as bait but only really seen information about it from NZ based sites or the occasional result from victoria but I've never heard much about it down here in SA. The way I see it when the snapper do come to feed in off the rocks along the shore line this will be the food source they are after as the big blows wash the crabs off the rock and into the breakers making an easy meal for the snapper.

As a side note I'm aiming to beat my current PB off the rocks of a fish maybe about 50cm (Caught it when I was a young lad of about 14 or so, cant remember the exact size it went)
Heres a photo of that one and I've also added a photo of some snapper on the same side of the sink, The photo with the 3 snapper from memory ranged from 38-42cm
74993_451578826558_8327642_n.jpg
59874_436745091558_1817506_n.jpg
 

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I've seen a bit of information about pulley rigs for snapper but never used them myself, I did some googling last night but could only find information about using it with an impact shield. My question about the pulley rig is I'd still like to use the breakaway sinker trace, that way I've thought about it was using 40lb line connected to the hook with a bead to stop the sinker from the mainline running up to the hook trace/knot so it doesn't get trapped in there or anything and then using a small sinker with maybe about 2-3cm of 20lb line connected to the sinker, I'm just worried about possible entanglement while casting such as the bait twisting around the hook trace while casting

 

What you want is a clip down pulley rig with a rotten bottom setup so sinkers can break off without loosing the whole rig. The clip down system makes the sinker and bait one single mass at the end of your line, so no helicoptering baits which means limited entanglements and better casting distance.

 

For my clip down pulley rigs I stay away from the impact shields as I find them too fiddly. I prefer to use a Breakaway Imp clip or my new favourite the Gemini rig clip.

 

For the rotten bottom setup you can use special clips designed to fail, but I prefer to use a second Gemini rig clip and a short length of lighter mono. The advantage of this is you can still cast with heaps of power, which the rotten bottom clips can't handle.

 

You can source all the bits needed for these rigs here in Australia. I have seen the Imp clips in shops but they're kind of dear, not sure if the Geminis are available, but the Fishing Guru sells an identical part that I have tried.

 

Here's a link to a PDF with all sorts of crazy British rigs, some are quite simple looking and others incredibly intricate. You'll find the pulley rig and rotten bottom rig for a bit of reference.

 

http://www.skysports.com/downloads/Book_Of_Saltwater_Rigs.pdf

 

If you like, later tonight when I get some time, I can take some photos of all this stuff I'm talking about as it's kind of hard to explain in words.

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I've seen a bit of information about pulley rigs for snapper but never used them myself, I did some googling last night but could only find information about using it with an impact shield. My question about the pulley rig is I'd still like to use the breakaway sinker trace, that way I've thought about it was using 40lb line connected to the hook with a bead to stop the sinker from the mainline running up to the hook trace/knot so it doesn't get trapped in there or anything and then using a small sinker with maybe about 2-3cm of 20lb line connected to the sinker, I'm just worried about possible entanglement while casting such as the bait twisting around the hook trace while casting

 

What you want is a clip down pulley rig with a rotten bottom setup so sinkers can break off without loosing the whole rig. The clip down system makes the sinker and bait one single mass at the end of your line, so no helicoptering baits which means limited entanglements and better casting distance.

 

For my clip down pulley rigs I stay away from the impact shields as I find them too fiddly. I prefer to use a Breakaway Imp clip or my new favourite the Gemini rig clip.

 

For the rotten bottom setup you can use special clips designed to fail, but I prefer to use a second Gemini rig clip and a short length of lighter mono. The advantage of this is you can still cast with heaps of power, which the rotten bottom clips can't handle.

 

You can source all the bits needed for these rigs here in Australia. I have seen the Imp clips in shops but they're kind of dear, not sure if the Geminis are available, but the Fishing Guru sells an identical part that I have tried.

 

Here's a link to a PDF with all sorts of crazy British rigs, some are quite simple looking and others incredibly intricate. You'll find the pulley rig and rotten bottom rig for a bit of reference.

 

http://www.skysports.com/downloads/Book_Of_Saltwater_Rigs.pdf

 

If you like, later tonight when I get some time, I can take some photos of all this stuff I'm talking about as it's kind of hard to explain in words.

 

Some cracking rig ideas there....Thanks for the link Plankton. I'll be sure to try some of these.

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