How to Use Chum for Snapper
Prized for the dinner table, snapper are fished by sport anglers and commercial operations along the southeastern coast of the United States and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. A schooling fish, snapper are attracted to offshore structure such as marker buoys, oil rigs, piers and reefs. Night fishing is especially effective because snapper are drawn to the baitfish that congregate around illuminated decks, rigs and piers after dark. Chumming with chopped up baitfish will attract large schools of snapper.
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Things You'll Need
- Chum buckets and ladles
- Dead baitfish
- Plastic bucket
- Ladle
- Knives
- Medium-duty saltwater rod and reel.
- Tackle rigged with the same type of baitfish as the chum
- Boat equipped with fish-finding sonar
Instructions
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1
Prepare chum by chopping baitfish into roughly 1-inch chunks using the knives and tossing into a large bucket or pail. Use all parts of the fish. Big snapper eat almost any type of fish, so use whatever is readily available. Since croaker fish (so named for their distinctive sound) are abundant in snapper regions, they make excellent chum.
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2
Use the fish finder to locate schooling snapper and the depth. Snapper are primarily bottom feeders, so look for them near the sea floor. Different fish finders display information in different ways, although in the snapper's habitats a reading of large, schooling fish has a good chance of being snapper. Fishing around reefs, ledges near deep drop-offs and man-made structures can be productive.
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3
Ladle scoops of chum off the stern of the boat when you locate schools of fish. Ladle a scoop overboard about every 10 seconds, so each scoop can spread out. Snapper will find the food by smell. Chumming for snapper works best on relatively calm seas where the bait will hold to a narrower area, making it easier to fish in a concentrated spot.
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4
Drop baited hooks rigged with floats about 2 feet up the line into the ocean in the middle of the chum slick, allowing the rig to move along with the heavier chunks of chum. The goal is to incite a feeding frenzy and lure snapper to the surface so they will strike at every morsel they encounter, including the bait on your hook.
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5
Retrieve your line through the chum line using a twitching, jerking motion. When the line has been retrieved, bait the hook again, if necessary, and cast back into the midst of the chum.
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6
Continue ladling chum to keep the bait supply in a concentrated area until the action subsides, then reel in and use the fish-finder to locate underwater structure where more snapper may be waiting.
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Tips & Warnings
If you wish to catch bigger snapper, increase the size of the baitfish chunks.
