Early Season Snapper 2019

[smile0784]

Lol

[Kimtown]

Lol

X2

[Robbie1950]

I'm curious to know if anyone uses circle hooks on a snell setup for snapper??

I have tried Robbie. There's a spot that I go to that the Snaps are min 50+ cm. We were trying to minimise gut/gill hooked snaps that we returned once our bigs were gotten.

First go was with two circles but found only ever hooked up with the leading hook and unfortunately got less hook ups.

Then a mate and I discussed it and came up with the trailing hook as a suicide. Hook ups increase with the trailing hook getting some but again some were gut/gill hooked.

So now we have reverted to only using a single circle, even on big baits when the Snaps are on but two snelled suicides if the fishing is slow. Nothing beats the euphoria of landing a Stonka once you realise the Snapper was cheek hooked.

Give it a go, if the fish are there , , , , but even a single circle with a modest bait would catch a 10kg. I think most of my Big snaps have been on a single hook with a small to modest bait, so the whole pillie idea isn't always going to give you the big boys.

Cheers, Bugs

Interesting reading Bugatti! I like the effort you guys have gone through to find answers, quiet scientific actually. The idea of using circle hooks has entertained my thought but I cant imagine it being easy to bait whole pillies with circles. The lack of gape between the bait and hook has also made me wonder how effective they would be.

I have heard the theory of using one circle hook and one suicide on a snell but the thought of having two different hooks seems complex in itself. On a hook up, which hook has the the fish taken? The initial reaction with a suicide hook is to strike once the rod loads but what happens if the fish has taken the circle? If you strike you'll roll the hook 9 times out of 10. Its some what of a lose lose situation.

[bowl]

Weekend off , time to try new pulley rigs I bought...
Black rock car park or st Helens car park might be the go with the gale coming..

[smile0784]

Weekend off , time to try new pulley rigs I bought...
Black rock car park or st Helens car park might be the go with the gale coming..

Wouldn't black rock be quite wet??

[DougieK]

I often use a snelled 7/0 suicide on the top and a circle on the bottom.

Pulley rigs are the shiz for this kind of fishing.

[smile0784]

I often use a snelled 7/0 suicide on the top and a circle on the bottom.

Pulley rigs are the shiz for this kind of fishing.

I mite try this, this year

[DougieK]

I often use a snelled 7/0 suicide on the top and a circle on the bottom.

Pulley rigs are the shiz for this kind of fishing.

I mite try this, this year

It gives you the option to run just as a circle or as a two hook rig. Under a float it gives lots of rigging options including just bridling onto the circle if you're livebaiting.

[Lightningx]

Weekend off , time to try new pulley rigs I bought...
Black rock car park or st Helens car park might be the go with the gale coming..

Sounds good mate.
Are you planning on doing an evening session after dark?

[Lightningx]

Weekend off , time to try new pulley rigs I bought...
Black rock car park or st Helens car park might be the go with the gale coming..

Wouldn't black rock be quite wet??

Not really. You park your car and fish from the rock wall. Waves crash but it’s quite high so don’t get wet. Or just stand back a bit.