Tackling up for Snapper on Soft Plastics - Part 1

G'Day Fisho's well our semi regular blog is back in action and we have loads of great info coming your way over the next few posts. Expect info on Tackling Up to catch snapper, a review of brand new ebook on catching Tuna, plus more reviews and news.

With some of the prime NSW snapper months upon us Dan and I figured it would be a great opportunity to go over the basics of catching snapper on plastics and remind all the keen snapper on plastics anglers out there, that the opportunity to fish the Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic is not far away. In fact it is scheduled this year for the June Long Weekend (fishing is on the 6th and 7th and Monday 8th June is the Public Holiday)so there's no excuses. For entry forms email snapperonplastics@hotmail.com or contact Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing Club on 02 6652 1534. We'll be there again this year with a big group of mates for a fun, fishy long weekend, so come and say hi if you're going.



Tackling Up to Catch Snapper on lures,,,

Rods, Reels, Line, leader, plastics and Jig heads.

As you can appreciate Dan and I fished pretty hard for snapper on soft-plastics over the last 2 years to produce our DVD ‘In Search Of Old Snapper’. During this time we've had the great fortune to fish with some awesome rod and reel combos. The next few blog post's will cover all the basics of tackling up to catch snapper.




In this post I've covered a list of the rods and reels we've come across which we believe offer a cross section of the tackle available to the avid angler. It is in no way an exhaustive list and if you think we've left off something that ever snapper angler must have in there arsenal then either write to us or leave a comment on this blog post..
To get the low down on which braids, leaders, lures and jig heads we recommend keep your eye out for the next post which is not far away.


Our experience has taught us that there are only a few hard and fast rules for selecting tackle to chase these amazing fish.
Firstly spend as much money as you can rationalise on the rod and reel combo, spend the most $$'s on the reel and line then select a rod to do the job with the $$$'s you have left from your budget.
Rods should be made from high modulus graphite and suited for use with fine diameter braid or gel-spun lines and should be no shorter than 7ft and do not need to be any longer than 8ft. The length gives you the ability to make nice long casts, whilst the graphite gives you increased sensitivity and the ability to work the plastic effectively. Rods for this type of work need to be as light weight yet strong as you can afford, a fast to medium fast action is essential for plasticing; for the cast, the feel and to impart an action to the lure and finally to set the hook when a smart hard mouthed snapper does take your lure. Lastly whether you choose to fish a rod suited to light line (*8-15lb braid) or heavy line (*15-20lb braid), will determine which rod you select. (*Remember braid rate at 8lb does not have a breaking strain of 8lb it is more like 20lb, and for a 15lb braid it is up around 35-40lb breaking strain - So depending on your sportiness either of these will definitely do the job... but more on that in the next post.

Dan and I now have 2-4 outfits for this style of fishing and whilst it may seem like overkill we have found these outfits to be the most adaptable ones in our quivers. We used them to chase and catch, Australian salmon, the ever favourite yellowtail kingfish, Barra in the NT, GT's in Samoa, Yellowfin, albacore and mac tuna offshore plus jewfish (Mulloway) on plastics in the estuaries and on baits offshore. So it is definitely worth getting one of these super versatile and very effective outfits to fit in your tackle arsenal, as it will do so much more than just help you catch serious snapper.

RODS FOR THE JOB

Firstly to the pointy end of the equation. Selecting a rod for snapper fishing is no simple task, it doesn’t need to be complicated its just that there are so many choices of rod brands/lengths/actions/prices on the market it can be extremely hard to know where to start. From the top end of the price spectrum of Mega Bass, Daiwa, Shimano and Loomis rods built for the purpose to the less expensive graphite rods produced by every tackle manufacturer out there - Where does one start… here are the basics 7ft-8ft, 1 or 2 piece, medium to fast action (light in the tip folding away to a strong butt section), light in the hand (think about this you will be making 100’s of casts in a session), quality guides and reel seat and that the gist of it.

Here’s a list in no specific order of rods built to do the specific job of cast lightly weighted lures long distances, work those lures effectively, set the hooks and have muscle to end the fight.

Essentially every tackle manufacturer distributing rods in Australia has produced a rod for targetting snapper, the one you choose will be dictated by your budget and what feels comfortable in your hand and the recommendations we've given above... here are a few too consider amongst which are our favourites;

Berkley Dropshot Tournament Snapper - 7ft, 1pce, fast action suited to heavier line classes www.purefishing.com.au
Sakana Alien SA-701SH - 7ft 1pce, fast action suited to lighter line classes. Available from Freddies fishing tackle stores check them out at www.sakana.com




MegaBass Silvershadow SSX-72ml - 7ft, 2pce, super fast action for medium to light line classes. This is the top of the range rod with a price tag to match.


Shimano offers many rods to choose from depending on your budget and your sportiness; here's a few from across their list;
TCurve Snapper Tournament 701 - 7ft 1pce, fast action is probably their most sold snapper rod. (featured to left.

TCurve SPIN 722 SNAPPER - 7ft2inch 2 piece rod for those who like a little more rod length and the ease of travelling that a 2 piece rod provides.
FireBlood 701 SPIN M - 7ft 1pce fast action medium line class snapper rod
Raider MF Snapper Range
Starlo StiX SNAPPER range with a heavy rod in the form of SP HVY 701, a 7ft, 1pce fast action extra heavy line class 6-10kg.
Catana SNAPPER range
To see the full range of Shimano rods go to; www.shimanofish.com.au/






And of course there is the magnificent range of rods from Daiwa some of which are suited to snapper fishing the way we like it;

Luvias range of 7ft snapper rods is at the top of the Daiwa range
Heartland 702 ULFS - 7ft, 2pce - fast action light weight snapper rod
Heartland 701 LFS & MLFS - 7ft, 1pce - light and medium/light fast action snapper rods.
Team Daiwa Sol Snapper range 7-8ft $299 - $329 RRP
Team Daiwa Saltwater in 7ft-8ft - $250++ RRP
Team Daiwa Tierra - mid market $150++ RRP
Excellar range within which there is a heavy 7ft rod for extra stopping power.
At the time of writing I've just got off the phone from Evan at Daiwa and we were chatting about rods, reels, theories and so on and he now exclusively fishes for all his snapper on 8ft rods which are available in the TD Sol and TD Saltwater ranges to add just that extra length to the cast, he finds that the biggest fish are often picked off by those who make the longest cast - check them out at www.daiwafishing.com.au/


REELING THEM IN
Now for the reels, as far as we're concerned these days in Australia there are really only a few brands to consider when it comes to the business end of winding the fish end. Daiwa and Shimano are without argument leading the world in fishing reel technology and development, whilst Penn, Berkley and Okuma also make quality reels for this type of fishing.

No matter what brand of reel falls into your favourites category almost every manufacturer on the market produces a reel suitable for fishing light to medium classes of braid. Here’s the low down; The reel size which seems best suited for this style of work is the 3000-4000 size reel allow for good retrieve speeds, solid drags and line capacity, personally I'd select for models with a precision worm drive oscillating mechanism will give the best results and provide the end user with a more enjoyable fishing experience, spend the most dollars here you can afford or justify

Here’s my pick of reels that will do the job perfectly;

Daiwa – Exist 3000
Daiwa – Custom Hyper Certate 4000
Shimano – Stella 4000FD
Shimano – Fireblood FA
Daiwa – Team Daiwa Heartland 4000
Daiwa – Morethan Branzino 3000
Shimano – Aspire 4000FA
Diawa – Team Daiwa Sol
Shimano – TwinPower 4000FC
Shimano – Saragosa 4000
Shimano – Stradic 4000FI

To read more about these reels visit ; www.daiwafishing.com.au/ or www.shimanofish.com.au/ .

Which ever reel you decide upon that suits your budget be sure to take good care of it so it serves you well. The reel manufacturers recommend that at the end of each session you wipe it down your reel with a hot damp cloth, to remove the salt, dry it with a clean dry rag, then spray with a silicone based water repellent (BALLISTOL or SPORTSGUARD) before backing the drag off and then storing in a cool dark place away from the elements.

Having said this personally I give my reels a good wash down in the shower with warm water with the drag screwed up tight, then I shake them dry, tip them upside down to free any residual water and wipe them with my bath towel and then back the drag off, because I fish regularly I leave my reels attached to the rods for ease of preparation for the next trip. The reasoning behind not hosing down your reels is that the force of the water, pushes any saltwater from the days fishing into the reel and over a period of time will cause corrosion.

Well that should be enough to get you thinking about your next rod and reel purchase tune back to our blog soon for Parts 2 & 3 on catching Snapper on plastics and for reviews on new books, new tackle and few untested theories...

Hope to see you all at the Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic,,, but expect to hear a lot more from us before then...

Cheers

Dan and Dan

It'd be Un-Australian not to go fishing !!

Belated Happy Australia day fellow anglers!!!

A few weeks back I was invited to join a group of keen Aussie Fisho's for a trip away to an almost secret seaside fishing village for a weekend with the boys chasing one of my favourite species Pagrus auratus that's right snapper. This left me in some conflict as I was also super keen to get along to The Big Day Out and catch my favourite Australian rock band COG, knowing however that tickets to the BDO were sold out and that the opportunity to fish this dream destination was rare I selected for the fishy weekend vowing to catch COG at their next Sydney appearance. As part of the fishing invitation I was asked not to reveal the location of this place so for those of you in the know you'll recognise the location for everyone else, well don't tell anyone about it if you figure it out!!



We left the busy city streets behind on Friday a.m. and by mid afternoon in sweltering heat we were unpacking the rods, reels, ice, food and tackle and preparing for a quick session before beers and dinner that evening. Now given the lack of an estuary all launching is off the beach, some use their 4x4's to launch, but the locals know the best option is to use a tractor, now I've never seen this technique before so learning the process was part of the fun and adventure of the weekend. Roll the boat off the trailer and onto the sand, using the 'drag strap' hook the boat to the strap and drag it along the sand to the waters edge, spin the bow of the boat so that its facing the shore break and then use the nudge bar to push the boat into the water, just so its floating. Then comes the launch, with skipper on the starboard side and me the 'deckie' on the port wait for the skippers call (that the waves approaching shore will allow for a break in the crashing dumping break) and then push with all the might you can muster often using 'man' power to push the boat through 1 or 2 cresting waves, jump on the back and your off... too much fun... anyway, suffice to say we managed a successful launch on all attempts and less than 5 minutes later were casting 'softies', 'gulps', 'squidgies' and 'powerbait' soft plastics (SP's) into some of the fishest washes I have ever had the pleasure of fishing!!!

Over the 3 sessions we targetted snapper Steve and I managed to catch a top notch brace of snapper.



Ranging from this beauty (4.94kg's and 75cm's) to many fish around the 800g to 3kg bracket. We used 3/8 to 1/2 ounce jig heads molded onto 3/0 'Owner' jig heads and mixed it up with SP's from 3" to 7" in a variety of colours and brands.
We concentrated our efforts around the change of light and and tide and fished hard reef and the associated drop-offs plus the washes of headlands and bombora's in water ranging from 6 - 29 meters.... AWESOME!!

If you are interested in targeting snapper why not purchase our Australian Fishing DVD "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" and subscribe to this blog. As over the next few weeks I will be detailing the rods, reels, lines, leaders, jig hooks and soft-plastics required for this style of fishing. Plus I'll also be covering the basics of what terrain to fish, and what techniques to use... So keep your eye out for a multi part blog with all the info you will need to get kitted up and out onto the water to target this magnificent species...

Till then hope you all had a great Australia Day and did your bit to keep it real and got out on the water for good old fashioned fish.

Catchya

Dan T

During the summer months (well actually all months with an 'r' in their name) I like to get out and catch a few blue swimmer crabs, these are deliciously tasty treats and with a bit of preparation and thought it is not too difficult to catch a feed for the family. Personally I like my blue swimmer crabs BBQ'd although I did grow up with them being boiled or steamed, but before I go into preparation just a few quick tips on how and where to catch them.
The best locations to catch blue swimmer crabs are in estuaries, search for areas with extensive sandy drop-offs supporting good seagrass beds. Sandy bays with adjacent mud-flats are also worthy areas. Use fresh baits of fish frames, and change these every 24 hours if keeping the traps in the water for long periods of time. It is important that you read the rules and regulations on the maximum number of nets and or traps per person and per boat (current regulations stipulate 5 nets and 1 trap per person (including possession at any one time)), the float must be a minimum of 10cm in diameter and have your name and the words CRAB TRAP written clearly on the float. (Recreational fishers regulations crab traps & nets)










In NSW the law states that it is illegal to keep female crabs in 'berry' (laden with eggs), and must be released immediately. Having said this it has always been an unwritten rule amongst my friends and family that you should release all female crabs and keep only the large males. The legal size of the blue swimmer crab in NSW waters is 6cm measured from the front to the back of the carapace (shell) and the bag limit is 20.





Whilst these are the rules a crab with a 6cm measurement is hardly worth the work involved in eating it, so if you can find your way to releasing the small ones and keeping the larger crabs, there is no way you will ever need to catch and keep your bag limit. I tend to find that 1 reasonable sized crab per person is more than enough. To differentiate between a male and female crab firstly you can judge by the colour, with the males tending to be a more vibrant almost royal blue and the females being browner in colour. The most accurate way to tell the difference however is to turn the crab onto its back and take a look at the 'flap' on the underside of the body, an oval shaped flap indicates the female whilst a slender more pointed flap identifies the crab to be a male.





Just out of the 'Witches Hat' these two male crabs are destined for the BBQ and a tasty lunch.


To cook these tasty crabs, firstly you should kill them humanely (DPI, Fisheries), the two best methods are to either place them in a bucket of cool fresh water and place a lid on top, or the method I prefer is to put them into a freezer for up to an hour or the fridge over night. This will send them into a coma or send them off to sleep completely. Once the crabs have been euthanased turn them onto their back, lift the flap from the shell and smoothly but firmly pull the entire top portion of the shell away from the rest of the body (NB if you remove the crabs shell or try to cook it or cut the crab prior to killing them the crab will drop its claws making the cooking process more difficult and if boiling allowing the tasty juices to escape). Once removed the shell pull the gill filaments and 'mustard' away from the body and rinse in saltwater. NEVER rinse seafood of any description in freshwater unless absolutely necessary, as this will affect the taste of the fish adversely.
Once you have removed the shell and gill filaments and guts, wash the remainder of the shell well and rub off any muddy build up from around the joints.






Blue swimmer crabs cleaned, halved and ready for cooking

To prepare for cooking, I like to then cut the crab in two straight down the centre, use a strong bladed sharp knife and a swift cutting motion, do not swing or chop the knife as this can cause a cracking of the shell. Now allow the crabs to come to room temperature (This is a good idea when cooking all seafood, so that the centre of the flesh is heated by the cooking process) and when your about 10 minutes from sitting down for your tasty meal place the crabs onto the open grill of a preheated BBQ with body section on the hottest section of the BBQ and the legs and claws on the cooler part of the grill. Allow the crabs shell to turn a bright orange and avoid flames that will char the shell resulting in over cooking of the crab meat, it is best to keep turning and shifting the crab pieces so that you cook all segments evenly. The easiest way to identify when the crab is ready for eating is to watch the flesh in the body section and once it has turned white instead of translucent remove it from the BBQ and place on a serving platter for 3-5 minutes.





Freshly off the BBQ - Yum Yum

Have a pair of nut crackers at hand to break the shell and a nifty trick is to use the pointed section of the claw to get the flesh out of hard to access section of the shell.

Serve with Asian vegetables, or greens dressed with fresh lemon and sesame oil.













Enjoy with a cold amber ale or a chilled glass of your favourite wine!!!

Sydney Summer fishing

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years break and that the time you spent fishing was productive. At this time of year it is hard to go past chasing the tackle busting yellowtail kingfish to test your angling skills and put some tasty food on your plate.

I was lucky enough to spend a number of days in pursuit of these majestic fish and after a few days of catching nothing but undersize fish, the plan was hatched to get up well before the sun catch some livies and head to the near-shore reefs and try our luck.
After an hour or so of fishing one headland where fish had been sighted days earlier, the call was made to move to another rocky reefy headland and tow the weighted baits (in this instance yellowtail scad affectionately known as 'yakkas') around there before calling it a day and heading for home and the comfort of a reclined deck chair and a refreshing amber ale. On the first pass we noticed some great looking reads on the colour sounder and after passing back into the deep water and approaching from a different angle, the doubled over rod and singing drag was almost instantaneous to the reads on the Lowrance. As quickly as the first bait had been smashed the second rod doubled over and we had a brace of solid fish hooked up and fighting hard. With little more than 35 feet of water between us and the reefy bottom, the battles were hard fought with hands on spools stopping these fish from making it back into structure and bringing our rush of excitement to an abrupt end. As the fights drew on a got a glimpse of what I wanted to see, flashing colour just below the boat, reaching for the net single handedly, after a few attempts I managed to get this beauty in the net, before swiftly clearing the landing net and more gracefully sliding this prized fish into the net for my brother. The perseverance had paid off with a pair of solid Sydney fish, the bite lasted for about half an hour and saw us land and release a number of 80cm+ fish before the 'rats' (undersized yellowtail kingfish) moved in and we decided to move on.





When planning a fishing trip I always refer to the tides and with that in mind schedule my bait catching and travel time to allow us at least an hours fishing before the tide and an hour after the tide to maximise the chances of success. When heading offshore to target large predatory fish always aim to have a variety of fresh or live baits to present to the target species. When chasing yellowtail kingish (legal size limit in NSW waters 65cm, bag limit of 5 per person) the following are the baits I'd select for; slimie mackerel are my first pick, followed by Southern calamari squid, then yakka's (yellowtail scad), garfish if you can find them and finally the yellowfinned pike. Areas to target when catching baitfish should have some form of vertical structure, wharves are often great places as are shallow water reefs close to rocky headlands. In Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) most of the wharves east of the harbour bridge will hold yellowtail most of the time. For best results start early and concentrate your efforts around dawn, once the sun gets to high in the sky baitfish seem to get skittish and whilst they maybe visible getting them to eat a bait on a small hook with light line can be one of the most frustrating ways to start the day. Also try the larger channel markers like the eastern wedding cake, use a fine oily berley consistently to draw the small fish to the back of the boat and fish lightly weighted or unweighted baits on size 8-12 long shank hooks. Slimie mackerel whilst a great bait can be hard to come by, if they are in the berley trail and are not eating your presentations try taking off any weight you may be using and flick the bait away from the boat and allow it to sink slowly, weighted baits will often be ignored so have both set-ups at the ready. A large plumbed bait tank is a must if you plan to keep the baits alive for any length of time, if you do not have a live bait system using a large bucket or tub with a secure fitting lid and change the water regularly to keep the supply of oxygen high and thus the fish healthy and active, pouring the fresh sea water at some height into the tank will increase the amount of dissolved oxygen. Catching squid is a bit of an art, again concentrating your efforts around dawn and dusk, the change of light times of the day will increase your chances of success. Once the sun's rays are shining deeper into the water try moving into deeper areas with good weed cover and add a ball sinker to the rig running straight up to the lure in order to get the squid jig nice and deep so that you can work it just above the kelp or rocky bottom.
Once you've got enough baits to fish head to your target spot ASAP and get your baits into the water. Good locations for yellowtail kingfish are areas with substantial vertical rise, try working wrecks, hard reefy structure, buoy chains and markers poles, also areas with numerous moorings can produce the goods. In Sydney Harbour I spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours catching bait then head for places like the eastern wedding cake, the yellow marker off Neilson Park, also try the yellow marker off 'Old Mans Hat' and work the moorings in deep water either side of the Spit Bridge. If you have a down-rigger, pin your live baitfish through the nose with a hook to match the size of your baits, or pin the squid through the pointy end of the hood (if the squid is big, consider using a double hook rig with the lower hook pinned lightly through the head - this way any bait snatchers can also be hooked rather making off with a free tasty meal. If you don't have a down rigger but still want to cover some territory, try using a large sinker and the slowest troll speed possible, whilst not as effective at getting your baits down covering more of the water column will again improve your chances. If you want to anchor try and position your boat over the highest point of the structure or reef, or within easy casting distance of the bouy or marker poles. Many people think (wrongly) that because the yellowtail kingfish is pelagic fish it spends all its time hunting in the surface waters, this is a incorrect assumption, always fish your baits intended for kingfish in the middle or lower half of the water column, having said this it is also worth having one bait unweighted and out the back under a float or ballon, for the just in case fish that breaks the rules. If fishing in water greater than 80 feet at anchor I usually bring my bait 3-4 full arm lengths off the bottom and set it there, I also like to fish my kingfish baits with the drag set at the level I plan to fight the fish, remember these fish will head for the closest cover once hooked so be ready to start the battle immediately.

Keep watching this space for new blogs popping up regularly... how to catch and cook blue swimmer crabs will be the next installment

Dan and Dan

Christmas Chaos

I have started December with a cracking little session. I'll walk you through it and it might inspire you to have your own weekend adventure. 3 of trundled up to the Northern Beaches of Sydney with kayaks on the roof a sleeping bag each a light spin rod and tents to boot. The plan was to kayak over to the basin and camp out for the night, for those of you who dont know it its agreat little camping spot that you can only access by water. It has a small protected bay area that is idealic. To make the trip a little bit more fun we didn't take any food, just some foil to cook our catch in. Nothing like some hunger to spur on your fishing!! Actually the motivation was more about getting healthy and slim as well as a bit of friendly fishing competition. No need to do a blow by blow description but we manged a bunch of edible fish, bream, flathead, tailor and flounder. Foil, salt & lemon...oh yes drool material when you have not eaten all day and your arms are doing there best impression of sausages made from jelly! Obviously i have not been doing enough surfing.
Anyway back to the fish, all were caught on plastics or poppers. Standout performers where the new biodegradable soft bait from Fishbites - the shrimp pattern. The best thing about these new plastics are how well they last, one plastic caught several flathead a bream and a flounder and was still fishable...not bad eh!
Standout poppers where a megabass dogx jnr. (my allround favourite) and a new little daiwa called a lazy gekkabijin (i think)...affectionately now named the 'Lazy Ghekko'. I did notice that the ghekko which is much smaller and clear worked better when the condition where calm, once it got windier the bigger popper was better. A valuable lesson for the upcoming summer popper sessions.
Might see this in our next fishing DVD
Sorry about the lack of photos, keep your eyes on Modern Fishing and you may see the photos. Also if anyone is looking for a great chrissy prezzie check out the subscription deal, you get a free fishing reel! Also on the new issue is a free fishing DVD we produced with some footage from our latest snapper fishing DVD "In search of Old Man Snapper" and some other footage never seen before of popper crunching tropicals.
My red hot tip....get the hell out of the city your in and go camping and fishing!!
See ya
Dan B

Summer on its way

Well its been another good week of warm weather, warm water and some really fun fishing. Earlier in the week we were lucky enough to do some shallow water vertical jigging with a couple of Japanese anglers that field test much of the Yamashita range of rods, lures and accessories. I think you can see the range at www.ejtodd.com.au We chose to fish the reefs off northern Sydney concentrating on water only 50ft - 150ft becasue its shallower than what most people jig, and thought it would make a good inclusion into a future fishing DVD This made for an interesting couple of days fishing with alot to learn. Most notable was the amount of species you can catch on 80-120gram jigs in fairly shallow waters. Unfortunately we didnt get any big fish but there were plenty of small kings, solid silver trevally other reefies we even got some xos squid on the metal jigs.

Over the weekend there was some crabbing action with good results of big male blue swimmers from the harbour. And some good flatty plastic fishing was also on the cards. Some nice 60cm flathead found their way to our net and a monster was hooked but the hooks pulled!! Interstingly they were all caught in deepwater. I thought the warm weather and bit of rain would have brought them up onto the flats but i couldn't find any in the shallows. Not sure if anyone else is having the same results??

Anyway the water is really starting to warm and over the next month it will be really hit and miss, the bonus is however i think there will start to be some really interesting captures with tropical species making their appearance on the front of the warm east Aussie current.

See You on the water.
Dan & Dan

2dansfishing.com.au BRAND NEW DVD and WEBSITE

Our new fishing DVD, filmed in and around Australia's east coast including legendary Sydney Harbour is on sale NOW!

An awesome big snapper fishing DVD with plenty of information on how to catch Snapper, Pagrus aratus, and other saltwater species.

To coincide with the launch of our 3rd release Fishing DVD we have also launched our brand new website 2Dans Fishing DVDs is now officially ONLINE. Check it out for plenty of fishing articles, great fishing tips and techniques and awesome fishing pictures in our image galleries.

"Welcome to our site. We're thrilled to be able to share some of our knowledge and experiences online after so many years of fishing adventures."


Making "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" was an awesome adventure for us. We reckon we've managed to produce something that is instructive and practical, but at the same time captures the thrills and spills of small boat fishing. If you're interested in an entertaining and informative DVD that has the feel of great fishing days with mates, we know you'll love it!"

Dan Trotter and Dan Burgess are two young, adventurous fishing mates obsessed by the excitement of small boat, big fish action. In this entertaining DVD they share their techniques for catching great fish in Australia’s most heavily fished waterways. Have a laugh and learn new skills to target big fish in your favourite locations


“…After the success of The Kingfish Sessions and Angler Anonymous Dan and I decided to turn our fishing adventures towards the wily snapper and learn how to catch these magnificent fish on soft-plastics and baits. Once again we feel we've captured the adrenaline and chaos of trailerboat fishing by filming the Fun, the Fish and the action as it happened. We are really excited about sharing our journey In Search Of Old Man Snapper with you….”

Join us on a journey a year in the making... as we present the ultimate DIY guide to catching awesome snapper from your own boat.

See you on the water

Dan & Dan