A LOST ART

It’s hard to believe snapper were once considered a bait only proposition. You only need to walk through the local tackle shop or flick through a few fishing mags to appreciate the enormity of the shift to artificials that has occurred over the past decade or so. The reasons are completely understandable as there’s a significant enticement and challenge associated with fooling snapper on artificial offerings. Bait is even considered “cheating” by some. The downside however is that lures rely heavily on good numbers of fish to be around in order to work effectively. For this reason they are slowly losing their appeal in various locations with snapper numbers generally on the decline. The South Australian scene once heralded as a snapper mecca is a prime example of this and with the fishery now in disarray and large closure areas in place, anglers need to be adaptable.

A notable rebound back to bait fishing methods was gaining momentum prior to the main closure being announced and this has continued to occur in the remaining zones open for snapper