Howdy Folks, Summer is here and the water temps here in South Florida are rising fast. That spells for good fishing at night. June is the month when mangrove snapper move into the Lake Worth inlet and near shore reefs in large numbers. Fish for these awesome table fare by anchoring up and chumming them up. The secret to getting the mangrove snappers to go into a turbo charged feeding frenzy is a good fresh chum. My trick is to take a box or tube of chum purchased at a bait and tackle shop and toss it in a cooler on ice. Then head for the beach or inlet with a Cast net in search of menhaden or pilchards. Preferably baits that are two to three inch in size Once the bait have been found I will throw the net until a five gallon bucket is filled with the fresh baits. Then take the baits and put them in one gallon Ziploc bags and put them on ice in the cooler with the store bought chum. “ The quicker you get them on ice the better”. This way the bait will hold better to the hook later on when you offer them up to the snapper. Next I make sure to bring along an extra five gallon bucket and a three foot piece of 2x4 when I set out to go fishing . ”That’s right “, a piece of 2x4. “Fish the top of the out going tide”. Now that we are anchored up in the inlet “out of the channel” or on a jetties lets make up a chum that the snappers cant resist. First take one of the Ziploc bags with the fresh menhaden or pilchards and dump them in the empty five gallon bucket, then take the 2x4 and smash them into a thick mushy mix, add in the box or tube of store bought chum with the fresh chum and mix them together using the piece of 2x4. “Now were ready to catch some snapper ”. I use a stout seven ft. rod and a reel spooled with 30 or 40lb. Power pro line. Because the snapper are a little spooky of the power pro line I splice in a six or eight foot piece of 20 or 30lb.ANDE fluorocarbon leader line using a uni to uni knot . Tie a 1/0 or 2/0 Owner gorilla light hook to the leader. Then use the fresh menhaden or pilchards in the Ziploc bags in the cooler for an offering the snapper will go bonkers over . Start chumming a little at a time until you see the snapper in a frenzy mode. Sometimes I will pinch the heads off of the bait and hook it in the tail or snip the tail off with a pair of fiskers and hook the bait through the cartilage in its nose. Then slowly let your bait free line back with the tide into the school of feeding fish. It shouldn’t take long to limit out on the snapper and don’t be surprised if the snook in the area join in on the feast. Keep in mind that snook season is closed until September 1st. So be sure to release them unharmed so you can catch them for a meal again when snook season reopens. The F.W.C. will be out in full force this summer looking to arrest snook poachers and I cannot thank them enough. Before you load up the family for your next fishing adventure take some time to make sure that all your safety equipment on your boat is up to date and in good working order. “Better safe than sorry”. Don’t litter the waterways instead remove any litter you see floating in the water. It’s up to us to take care of the ocean and in return she will return the favor by sending us home with some fresh fish for supper. ‘Be safe, have fun and go catch some fish”. … Capt. Danny

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