Golden Snapper (Fingermark bream) can be caught year round across northern Australia. Hence they provide a top fishing target during the Queensland barramundi closure.
They are a top grade food fish and the larger specimens fight hard!
Chasing Fingermark at Hinchinbrook
Hinchinbrook is an amazingly scenic fishing destination. Some have described it as Jurassic Park due to the rain forest mountains meeting the blue ocean.
The channel is wide and deep and contains plenty of rubble.
Rubble that foragers such as Golden Snapper (Fingermark) like to feed in.
It’s very interesting actually because Golden Snapper have both a foraging and predatory habit.
So you can catch them on lures as well as live bait.
And southern students of our online course Finding Fingermark are also catching Snapper using the same techniques.
Goes to show that southern Snapper and Fingermark occupy a similar habitat niche in different geographical areas.
Anyhow, during the barra closure I decided to head out with my mate Sharkey and chase some of these tasty fish.
We wandered around the flats and caught some bait.
Just in case the fish were a bit shy on the vibes.
And got ready to rumble in the rubble areas throughout the channel.
Check out the video of our day chasing Golden Snapper at Hinchinbrook.
Golden Snapper: Local names
A member of the Lutjanidae family, Lutjanus johnii are known around Australia by several other names including fingermark bream, choppers, John’s snapper, big-scale red, goldies and spotted scale sea perch.
They have a distinctive “fingermark” on their flank hence the name Fingermark.
Additionally the Goldies nickname comes from their beautiful golden colouration.
Gear Used
ROD: Rovex Inazuma Rod # SPMH701
REEL: Quantum Reliance 40
LINE: Rovex Viros 30lb
LEADER: 60lb Ande
LIVE BAIT: Mullet
LURES: Gimp Vibe.
Tips on how to target Golden Snapper.
In a number of previous blogs we covered the many different ways to target these stunning fish.
Check out offshore night fishing for fingermark, trolling around headlands, and using live squid.
It’s also imperative that you get use your fish finder to it’s capacity.
We can offer you some free training on your fish finder here…
And last but not least…
If Golden Snapper are your passion, or maybe you’d just like to catch one regularly for dinner, I explain how to work out their patterns both day and night, inshore and offshore, in my Fingermark Strategies Workshop.
It consists of two videos and I’m sure you’re going to love it.
Click the button below to sign up – it’s free and only takes about 40 minutes to watch both videos.
So if you missed it the video of the day is at the top of this post (scroll up to the blue arrows).
Otherwise here are some more great resources to help you fish smarter not harder.
And if you really want to up your fishing game, check out our fish smarter online courses.
Helping thousands of anglers catch more fish in less time using our knowledge.
more free tips
