MISSISSIPPI TURKEY SNAPPER FISHING...

**Captain Michael Buffington** · 05-18-2009 09:39 AM

left out of Pascagoula saturday morning and the turkey snappers were thick and big...Too big for 40lb fluoro

Too smart to bite 50lb. Way too big for 30lb which they inhaled everytime. It's fun and productive with a twin engine but with a single engine tied up to the rig it is man vs. turkey snapper

The turkey snapper usually wins out

Mike

**Tenacious** · 05-18-2009 09:41 AM

Nice fish Mike! Gotta love those turkey snappers.

**gottaflylee** · 05-18-2009 01:03 PM

Great catch Mike, is that the same as a Mangrove Snapper?

**SeaBiscuit** · 05-18-2009 01:37 PM

Great looking catch captain Michael. Never heard them called turkeys before. Is that along the lines of the the red ones being called chickens? That we do even here in the Carolinas, but we don't have mangroves this far north, thus the ignorance.
SeaBiscuit

**Captain Michael Buffington** · 05-18-2009 02:22 PM

thats our new name for them

It goes over better in mixed company than the usual name of %&$#@^&% snapper. Me and Cape are calling them turkey snapper from now on after one of us commented on their wariness this weekend. They are alot like turkeys. They learn from each other and everything is good as long as they all make it in the box but let a few bust off and there goes the action. They suddenly start "inspecting" baits. This sucks because we are sight fishing within 15' of the surface. It's fun and we are the ONLY people doing it bhut it can be very frustrating. I'm fishing an lx avet with 60lb spectra and a 40lb topshot with a locked down drag and if they are over 8lbs you can forget about it...

If you can use your boat to pull them off you land close to 100% and thats fun..."It's like picking apples" to steal someones line. You just need a boat that will twist. Capes boats a single engine 22' sea pro. I'm working on a tie-up line on the stern with a breakaway line and a 2 liter coke bottle 1/4 full of water

I'll give it a shot soon.

Mike

**WAHOONBOX** · 05-19-2009 06:29 AM

ONE OF YOUR BEST ANALOGIES ON HOW-TO HERE MICHAEL

....SIGHT STICKIN 'EM! NOW THATS COOL!

**Jared D** · 05-21-2009 08:18 PM

We get them here of Jax Fl, and call them Goose. They are a blast to catch... my biggest was 14.5 pounds. The weird thing about them, is their bite is barely preceivable. They are notorious for biting and swimming up with the bait.

I have heard they are thick on the rigs over there. Glad to see you guys are whacking them. Its little wonder no one else targets them as yall probably have the best mixed bag of trophy species in North America.

**Captain Michael Buffington** · 05-22-2009 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Jared D

We get them here of Jax Fl, and call them Goose. They are a blast to catch... my biggest was 14.5 pounds. The weird thing about them, is their bite is barely preceivable. They are notorious for biting and swimming up with the bait.

I have heard they are thick on the rigs over there. Glad to see you guys are whacking them. Its little wonder no one else targets them as yall probably have the best mixed bag of trophy species in North America.

but out of pascagoula the water is very shallow. We are basically inshore of chandelier island. Theres not a whole lot going on out there. There are lots of mangroves though. Heres some mangrove pics from a few years back in Tx. They are basically on most every rig from South Padre Island Tx on the Mexico border to where they stop in Alabama if the rig is between 40 and 150 feet. They move around for water quality sometimes but they are just usually "there".

Mike