These fish came to the surface when you walked along the dock. They were used to being fed dry dog food, and when they saw someone on the dock, they thought they were going to be fed. The parrotfish would be on top of the water, with the snapper underneath. While the parrotfish went into a frenzy eating the dog food, the wary snapper swam slowly underneath eating the pieces that made it through the parrotfish.
I knew these folks loved their fish, so I asked before I began fishing. Thinking I would never catch one of those snapper, I was given permission to try. Lots of other people had tried with no success to get them to bite a hook.
After studying the situation and watching the snapper eat the dog food and avoid my baited hook, I had an idea. That dog food got a little mushy after it got wet, and I figured it would stay on a hook. So I wet some and made a small ball of bait and placed it one my hook.
Because these were snapper with sharp teeth and gill plates, I had a heavy monofilament leader on my rig. Once again, even with the dog food for bait, the snappers ignored me.
So, I took the leader of and ran eight-pound line directly to the hook. Then a changed to a very short shanked hook and hid that hook in the middle of a ball of wet dog food. My bait still looked out of place, being bigger and sinking faster than the other food.
It lay there on the bottom for what seemed like forever as the snapper ate everything except my bait. But, one snapper got curious. He swam over and nosed the bait once. Then he swam off and came back and did it again. Eventually, this one big snapper figured it was okay to eat, so he grabbed my bait. The fight was on!
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