Collection: Mangrove Snapper Tackle

Small hooks, light fluorocarbon and round jig heads for mangrove snapper.

Mangroves — grey snapper, mango, whatever you call them — are the most reliably frustrating fish inshore. They are everywhere, they are excellent eating, and they will refuse a rig they do not like for hours while stealing every bait you put down.

The problem is always the same: your leader is too heavy and your hook is too big.

Mangroves have excellent eyesight and they inspect. In clear water around a dock or a bridge they will follow a bait up, look at the leader, and turn away. The fix is to go lighter than feels sensible — 15 or 20lb fluorocarbon, sometimes lighter, with as little hardware as you can get away with.

Hook size matters just as much. A small octopus hook buried in a piece of shrimp gets eaten where a bigger hook gets refused. The offset point converts the inhale-and-spit bite that defines them.

Two things that turn a slow day around: chum, which gets them competing and stops them inspecting, and fishing at night, when they lose caution around lit docks and bridges.

The bite is fast. They inhale and spit in under a second, so stay in direct contact and come tight immediately.