I looked towards the beach as the first signs of light appeared over Olivers Hill to see where the barking was coming from. It was a German shepherd off for and early morning stroll on his own. I could make him out quite easily as we were only about 600 meters from the shore. We had just spent the preceding 45 minutes cubing bait and sending down burley getting ready for a session on the Port Phillip snapper in close to shore. The baits were then set on 5 rods between us and finally I got to sit down and have a can of Pepsi. I never got to open it.

Within moments of setting up, one off the outside rods buried down, then like a V8 doing a burnout, the spool on the reel hit top speed as it screamed. My fishing partner Neil grabbed the rod. I looked at him and said "You must have cast that on his head". Then just to my left one of the reels on a rod lit up spluttering and coughing from what were the head shakes of a big red. I grabbed the rod. Then to our dismay, another rod started to bury down, Neil looked at me then said "You've got to be kidding...", then its reel too went into top gear as the rod tip headed south. I smiled at Neil. "Hey, imagine if the other 2 rods went off as well". Fateful words, as a second later the 2 remaining rods almost in unison went bang, bang and we had fish on all 5 rods at once. It was a real sight. Even to the most hardened snapper fisho it was enough to get the heart pounding. After about 10 minutes or so, tangled line and bits of smashed up bait everywhere, we had landed 3 of the fish, each one over 5kg with the other 2 fish having been given a reprieve, managed to unhooked themselves. Probably the most memorable start to a fishing session I've ever had.

We were fishing with the reels in gear on strike drag and it must have been a real feeding frenzy down there as each of them was gut hooked which made releasing any too difficult. Gut hooked fish don't tend to survive once released as the hook generally pierces through the stomach wall. I stood there for a few moments massaging the sides of my temple with both hands. "Well, we may as well head in now, I've bagged out". We ended up fishing for another 30 minutes and got 5 more snapper, again all over 5kg, 2 of which were lip hooked so they were successfully released back into their briny abode.

Considering the number of anglers that hit Port Phillip Bay each year chasing snapper, and they number in their hundreds of thousands, the idea of fishing so close to shore is a foreign one to most. You can sit in close and watch all the other boats speeding off  4, 5 sometimes more km off shore to hit the snapper grounds. The fact is once snapper have entered the bay at the start of spring and have acclimatised to the water temperature, the big ones start to head into the shallow water to feed on the reefs scattering the eastern sea board. Now I'm not suggesting for a minute that in close is the only way to get a big snapper, far from it. Each season big fish are taken all over Port Phillip. What I am saying is that if you play the numbers and do the math on big reds in the bay, you are in with a better shot at nailing a 5-6kg plus fish in close than out wide. There are a few subtle but important differences when fishing in shallow water than in deep for snapper and attention to detail as always in angling, is imperative.

When accessing likely ground to fish, use the zoom function on your sounder and look for heavy or broken ground. It's probably not worth trying to sound up fish directly as the beam from sounders in this depth is only a couple of meters wide and chances of seeing a number of arches on the screen is minimal. Another feature too look for on the sounder is where reefed ground drops away to sand or mud. Often reds patrol along the outer edge of an area like this when feeding. It also means that you aren't fishing directly over reef and this reduces the likelihood of snagging your rigs on the bottom. The main thing is to be more concerned with what is going on below the water rather than above. I've personally caught snapper less than 40 meters from the beach. It was a new moon and pitch black when I was setting up before dawn one morning. When the sun came up I couldn't believe how close I had motored in while I had been looking at the sounder. The best fish that day went a tad under 7kg. One thing you should pay attention to above the water line when fishing in this manner, is other boats. Keep away from them! There's always some clown who has no idea where to catch fish, so he pulls up next to you thinking you must have the place wired. Admittedly this is a more common occurrence out wide than in close but because of the noise factor, multiple boats clumped together equals one thing; no fish for anybody. If this happens, best thing to do apart from the obligatory hurling of profanities, is to pull anchor and move. What I endeavour to do is anchor myself between the shore line and the next closest boat. This way you're first cab of the rank for any passing reds and you will get a shot at a fish before it gets spooked by the noise of all the other boats further out.

To fish in close the best time of day by a proverbial mile is dawn, and the hour encompassing it. This means getting up and out on the water early and setting up well before the sun comes up. The reason for this is simple. The water is shallow. Firstly it takes time to get a solid burley trail going and also you need to be quiet and waiting ready to roll when the fish come on the chew. Water as you probably well know, transmits noise in an exceptional manner. This of course is multiplied when the water isn't deep. Snapper being a shy creature are easily spooked by somebody clanging around above the water line. Remember; silence is golden.

As I just mention, time is needed to get a burley trail going. This is vital when fishing in this manner. The window of opportunity is so narrow at dawn, usually an hour or so, you really need to make sure that any prospective fish is going to be in your vicinity when he starts to feed. I've tried with and without burley fishing in close to shore and its simple; you must use it! One thing to avoid when burleying is not to over do it. Normally I send a burley bucket with chicken pellets and tuna oil to the bottom as soon as I arrive at a mark, and before I set up any rods, I generally get a cube trail happening. To do this you just send small bite size pieces of pilchard or similar bait into the water at half minute intervals. Within 10 minutes or so you've got a nice trail extending from your boat to the bottom in the tide. The pellets in the cage mixed with the oil seem to dissolve partially and create a cloud of scent that turns the snapper on. I suppose it's difficult at times to roll up to a spot and not want to stick a rod in as soon as the boats anchored, but first things first. No point having a baited rod in the water if there are no fish in the area. Burley first.

When you've arrived at an area to fish, got a burley trail happening its time to get to the reason why your there, fishing. Choosing baits doesn't vary much from fishing in deeper waters and rigging is much the same. Squid and fish baits are most effective, but of coarse, fresh is best. Seeing as the bait doesn't have as far to travel to reach the bottom, say between 6-10 meters, most times you don't even need a sinker. This way the bait floats slowly down the water column and looks more natural. Although you don't need a sinker you do need a leader, best attached to the main line via a rolling swivel, which is of about 20-25kg breaking strain. The main line, generally mono in the 6-8kg range, isn't up to the task of fighting a 7kg plus fish in 6-10 meters of water when the line runs directly to the hooks. There is more structure in close than out wide and a red will make short work of you if you neglect a decent leader. As mentioned, the main line is in the 6-8kg range, but I generally keep to the lower limit. Why? Because you just don't need heavy main line and it takes some of the sport out of fishing for reds. The other reason is because light drag settings of around 1-2kg are employed so as not to rip the hooks out a lightly hooked fish.

A very important aspect, is casting the baits as far away from the boat as possible. I spoke earlier about noise, and in close to shore you need to put that extra space between yourself and the fish to minimize disturbance to your quarry. This plays just as an important role as quality of baits used. I discovered this very early on when I started fishing in close. To avoid tangles, I used to fish 2 rods closer to the boat and 2 further away. It didn't seem to matter which type of bait I was using, the rods set the greatest distance from the boat were always the ones getting hit. Now I spend the extra time if needed to bridle rig the boat at anchor to make sure all the lines go straight back from the stern.

This brings us to rods and reels. While overhead reels are of great use when fishing out wide, due to their more limited casting ability with unweighted baits, they are of less use when in close. You really need to be able to cast baits at least 30 meters from the boat. This means that a good quality threadline reel is the only way to go, anything from a 3000 to 6000 series. Bait-runner reels are fine, but I don't use the function. I've lost more fish than I can remember messing around free-spooling reds. Now I just fish the reel in gear on its preset drag of 1-2kg.

When it comes to rods, one of about 7-8 foot with a medium action is ample. As with any snapper fishing when using multiple rods, use a couple of 3 way rod holders on the stern. If they're adjustable set them about level to the water. The rods won't fall out, and when a snapper hits the line runs pretty much straight down and acts like a springer to aid in setting the hooks. Generally, by the time you pick up a rod that has a fish on it, the hooks are well and truly set.

So really, that's about it. Next time you head out after an XL bay snapper; don't follow the crowds out wide. Keep in close to shore at dawn and multiply you chances of scoring a trophy size red.