Tickle me pink! by Andrew Matthews

The sun was kissing the pink horizon and the temperature was slowly dropping as the first cast was made into the darkening sea. Our berley was creating an enticing fishy soup directly below the boat, and it wasn't long before our offering attracted some interest. The unweighted mulie was viciously smashed, causing the resting rod to bend over.
There is nothing quiet about the sound of a screaming drag as string surges off the spool under extreme pressure. The well hooked fish ran hard, taking the bait in the direction of the nearby ledge, determined to keep its tasty snack. Resistance was futile, for after only a few moments of uncontrolled excitement its head was turned as pressure was applied with the rod, causing the fish to change direction. A few metres of line were quickly retrieved before the fish gave the tell-tale headshake of a good size snapper.
More line slowly came back, the tussle of headshakes and determined rushes back to the bottom subsided, and the rosy silver hues of a nice fish shone before us in the remaining light on the water's surface. Finally netted and placed on the deck, the first beautiful pink snapper for the evening set the scene for what we hoped was going to be a productive session fishing Cockburn Sound.
COCKBURN'S
SNAPPER
With the Cockburn and Warnbro Sound Pink Snapper Closed Season kicking off on 1 October and ending on 31 January (inclusive), a lot of keen anglers will be planning a morning or evening session out on Cockburn Sound hoping to catch a pre-spawning pink snapper. The snapper fishing ban came about around ten years ago after concerned recreational angler's lobbied government and fisheries managers. These thoughtful fishers, knowing the importance of these spawning aggregations, requested that the area be closed so the fish could go about their business in peace. Today, the benefits of this conservation-based management change, as well as community funded stock enhancement through Recfishwest's 'Snapper Guardians' program, has helped safeguarded this important fishery for generations to come. Today, anglers can continue to help protect these important breeders by exercising some restraint by only taking one fish per person and moving on once you have one on ice. Catch and release isn't really appropriate during breeding season, as it puts unnecessary stress on the fish who are trying to breed.
With that said, I though that readers would like to learn a few tips on how to land themselves a big Cockburn pink, with only a few weeks left of the season. There is an endless range of techniques for targeting pink snapper on bait or lures, only limited by your own personal choice and imagination. Let's look at a few of these, with the hope of improving your success rate of taking home a fish for the table.