YOU will catch snapper in Port Phillip Bay, at least until late April, but the fishing started tapering off in December.

Most old snapper salts will have secret places where they go to hook up with a big red.

I have a mark on the edge of the shipping channel, out from my home at Clifton Springs, that appears as a reef on my sounder.

I thought that some enterprising angler had started an artificial reef. I now know better.

This lump is the remains of a channel marker that broke off when the old channel markers were being removed.

My fishing partner, Terry Hayden, and I rarely head for this special mark before December as it fishes best from summer through to the end of autumn. I fished there last week.

The breeze was a light southeasterly, and when we arrived at 4am the tide had about two hours of ebb left before it would start to flood, which is prime time for snapper.

We were using 6kg threadline outfits with running sinker rigs and 15kg leader.

On the leader running down to the bait was a pea-size sinker, and below that a luminous glow bead that was allowed to run down to the fresh garfish bait.

In a short, 30-minute window, we caught a 4.5kg snapper and missed another couple.

Some time later Terry asked me if I wanted to go back out to the mark. I decided not to, so Terry went with his son Josh.

It was a good morning for Josh who caught his biggest snapper to date, a well-proportioned fish of about 6kg.

The difference this time was that the lice, sea maggots if you like, were a pest, devouring large garfish cubes in less than 15 minutes.

The good news is that the snapper will run along this channel for at least another month.

There won't be big schools of fish but, with fresh bait and good timing as far as the tides go, anglers should pick up a reasonable snapper.

This is the situation as we move into autumn.

The large snapper schools of early spring have dispersed and the fish tend to be moving about in small numbers.

The biggest snapper are in the deeper water, while over the inshore reefs in about 4-6m of water, pinkies are in large numbers.

When snapper migrate into our bays during spring most anglers go out with one fish in mind, and that is big red.

At this time of year though, with King George whiting in full swing, most anglers take along some alternative tackle.

It's a sensible move as whiting make good table fare, are fun to catch and whiting heads make excellent bait for snapper.

In my youth, we sometimes fished in reverse, spending the day chasing whiting and then using our whiting outfits to fish for snapper.

Whiting heads and sometimes even fillets made the difference between catching a snapper and missing out. It all comes down to having fresh bait.

If you haven't caught a big snapper on a 3kg outfit perhaps it is time you did.

The method is the same except that you downsize to suit your outfit.

Use a running sinker rig, keeping the lead small and downsize your hooks to 2/0 suicides.

When you hook your first big snapper on a light outfit like this, it will make long runs because you won't have the stopping power.

Your line will appear gossamer thin, your heart rate will climb and at no stage in the ensuing battle will you have that cocky assuredness that comes with hooking snapper on an 8kg outfit.

Then you will wonder why you haven't fished for snapper like this.

Light tackle adds to the sport and increases the challenge, so be daring and give it a go.