While the wife planned a no fishing boat trip, I accidentally anchored on a Fingermark school. And all hell broke loose as I jigged up four from four.
Although as you’ll see in the video, perhaps it wasn’t so “accidental”.
Golden Snapper or Fingermark are a delicious food fish and great sportsfish to boot.

Taking home a feed is not hard after anchoring on a Fingermark School.
When traversing rubble pads and other uneven ground keep an eye on your fish finder. There's nothing more exciting than anchoring on a fingermark school, dropping down a jig and waiting for your drag to scream.
Fingermark (otherwise known as Golden Snapper in the territory) have a very characteristic bite. In other words they kill their live bait first before they eat it.
They grab it by killing it with a few "chops" (hence why they are called chopper). It's like they're chopping your bait up.
Then they engulf it! Unlike their close relative the mangrove jack they don't really bolt for cover. They just take off!
If they snag you up it's because the snag has gotten in the road rather than them being a dirty fighter.

Trolling can be a good alternative to anchoring on a fingermark school
When anchoring on a fingermark school in deep water you've got very little to worry about. Because they are not a dirty fighter. Unless you're fishing in tight to a wreck or other structure.
They aggregate in good numbers and swan around together as can be seen in this underwater video. It shows a fingermark school taken in the Hinchinbrook channel.
I use the same gear when anchoring on a fingermark school as I use for barra. Spin rods are capable of retrieving a bit more line quicker whereas the bait caster is lighter so you can jig all day. It really is horses for courses and I cover the options in a previous blog on gear for chasing barra.
We have a comprehensive course on Finding and catching fingermark/Golden Snapper as part of our Fish Smarter online fishing courses.
RMF UNPLUGGED: Accidentally anchoring on a Fingermark School
The wife had decided that we needed a break from fishing and filming and wanted to go chill on a beach and go exploring with NO FISHING.
In this fun behind the scenes video, we had a minor boat issue with the genset impeller and had to anchor in the channel.
Well... I had to stop somewhere so I pulled up "accidentally" anchoring on a fingermark school.
To see what happened next watch the video.

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2 Comments
James Kennedy
August 6, 2019Hey Ryan and support crew!
I do a little fishing around Turkey, mostly inside ROdds Bay, and mostly when I can I fish in the Mary around Maryborough. I would like to improve my thready catch rate so that course looks fantastic, but I have to say fingermark are an all time favourite of mine, and I would live to get better at catching them. Having said that, is there a point to spending heard earned on a fingermark video given I will only be able to use it occasionally (once or twice a year) at Turkey or do you think the better investment is to spend on the thready training once.
Advice appreciated.
Kind regards
Jim (sheik of the creek)
Emma Ryamond
September 1, 2019Hi Jim,
Mate I am so very sorry I am only replying now… we miss some of the comments as we get so many questions from so many different sources.
I would recommend to stick to the Thready’s course mate.
Finding Fingermark will definitely help your catch when you head north, however if you are only using the info a couple times a year it may not be worth it to you.
We just had a huge father’s day sale, where we took $150 off Thready Tactics.
If you were still interested in the course I will honor that price for you seeing as I missed your comment.
Just contact us here and I will send you a special purchase link.
Again, I am so sorry I missed your comment Jim
Cheers, Emma – Ryan Moody Crew
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