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Saturday, 27 July 2013

Light rock fishing for shoaling predators.

 I have shifted my efforts lately to the lrf instead of using my medium gear, this is because I don't  get enough time during the day for my usual wrasse fishing and also because with the recent arrival of Scad (horse mackerel), I get extreme satisfaction by catching them along with the other shoaling species!
My tactic for this fishing is usually to start with metals as long as there is still some light, in order to target the mackerel that hang around till last light and then start with the soft lures and cranckbaits/minnows after that.
 I have had very good results by adding teasers to my rigs such as small soft plastics and flies. Moreover when fishing with a soft plastic as the main lure, the addition of a fly greatly improves the chances of mackerel attacking when usually they are not as keen on just the soft plastic alone.. Double hook-ups are not rare and the fight on such gear can be tremendous.. The only downside with this though is that you can catch too many fish if not careful!
I also present double lures and rig them as a dropshot rig and even fish it the same way as in freshwater with very good results and multi-species captures..
poor cod on a metal...

pollock and launce on the same rig.
As soon as it gets dark, my go-to lures are the slim soft baits on jigheads ranging from 1.5g- 5g. For jerkbait style lures with twitching retrieves I prefer jigheads with the eye at around 90 degrees angle such as the Spro micro heads and the Ecogear Shirasu jigheads . For paddle/curly tails I prefer the eye towards the front, the Cultiva xheads have two eyes and are ideal for both presentations.
Usually I start with paddle/curly tails as they cover extensive areas fast and if I get follows or bumps with no hook-ups I change to straight lures in order to work that particular area better. The weight of the jighed has been critical at times with fish showing strong preferences, moreover the lure size can be very important as well. Right now fish feed heavily on nail-size sandeels and thus lures of 2"-3" are the most effective. The most effective have been: Jackall Mebaru Bushi long, Berkley Gulp Fish Fry, Money Bait Delicious shiner, Gunki Roller and many from the Ecogear range.







Cavernous mouths!





Each species also shows a preference for hunting depths, with mackerel and scad preferring mid-water while pollock prefer just sub-surface at night. Although the bigger specimens of all these species have been caught near the bottom.
The best times have been between two hours either side of high tide with the action dying down and picking up in wave like pattern.
I haven't experimented much with hard baits during the night but I got some pollock with deep diving ultra light cranckbaits such as the Ecogear CX 40HS while most other lures didn't get the same response.
Although I havent gotten any large fish lately, these turbo-charged mini predators have kept me happy with their aggressive takes and spirited fights. This is highly pattern-based fishing, where as soon as the right pattern and presentation are found, the action can be non stop.

Gear used.

Rod:Golden Mean Symphonia, 0.6-8g, 8'6''
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000,
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC, 3lbs.
lures: various

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