A Spring like last year?

 I've had a single session so far this month but I have to say I was surprised with the results and the fish behaviour considering the time of year and weather conditions! 

I set off with an ok forecast that, as is so often the case up here, got worse by the time I reached the mark... The northerly swell had persisted throughout the night and I decided on a quick change of mark to a more sheltered one.  This mark is very sheltered but in close proximity to deep water and strong currents. It mainly holds good numbers of average pollock and usually big shoals of coalies.

As soon as I arrived I found the fish holding deep and close to the bottom. I started with the usual soft plastics and it wasn't long for the bites to develop. Once I got a couple fish up, I started switching up the presentations using some lipless/vibration hardbaits and A-rigs thinking they would fire the fish up as it usually happens this time of year. Surprisingly the fish didn't show much interest in these... It was near high water and I saw some bait fish passing higher in the water column, this possibly raised the pollock up and called in a big shoal of coalfish. I had a couple shallow attacks of them on the A-rig and I thought to try a topwater since they seemed fired up. The coalies didn't disappoint and had hit after hit for the best part of an hour! When casting closer to the ledge I noticed a couple pollock coming up for the Autowalker and it wasn't long until they got fired up too. I had a couple hit and misses from good fish until one of the bigger ones stuck! Cracking action for the beginning of March! 

A cracking fish and a cracking take!

Big and small wanted the Autowalker!

Plenty of Coalies.

Rugged fish.

Standard size.

I kept some fish for a feed and all of the pollock were very close to spawning with enlarged gonads. I don't think it's my imagination but in the past couple years Spring fishing has definitely improved...

Water temperature is slightly colder than what it was at this time last year but still close to 9C which may have something to do with the perkier fish. I really hope I can get out soon before all the fish spawn and get myself a couple of fat mamas!

Tight Lines

Rock fishing from a remote Island and underwater lure testing.

I managed to get another day out last week as I wanted to try out some different stuff.
Firstly, I wanted to get some underwater footage of the chatterbait-cheburashka and the Umbrella rig (A-Rig) whilst fishing. Secondly, I wanted to land on a nearby uninhabited island and do some rock fishing there. Its usually a secondary mark from the SIB but I wanted to have a more thorough go at it from the shore.
The day was a bit windy with a little swell coming in, easily fishable nonetheless. I started off the sib and soon enough I had a lovely, full bellied pollock smashing the A-rig on camera! This was then followed by a couple fish on the chatterbait-cheburashka. Both presentations definitely worth further scrutiny for Spring fishing...

She came in like a missile!

By mid-ebb, I decided to head for the island and start shore fishing. I covered the area where I tend to get better results from the SIB and used mainly 30g chatterbait-cheburashkas and normal cheburaska, rigged with 12-13cm slim or curly tailed soft plastics.
It didn't take long to get into fish and I managed to land a couple average sized pollock but also got reefed by a couple too. I reached a rocky point that had a kelp covered ledge close in and then dropped into a good depth. I worked the lure near the bottom and got a bite within the first few casts. I struck hard and it felt heavy. The fish took some drag and was a proper tug of war to get it through the kelp, but I had her in the net after a few minutes.
A lovely female of 3kg that was released after a couple pics. Definitely fishing this mark again!

Quality fish.

I had another hook up on the very next cast that felt like a good fish, but unfortunately it got stuck straight in the kelp...
All in all a very successful day and it seems that this Spring, despite the mixed weather, the fish are up for it!
Below are a couple videos of the day.

Its quite amazing seeing how hard the big pollock hit the A-rig! But from watching more of the footage I'm going to play around and try and put more weight on the head of the rig, so that it falls head down and has more action on the drop and slow speeds. Also I'll try with more Texas rigged sps. I reckon its a lure that can prove useful in early summer as well when fish like tiny baits...

Playing  around...

Hopefully this lockdown will be over soon, so that I can travel further afield and target them spotted beauties!

Tight Lines!