Goby bashing!

I finally had my day off today and couldn't wait to do some serious wrasse fishing. Unfortunately when I woke up I was greeted with bad weather and strong winds. Not getting disheartened, I picked up the gear and headed to my marks at the North part of the island. I was mainly targeting wrasse and hopefully bass/pollock, thus I had two setups with me to cover all situations.
Arriving at the mark, the wind was even stronger, but I started fishing with the heavy gear. After two hours with only one wrasse caught, I decided to move to another place and target wrasse specifically on the medium rockfishing setup. At that mark, there are many rockpools with one of them man made and quite big, that I have always wanted to fish with the UL gear but never got the chance.
Taking a minute to think, I changed my mind and decided to play around in the rockpools before I start my wrasse fishing, as the wind was really annoying me...
Putting on a #12 Owner Split Shotter hook followed by an SSG shot and some Marukyu power isome I started fishing around some large rocks in the pool. Immediately I saw some movement and three nice gobies attacking the isome! The action was non stop and keeping me very entertained.. These gobies are truly aggressive little predators and if they could get a bit bigger,  would be a nice target as they are very active and thrash violently when caught..

After all the fun with the gobies I did some wrasse fishing but after catching a few nice fish, I had to go as the wind was relentless and I couldn't control the lure anymore.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft KG Evolution KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g.
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000,
Mainline: Spiderwire Fluorocarbon 4lbs
lures: Marukyu Power Isome and Ecogear shirasu worm.

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

Night game.

The past couple of weeks have seen me doing more night fishing than usual as I have been very busy at work. More over the larger fish have done a disappearing act lately and the harbour is filled with their smaller brethren that prey heavily on pin- sized sandeels. This called for the LRF gear and ultra light presentations..
Although I recently had good results with using slim softbaits of around 10cm, lately the fish seem to have wisen up or got fixated on eating very small sandeels and aren't very interested on larger or other lures. Especially the pollock that while you can get a few by using metals, paddle tails etc their numbers come nowhere near close to when smaller thin soft baits are used.
The breakthrough came when I started using the Crazyg jigheads in combination with Ecogear Power Shirasu. This combo started getting bites when most other lures were catching nothing while the fish were active chasing prey and splashing all over the place.
When it got really dark most of the action was taking place around the lightened area under the harbour lights and the best lures were Jackall Mebaru Bushi and Berkley Gulp Fish fry with the latter giving me a fish a cast! The sink rate seemed to be important as well, with the lighter jigheads of around 2.5g working better that heavier ones. The sessions  that followed were extremely productive with dozens of fish landed every night. These were for the most part pollock of around a pound but I even managed a small bass and the scad started to make a regular appearance. Scad are among my favourite fish on LRF as they fight hard and are very aggressive little predators..

 

In the beginning of the season the fish were more aggressive and attacking a variety of lures, but since the sandeel shoals have arrived, it has become very difficult to get consistent results with the same lures as before. Although if the right pattern and presentation is found the fishing will be hectic! As the larger pollock and bass haven't shown for a couple weeks now, I suspect that something similar may be the explanation for the lack of bigger specimens...

Tight Lines!

Gear used

Rod:Golden Mean Symphonia, 0.6-8g, 8'6''
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000,
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC, 3lbs.
lures: 3"Jackall Mebaru Bushi, 2" Berkley Gulp Fish fry the most successfull.