A welcome surprise.

It has been a terrible week weather-wise and it even snowed heavily on Friday! But thankfully on my days off the wind eased up a bit and not thinking twice I headed up the road to loch Etive as soon as I woke up. The weather wasn't great but at least there was little wind and I could easily do some lrfing and try some new lures, hooks and presentations.
I got hold of some new Tict lures and Decoy float rig MG2 hooks and I wanted to try them on mini Carolina, and mini Texas rigs targeting the deep feeding fish of the loch. These hooks have small fluorescent points on them and maybe they could be picked up more easily in the deep and dark waters.
On reaching the mark, it was looking promising with calm surface and around high tide. I started with a dropshot rig as I wanted to see if it could be more productive but other than a couple knocks I got nothing. I changed to carolina but still no fish and decided to move towards a rock wall with some deeper water. I lost the carolina rig to a snag and tied a mini texas with a 2g running olivette and the MG2 hook in the end. After many casts into the abyss(!) I finally got a bite and a fish on and got a poor cod up. These fish are really sensitive and don't release well coming from such depths so I kept it as I couldn't revive it.. I continued fishing but it was obvious that the fish weren't feeding hard today. I got some more plucks but in combination with plenty of gear losses to snags, no fish landed and the weather going through three seasons in 20 mins I was starting to lose spirit!
Another cast made and as I retrieved the lure closer, it came into contact with some seaweed, I flicked it and then felt a take to which I struck in and got solid resistance. It was obviously a better fish and was making some powerful runs that made the little Awa shima bent beautifully and peeling line from the drag. After about 4-5 runs I slowly gained the upper hand and reeled the fish closer to the surface, I saw it glistening in the water and it proved to be a very brutish looking 3lbs pollock! I hand landed it (as I forgot my golden rule of lrf to always carry a net) and took some photos before releasing it but again the long fight from the deep water got the fish very tired and after several attempts to revive it I just had to take it home as well. I kept fishing but other than a small pollock with an interesting parasite in the eye and a small codling I got no more fish.

Poor cod are obliging but very sensitive.

A pleasant surprise.

He really wanted it!

Jackall peke peke on mini texas with MG2 hook.

Pretty little pollock..

.. interesting.

Codling are fun too.

Today the weather was even better than yesterday with glorious sunshine and of course I did the same thing. The fish were not in their usual haunts though and after some searching and some missed takes I finally found some towards the mouth of the natural harbour. The mini texas rig proved very effective again and light coloured slim lures seemed  to be preferred.

nice colour in the sun light.

The fish have shown better feeding activity when the water is moving and not at the peak of the flood. Later in the day is better also. Moreover they keep near the drop offs and structure with a few exceptions. They don't seem to play with their food and in combination with their quite big mouths (most gadoids) they are relatively easy to catch.
At some point I put the lrf gear in the car and as the tide was going out, I picked the heavier gear to target some bigger fish at the mouth of the natural harbour. I wasn't expecting much, but after a couple casts with a savagear sandeel I got a strong take near the kelp strewn rockwall and the rod arched over to a good fish. It did some good runs but everything came to an abrupt end rather quickly as something gave way.. I reeled the line in only to discover that the line had parted near the knot! I silly mistake as I hadn't checked that knot for ages and instead of making a new one I kept fishing with it..
 Anyway I enjoyed these two sessions and even though it doesn't feel like spring yet, the fish are starting to move so I should be trying at the other nearby lochs as well soon. The hooks seemed to do well but only further outings will tell if they perform better than standard hooks, although in fishing I think that every little helps.. I also had the pollock and poor cod for dinner,  shallow fried with oatcake crumple on top and plenty of lemon juice which was quite nice!

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: mini carolina, jighead, mini texas 
lure: slim lures proving more effective.