At last the rain stopped...

For the last few weeks the weather has been horrendous, heavy storms, rain and wind had wiped out any thought of fishing let alone a proper session! This week though saw a marked improvement and the sun managed to shine through after weeks of cloudy skies! Unfortunately I have been busy travelling for job purposes and didn't get the chance to visit some of my more distant marks. I did fish in Loch Linnhe a lot and the fish seem to be hard on the feed again!
I decided to use three different presentations just to experiment and maximise my results, as I have been targeting one mark and the fish wise-up seeing the same lure/presentation been thrown at them all the time. Thus I would start with fishing 4"stickbaits weighted with insert nail weights trying to get those fish (pollock and coalies) that hang close to the shore first. Then when the bites slowed down, I would switch to cheburashka/jigheads with slim paddletails and rippletail worms working the bottom more extensively and targeting the codling more efficiently. In the end I would use metal jigs for fishing at distance and thus thoroughly covering the area.
I had plenty of fish although I lost a couple better ones that snagged me up when fishing with the lrf gear.
The fish definitely switched on after the storms and pollock feed and fight even harder now! I also encountered decent coalies where I hadn't before and even a nice wrasse today. In all I think this situation will last as long as the weather don't get bad again and hopefully Ill get the chance to visit Loch Fyne as well before I move..

Thought all of them gone!

Decent codling are good fun!

Of course the madai jigs always give fish!

Coalies ruined my stickbaits!

Nice pollock on the stickbait.

Even little ones like them!

Small  metal jigs near the bottom = codling.

Engulfed!

They make an appearance more often now..

Chunky codling..

Its a shame I haven't managed a session on my more distant marks as I'm sure the fish would be active there as well and the chance of  better fish would be greater. I think its good to give the local marks a rest after fishing them day in day out.. So hopefully the weather will stay ok (don't need great just ok!) for the following week  and I'll be able to do a distant session.

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod:  mostly Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore 4x4 PE 0.6
leader: P-line Halo fluorocarbon, 10lbs, YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: cheburashka, metal jigs and 4"stickbaits.

Its not winter yet!

Lately the weather has got really irregular, with the easterlies coming and a lot of rain as well. This has surely affected the fish as it was harder for me to find them and when I did they were in different places and still not biting hard. I tried some different methods and lures with mixed results but in the end I thought that reverting to proper LRF might be the best answer to getting fish as Ive been fishing mostly on the medium and heavy gear lately.
Well I had a couple short sessions with the solpara and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Mind you I fished in times where the weather was ok, after or before storms. I managed to get a couple mackerel (!) ballan wrasse and of course codling and pollock with the latter pushing sandeels in the surface, something I hadn't seen them doing here. Typically, I used cheburashka and metal jigs...

They are still about!

Not the same fish as above but its sister?!

They were smashing sandeels on the surface!

Ubiquitous codling...

I thought they were all gone!

One thing than I've also tried lately is fishing with senkos/stickbaits. Although bass anglers rave about them, up until now I had never caught a fish on them! Even when I went bass fishing in Cyprus and used them there, I caught nothing on them so I didn't really rate them highly as lures. I did want to catch a fish on them as their action when weightless is so good so I bought a few packs of the 4" size that I thought would be best for my waters and got experimenting. The marks up here are really not the usual place that you would fish these lures as they re meant for shallower/weedy areas, but I thought of using them almost fished vertically on the steep rock walls of the basins I fish and at low tide in a mark where I could cast them beyond the kelp/rocks and work them near the bases of the kelp.
Well they do work in both codling and pollock and I was surprised at seeing them take the lure so naturally, sucking them in and not spitting them.. Of course I used my solid tipped KG evolution that really is best for fishing these lures so that the fish feel no resistance on the take.

A new presentation for me.

Some weight is necessary in the deep lochs..

Pollock like them..

...as do codling!

Worked vertically in depth at the base of a rock-wall.

They are fun to fish with though a very slow and meticulous presentation.. Not really ideal for most marks up here and not a method to be applied all the time, but its certainly good to have another card up my sleeve...

Tight lines

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g), Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Exage 1000fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Spiderwire invisibraid 6lbs, Duel Hardcore 4x4 PE 0.6
leader: Dragon fluorocarbon, 6lbs, YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: cheburashka, metal jigs and 4"stickbaits.

Madai and 'slow' jigs in rock fishing.

I have been using these jigs for a while now and with excellent results. Below I will give some tips on their use and also a video of how I work them.
There have been more than three years since I first fished in saltwater in the UK and I remember among the first lures that I used were of course metal jigs. In amongst them were some japanese madai jigs that I had also bought as they were all the rage at the time in Greece. I had good results on them with pollock especially on Cumbria's St Bee's head. The years passed and I had almost forgotten about these lures as the more 'normal' jigs were perfectly adequate and more generalised in their targets. Moreover I almost abandoned the heavier gear in favour of LRF/HRF.
It wasn't until I started using smaller bottom/slow jigs in lrf that I thought of giving them a go where distance was needed. I also bough some more of them, intended for use on the lighter gear. Most of them where the easily sourced Duel Salty baits that became a favourite of mine. This jig has an offset hook and a small muppet that I though of replacing it with some Berkley Gulp sandeels that I had knocking about imitating the Americans as they do in bucktailing and jigging.
Now the lure had added scent from the gulp and I also noticed it gave the sandeel a nice wiggle on the retrieve. The fish really showed preference to this presentation and I could even adjust it according to species. For example using  gulp prawns and jerky slow retrieves with long pauses for wrasse, or slim type soft plastics and gulp for more streamlined 'flowing' presentations targeting pollock on steady retrieve.
They are good to be used as they are but I believe the addition of scent/feel with the softplastics/gulp markedly improves their effectiveness. For those jigs that have muppets on (like inchikus, engetsu etc) I fill the muppet with some scent like pro-cure and it works really well on codling especially.
I work them with three types of retrieve as shown in the video and I usually mix n match to see whats best for the day.

Where short bites expected...

Ling are not that uncommon now!

Engulfed!

Codling on the luminous salty bait and gulp, very effective
in deep waters and low light conditions..

A different rigging...

loud colours are good, especially in deeper water.

LRF style...

Adding scent in the muppet is very effective.

Senkos add more weight...

...and do work!

I got reminded today of their effectiveness while fishing in Loch Fyne. There were strong easterly winds and a bright sunny day which put off the fish from feeding and although I tried everything the bites were just not coming.. Caught a few tiddlers early on with the Salty bait, but even that was proving hard to tempt the fish. It was clear that the fish wanted scented lures instead of the usual soft plastics and so I persisted with the Salty/gulp combo hoping that the wind will die down later on and fish would come to the feed.More over codling are tightly shoaled now and if I found the shoal it could be easier to get them due to competition. Another bonus of jigging (even slow type) is that you can cover water fast. Thus I fished all around the harbour with minimal bites until I reached the outside of the wall in the western side that was the most protected area from the wind. The sun was going down and finally the first bites started coming. I then proceeded in catching a fish a cast until sundown! Codling of around the pound mark were attacking my jig and finally provided some fun in a very slow day.

Nice codling from today.

The weather is really going into winter mode now and the fish respond accordingly.I don't seem to get wrasse now and the pollock have quietened down but the codling more than make up for them as they are the mainstay of my fishing now. I'm interested to see how the fishing changes and unfolds for the remainder of my season here.

Tight lines!