Sunday, 5 December 2021

New PB Cuckoo!

 The other week, we saw a window in the weather and me and dad headed to Neist for some proper rock fishing. 

I was keen to actually take him to my 'spiritual home' on the island and also try my new shore jigging rod (Savage Gear SGS2 shore jigging 100MH). It was a beautiful day and we set up on one of my favourite rocky points.  We soon got amongst the pollock although none of them over 4lbs. Good eaters though.  They weren't too fussy and would hit metals and softplastics. 

Cracking day...

Run of the mill...



After getting a few for the pot, I started trying some heavier metals and put on a 60g extra wide slow jig. The rod cast it some distance away and I started working it close to the bottom. I got an aggressive take on the drop and some thrashy resistance.  No problem on the big rod but you could tell the fish would go well on lighter gear. I knew it wasn't a pollock but was pleasantly surprised when I saw a big Cuckoo wrasse on the surface. It was clearly my biggest Cuckoo and as the fish wouldn't go back, I put it on the sling. It went to just under a kilo and was a stunning fish. Felt bad I had to keep it but they don't return well sometimes. 

A cracker!

PB for sure.

Found the rod a good tool for those 60g jigs and I suspect it'll work 80g equally well too. Seems to work better closer to it's upper limit.  A bit overkill for the fish on the day but I reckon it'll fit the bill for distance work and big mamas. I tried some big softplastics on it too and it did reasonably well with 40g darting jigheads and 6"-7" soft jerkbaits. Now just need to give it more fishing time.

Tight lines