Rookie Bass Angler Steven Neely battles the elements and goes in search of Bass:
I had heard about the Jika rig before in an LRF context but something I had never really given much thought or consideration to for my own fishing.
I was reading a blog belonging to a friend of mine (Lee Goddard) and he was talking about using the Jika rig for heavier soft plastic work and it got me thinking.
Check out the post here:
http://lure-and-light-game.blogspot.co.uk/
As usual I was faced with huge Atlantic swells and big angry seas ….. I was fed up sitting in the house so I decided to change tactics, upscale the gear and go target a few Wrasse.
We arrived at the mark and it was brutal – choppy, big swell and a stiff onshore wind. I knew the deep gully held Wrasse as we used to fish it when I was a kid with a float.
I used a 20g bomb lead and my chosen purple 4inch soft plastic. I cast out to the other side of the gully, let the lure sink until I touched bottom and let it sit for a few seconds. Thump! I lifted the rod gently and let it drop back down again. Thump! I repeated the process and as the weight hit the bottom the rod slammed over and I was into a nice Wrasse.
It was a nightmare trying to land it in such rough conditions but we managed to get it in, photograph it and release it – despite getting soaked in the process!
It was a great chance to try out a new piece of kit – an Illex Element Rider 240 MH V2, 8-45g. Whilst on the heavy side of things, it allowed me to hold up in the rougher water and yet still feel what was happening at the business end. A strong, sensitive rod which will be unleashed when the weather decided to throw me a curve ball.
We eventually got pushed off the rocks with the rough weather and moved back into a quiet, sheltered spot. Not renowned for big fish but it always produces pollack and scaling down the gear provided us with some great sport. It didn’t disappoint – we had hits and hook ups on nearly every cast, each fish identical to the last.
We used a mixture of small soft plastics and 90mm Fiiish Black Minnows.
A nice way to end the day and boost the confidence levels.
On the way home we stopped by a mark to see it over low tide and much to our surprise found this sun fish washed up – First time I have ever seen one in person and they are stunning looking creatures, just a shame this one didn’t make it.
