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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.

Carbon copy pollack

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.

Stay tuned.

If you have been following my blog you will know that I am a huge fan of small, high tech mini jigs when chasing Sea Trout. I recently got the Apia Seiryu Mini 6g in Kibinago Bait - looks stunning.

I took it out at the weekend for a try and it didn't disappoint!

First of all I swapped out the treble for a Decoy single hook, allowing for a cleaner release.

Jigging and OTD

This technique is similar to vertical jigging from a boat except we are using it from the shore. Casting up current, letting the lure sink to bottom. Once it hits bottom start a rapid retrieve, jerking the rod upwards creating an erratic action. Allow the lure to fall or drop in the water and repeat. This really wakes up the Sea Trout and will sort out the ones who want to feed and those who simply are just messing around.

All my hits and hooks up come as the lure is falling back down through the water column.

We hit a number of fish using this technique.

The assist hook enables you to detect head bites as well.

Even when the Sea Trout were stuffed full of food they still couldn't resist the Apia jig!

This trout was packed full of food, a great sign to see such rich feeding in our waters.

A nice dinner for a hungry Sea Trout plus a bonus for us to analyze what the fish are feeding on.

Not great conditions but we fished a short session and hit a few more well stuffed Trout.