MOUNTAIN TROTTIN'

Had an open day during the week so brought a friend to my favorite haunt for his first Sebbie fishing session. 

Twas' a fine morning to be trekking up the stream doing ultralight casting with micro lures.

Soon latched on to his first 3 striper!

On the steady, blue sardine Jackson Athlete 55S.

A norm when casting in to logs and branches. Wading into icy cold waters to retrieve snagged lures.

 Soon hit my own 3 striper on my favourite troutin' lure.

Taken on a DUO Ryuki 50s.

Jackson Athlete 55s hooking up another species of jungle perch- the two stripe juak which shares the same river system. A big deal for a first timer to hit two different species at once.

Ending the run with a forest snakehead (bujuk) on the Ryuki 50s.

While today's fish was not big by normal standards, it still proves fun fishing with light lines and small lures for maximum fun.

Raindrops Falling on my Head!

One of the few things one learn through the years of heading out on any fishing trips is to never look TOO forward to a fishing trip. Learning to keep your hopes down gives you a little window to experience what might be an out-of-expectation catch, or just plain not let yourself down when things don't go as planned. 

And this is what happened when, as this year's luck has destined it to be, most offshore trips have been below par. What was to be a 4 days, 3 nights trip had to be cut short due to another bout of stormy weather. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a great experience for myself as the only true jigger on board a boat full of masterbaiters. 

All aboard the Anglers Friend boat, a nice spacious and steady boat in rocking waters.

Evergreen Poseidon on the ready. Sadly it was never to be used.

Rigging up on the Majorcraft Giant Killing jig rod.

Reaching the first spot in the evening so started spinning for macks in my night jammies. 

This mack was taken on a slowly twitched Jackson Pintail instead of burning it back in the normal high speed retrieve. Shows the multiple capabilities of this lure's great action.

Next morning the wind was blowing up a storm preventing the boat from doing drift fishing. Only late in the afternoon did the wind die down a little to be able to enjoy some light jigging.

First spot yielded this nice Coral Trout on jig.

Going slightly heavy on an Ima Ro 60g.

Surprise catch of a GT when I was targeting the bottom column for coral fishes.

Good fight.

Rod: Golden Mean Sable Dance II PE 1

Line: Tufline XP 20lb.

Leader: YGK Fluorocarbon 40lb.

Jig: Bassday Quicker 70gm.

A nice 9lb Spotted Trevally as another welcome surprise. 

It put up a real head shaking fight. This was taken on the diminutive Ima Gun Peki 30gm.

When things got boring, a little trolling can lighten up the day. Majorcraft Crostage long cast rod put to use.

A daring little mack tuna took this high speed Jackson Pintail Tune on the troll.

Small emperor on a Shout Dangan 40g jig.

Honeycomb Rock Grouper on the same Dangan jig.

Night fall sees some more mackerel action.

Rod: Majorcraft Giant Killing.

Line: Tufline XP 30lb.

Jig: Shout Shab Shab 130gm.

The Shout Shab Shab. Truly a great jig which out fished all other jigs and even the baiters.

Capping of the night and the trip with another good size mack.

Rod: Majorcraft Crostage Long Cast PE1.5-3

Line: Tufline XP 30lb

Leader: YGK Fluorocarbon 50lb.

Lure: Jackson Pintail Tune 40g.

Neatly pinned outside the sharp teeths of the mack.

So to what would have been a lousy trip, it was barely saved by using some smarts and the proper tackle setup to still be able to enjoy some great catches. While it may not seem much, using the right kind of lures or jigs manage to have the same catch numbers or even out catch the baiters.