Small fish off the rocks - tactics

[DougieK]

Hi Guys,

Had a great scouting mission down near Cape Schanck with Carl on the weekend. We were equipped for salmon and bigger fish, heavy slugs and hard bodies, poppers and large soft plastics. Great fun, but the fish are few and far between.

I noticed quite a good number of sweep and leatherjackets darting around in close, snapping at my plastic, tried smaller jigheads to no availe. I guess the right idea is small bait on either small circle ot long shanks under a float, would love some direction on this. I have a 5 metre telescopic very light tipped rod my uncle left me that I can use to reach out over the ledge.

Thanks!

Dougie

[eddyt]

Paternoster rig with a small baitholder hook around size 8 for the leatherjackets. They follow a pattern. Always strike when a wave comes in, regardless, that's when they usually bite. You'll also get wrasse mostly, but there's also a chance for many many different reef species. I think I've caught over 20 different species there on this setup. You'll probably get snagged a lot like this at first so you'll need to spend some time to work out where all the snags are.

For sweep you'd want a jighead only with a bit of either chicken, prawn or pipi. Best is with one of those long rods with no guides, but if you don't have one then casting out with the jighead should get you a few too. Small hooks work best (size 8-10), so I usually go for a small hook with a sinker tied on above it. They don't make jigheads with small hooks.

Both types of fish are not the easiest to catch because they won't take off with your bait, they only nibble.

If you've seen sweep then remember that spot. They like to hang around the same areas.

Hope that helps.

[TrevKing]

For that kind of fishing I've found that an unweighted hook works really well.
I just flick it out a few metres then let it drift around naturally.
You can usually see the fish take the bait, or the line will just go tight.
If the waves bring it in too close to the rocks, wind it in and re-cast.
All the usual baits will work, such as squid, pipi, ect - but bread and chicken w/ tuna oil work great too.
Throwing bread out into the water also works well to attract the fish.

It's actually a really fun type of fishing, on light gear the fish will try to take you into the rocks and they sure do go hard for their size.

Hope you have some success Dougie. :thumbsup:

[Scraglor]

Keep us informed as to how you go! Actually sounds pretty fun.