ULTRA LIGHT SET-UP

When it comes to fishing ultra light for the mini species, my set-up is the 6’ 6” HTO Rockfish UL 1g-7g rod paired with the HTO Rockfish 2000 reel. 

This reel is loaded with HTO X4 light game braid in pink. This is a four strand braid which has a diameter of 0.08mm, is 5lb breaking strain and comes in a hundred meter spool. I also use a hook length which consists of around two feet of 6lb HTO Nebula FC fluorocarbon. 

Quite often, the majority of my LRF style of fishing is in clear water so I’m not really feeling for bites but more like watching the fish take my lure. There are times though when sight fishing isn’t possible, such as when the water is slightly murky or there’s a breeze creating a ripple on the surface. This is where the sensitive white tip section comes in to play.

You might not be able to feel the tiniest of bites, but the white tip will give you the slightest of indications.

With this rod possessing a solid tip, the fish can inhale your lure with minimum resistance. As an example, I was fishing in a rock pool recently where I was working my lure around a wind fringe. It was a 2” Power Shirasu on a size 12, 0.8g jig head. The lure was just brushing the weed as I bounced it along when suddenly the lure disappeared and my tip bent round. A scorpion fish had been sat there and sucked the lure in as it passed. He felt no resistance from the solid tip and I clearly had a visual indication as my tip bent round.

This rod and reel combo is perfect for working small lures on jig heads or the split shot rig around rock pools and along the harbour walls. It is also equally at home fishing with the drop shot method using lightish weights. 

Another set-up that I use frequently is the 7’ HTO Rockfish L 3-15g rod which I have paired with the Hart Zemtax 800 

This reel is loaded with HTO X4 light game braid in pink. This is a four strand braid which has a diameter of 0.10mm, is 8lb breaking strain and comes in a hundred metre spool. I also use a hook length which consists of around two feet of either 6lb or 10lb HTO Nebula FC fluorocarbon. 

I’ll generally use this rod if I’m looking to target larger fish out to sea when using a more mobile approach such as working swim-baits for species such as mackerel, pollock and garfish or creature baits around the kelp when chasing wrasse. 

I’ll use the 6lb leader when I’m fishing up in the water column and away from snaggy ground and go up to the 10lb leader when I’m working baits around the kelp. The heavier fluorocarbon leader gives me more abrasion plus I stand a better chance of retrieving my tackle if I need to pull from a snag.

The beauty with this rod is that it will not only handle light lures with ease but is equally at home casting out heavier lures if the need arises. Although it’s classed as a light rod, it possesses enough power to land any larger fish that I encounter.

If the conditions are right I’ll quite often target the larger ballan wrasse and pollock from rough ground with soft plastic lures rigged Texas style. For this I use the 8’ HTO Rockfish MH 5-20g rod which is paired with the Hart Zemtax 2000 spinning reel.

This reel is loaded with orange HTO Nebula X8 braid in 0.14mm, which is 16lb breaking strain and comes in a 150m spool. I also use a 15lb HTO Nebula fluorocarbon hook length.

I like this rod when targeting larger fish such as wrasse and pollock from over the kelp as it allows me to use a wide range of different weighted lures. I like to fish as light as possible so when conditions allow it I will rig a lure Texas style and add a small worm weight of around 3.5g. If winds or tide mean that I need to increase the weight I can easily add weights of 10g plus.

Although this rod is still very sensitive, I’m also able to bully larger fish if needs be to prevent them from getting down into the kelp.