How I made a 💩day, be successful!

On the rocks for one more time, but this day there were no reassurances for a good catch. A “dead” calm sea, with no signs of activity at all and the totally wrong moon phase for the spot! But I had nothing better to do, and as we most tend to agree, a day in the sea is always better than a day in the office! However, in my case, the sea is my office and most of the times is really “messy”! But this day not! Calmness all over around! Generally, in totally calm conditions, that fish tend to be super lazy, and there are not many things we can do! However there is always a trick to try.

From my perspective, in sunny calm days, getting a strike, thought hard, is not impossible. The only thing you need to find are the baitfish, so you can have a chance! On the cape I was standing, were no signs of baitfish. Probably the currents were the main reason for that. And as much as I like to fish on capes, waiting for the fish to pass, that day, this plan seemed pointless. I was a bit tired from all the way down, and the least that I wanted, was to move more on the right where there was the inner part of a gulf. Yes I know, most of us try to spot exposed places to fish, but you should never neglect the inside areas of a gulf. Usually there, the currents pass further than the coastline, allowing baitfish to find refuge and giving us the chance to get something that might lurk around them.

In such conditions I have realized that jigs work excellent, as long as they have a slower falling! The jigging action gets the attention and the slower irregular falling gives the predators the confidence that this will not be a failed strike attempt! Of course, the jigging action has nothing to do with the style we use with active fish and strong conditions! Not at all! We need a slower and more irregular tempo to achieve the desired action! For this reason, I have designed the “Sardine Slider” jig and now was the ideal time to use it!

Jigs in such conditions, due to their long cast, allow us to search a wider territory, and usually fall far behind of the fish, so they do not scare them! The depth of the spot I reached inside the gulf was no more than 20 meters and for such depths and such conditions, a lighter gear is more adequate! Luckily, I had my SGS6 Shore jigging rod 30-100gr with an SGS8 600 reel with a PE #2.0 braid and 0.50 super hard savage gear FC leader!

Inside the gulf there was no visual contact with baitfish, but my feeling was telling me that they should be! I used an 80gr Sardine Slider “Sayoris” UV color to look more natural and the first cast reached a long distance, as I allowed it to reach mid waters and start jigging from there. This attempt didn’t bring any results, so I decided to focus a bit closer to the bottom. Usually, sardines spend their time in mid waters, and they reach the surface to feed. But sardines are not the only fish that predatory fish go after. On the next cast I allowed the jig to touch the bottom and started jigging until 10 meters above it, and allowed to drop again! On the next lift, a violent strike stopped the jig 3 meters above the bottom. A beautiful Grouper gave a nice fish before it’s swim bladder betray it! For the next 5 casts nothing! I moved more inside the gulf and tried more. I casted two times far in front and then one time on my “14:00” on the right. On the falling my jig stopped earlier than I expected! A decent amberjack had attacked on the falling, the Sardine slider. The fight was intense and soon the amberjack landed safely and released fast and unharmed! I tried a couple more times without further success. It was time to have my lunch, so I stopped fishing and enjoyed a nice sandwich and 20 minutes of relax. Then I changed to Sardine Slider “Chartreuse UV 80gr” and tried more. On the second cast I got a strike as I started jigging, right after touchdown, and a lovely snapper gave me wonderful moments and a beautiful photo. I insisted for some more hours, but no further luck! Of course, I was not just grateful, but super excited, because what I got was a result of a good day and not a 💩day like today! Eventually even on a “bad looking” day, you might get impressive results, if you choose your actions carefully and plan your strategy according to the current circumstances!