That morning I could see the strong currents from up the hill where I was planning to walk down and fish. For sure, when you have to walk 1 kilometer of a rocky downhill, you start to balance in your head, whether it is better to change plans or go for the hard walk! But in most anglers, excitement often prevails logic, so the next hour passed, walking down the hill.

On the fishing spot, the water in front of me looked like boiling from the power of the currents. Situations like this make shore jigging too difficult! The power of the currents puts too much tension on the jig and this exhaust our arms very fast! And that was the reality of that day! On the first cast, I tried to use slim jig minnow on 100g, but the tension was too much for perfect action and response. So if I wanted to achieve some strikes, I should use a jig more slender and sharp, in order to overpower the currents and have a decent action.

The Needle Jig is a “current master”! With the very long and sharp body, it performs excellent in currents and applies minimum tension on our rod while jigging! So, I rigged one with two single bloody assist hooks in order to increase my hook up ratio. With such conditions, I knew that there was no chance to catch bottom species like snappers or groupers, since they really hate strong currents, but the opportunity of a pelagic like a tuna, bonito, albacore or amberjack was great!

Strong currents are hard to conquer. The slim shape of the Needle Jig, makes it perfect for strong currents. 

The first 2 hours passed without any strike and my “positive” psychology started to fade by the quietness of the fish! But I still had time and even if the bonito hour passed, now with the sun way up in the middle of the sky, I had opportunities for some passing amberjacks! So I kept jigging hard and after 40 minutes, a very violent strike surprised me! The drag started to scream, but my response was very fast, and I turned over the head of the fish towards me, pulling it up with the drags almost at the limit. The rocky bottom is ideal for an amberjack to cut the leader or braid, so getting it up in the water was my only priority. Soon the great fighter gave in and gave me recharged mood batteries for the hard way back to the car!

Fishing in such strong currents, result often to unsuccessful hooking of the fish, since the water flow affect’s the proper assist hook reaction. But one of the two bloody assist hooks had penetrated the jawbone of the amberjack, and this is something that not many hooks can do! So I guess that all these people that say, fishing is a matter of luck, I have to answer that fishing is a matter of details and experience! At least for long term successful fishing days!

The bloody assist how how effective it is even in the most difficult conditions, penetrating even a jawbone!