Beach fishing?

[brainwashedsheeple]

where abouts are you gonna be fishing dj and what do you want to catch? ie just anything or specific fish like a bass or plaice etc.

 

a basic 2 hook flapper rig with some bait and your good to go really, a flapper rig will catch anything and is used by near enough all sea fisherpeeps, if you want to target a certain species then there are plenty of different rigs to play with.

 

learn your venue ie like ya carp fishing, look for features, a gully on the beach is always a good starting point.

 

learn locally the better tides to fish for the venue you intend fishing.

 

local tackle shop if they are any good should point you in the right direction.

 

oh yeh, and if you decide to fish a low tide, make sure you know your beach as even pirates can get caught out by incoming tides.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pepe Ramon]

8oz weights might be a little over the top, I've never had the need to use anything over six ounces from the shore, normally a 5oz breakaway lead will do the job. 

 

I fished a lot in my 20's and 30's, mostly in South Wales, I even dabbled with competitive sea angling and I still have a few club trophies knocking about. I haven't done any fishing since moving to Spain and it's starting to bug me. 

 

I loved being on a beach in the dark, just me and the sea.

 

[Captain Bonglington]

I do a bit of shore fishing, Bristol Channel, Chesil, Pembrokeshire occasionally. It can be pretty brutal, lots of blanks. 

I think the only way to catch anything like consistently is to fish as often as you can and learn which tides and times produce what fish on your chosen venue. Keep an eye on the socials, not everyone will post their catches but a few will, it will give you an idea of what's going on.

Rigs wise, either a 2 hook flapper for smaller baits/fish, or a pulley or up and over for bigger baits. 

Learn to cast well, you don't necessarily need to pendulum cast, I don't, it can be fucking dangerous, but a solid overhead technique, learning to properly compress the rod will catch you fish. 

Got to go to work @*DJ*, @me if you've any questions and I'll get back to you. 

 

[*DJ*]

First things first, wtf is this pully rig all about? iv found picture after picture, iv seen it tied in 50 different ways, the only thing I can see in common with a lot of them is..... it all looks wrong  I can't see how it out perform's a straight forward easy to tie, easy on the tackle box, even easier to cast patarnoster? Not that I'd disbelieve anyone catches fish using it, I can't see why it works

 

 

 

DJ

[Aurora Ruderalis]

17 minutes ago, *DJ* said:

First things first, wtf is this pully rig all about? iv found picture after picture, iv seen it tied in 50 different ways, the only thing I can see in common with a lot of them is..... it all looks wrong  I can't see how it out perform's a straight forward easy to tie, easy on the tackle box, even easier to cast patarnoster? Not that I'd disbelieve anyone catches fish using it, I can't see why it works

 

 

 

DJ

Ive never liked them.  Dangerous if tied wrong.  I stick to either paternoster or leger.

A pulley rig is designed to lift the lead when you hook a fish and supposedly allows the fish to fight better as a pulley rig is "in line".  I think they are a liability and a mess.  The mono passes 180 degrees through a swivel or pulley arrangement, always make me wince.

[Captain Bonglington]

It works..It's not ideal for every situation, but if you're looking to cast a big bait for big fish to the horizon it's the go to. When I say big bait, whole squid plus a strip or bluey, or some lug. Or you could fish a pulley rig with a smaller Chinu type hook and a 50p sized piece of crab for smoothhound in the summer, small bait, mega distance...  The main principals are it puts the bait directly behind the lead when casting, resulting in greater distance.. the hook is clipped down to an impact lead, an imp clip,or ideally a Roto for me......on hooking a fish the lead pulls up so is less likely to get snagged during the fight, although on the channel you'd usually incorporate a rotten bottom link too. 

You need to make it a strong rig...I wouldn't go below 30lb hooklink as it takes some of the cast, at least 60lb rig body...

10lb of shockleader and rig body for every ounce of lead is a safe rule.

There's no issue with the line doing a 180 through whichever pulley system you choose to use, in my experience, although I wouldn't use a swivel. 

A pulley rig is a pulley rig, you can use basic or more advanced components, but it's a pulley rig. 

It's a reliable rig, the up and over is similar in that it puts your bait behind the lead for casting, but essentially reverts to a running leger in the water. 

Are you using a fixed spool or multiplier @*DJ*?

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Captain Bonglington

[*DJ*]

Fixed spool mate, I had a couple of old  millionaires yrs ago, (I think that's what they were called) I couldn't even look at the bastards without them bird nesting to fook, I looked like a right dick up the pier, I'm quite good at casting with a fixed spool, I can spod 80/100yrds pretty easy so I didn't see it as much of a disadvantage?

 

DJ..

[Captain Bonglington]

No, it's not, to a point. 

I use fixed spools, Penn jobbies. 

With that in mind, invest in a thumb button or a cannon...Break Away make them. Revolutionised my fixed spool casting, no finger stalls and a clean release every time. Cheap as chips, from 2.50 to a tenner. 

An advantage is retrieve speed, especially over rough ground, and also line capacity...

On a particular Bristol channel beach, Brean, it's very shallow, and the tide comes up at walking pace. So it's a case of chuck it out, or even just drop the bait into a gully, and then just keep moving back until you've nearly emptied the spool...I can get about 400 yards on mine. My mates with multis have to recast long before I do. 

No birdies. 

The disadvantages...On a windy day, you're better off with a multi I think...and if you want to be casting 200+ yards in a pendulum style you'll want a multi too.

Distance can be important. 

I was chatting with Steve Ace, catching machine, he put it well...

If you're fishing on a beach with other anglers, and you're all casting an average 80-100 yards, you're sharing those fish. If you can cast well beyond that average, you're putting yourself in your own water, with your own fish on different patrol routes.

 

 

[Exhale]

20 minutes ago, Captain Bonglington said:

Distance can be important. 

I was chatting with Steve Ace, catching machine, he put it well...

If you're fishing on a beach with other anglers, and you're all casting an average 80-100 yards, you're sharing those fish. If you can cast well beyond that average, you're putting yourself in your own water, with your own fish on different patrol routes.

 

My grandad was of the same mind, distance is key.

 

He would only use a lead that was heavy enough to take the bait with it and as the chap in the video a few posts back he would use a plain lead so the action of the water would allow the bait to settle where the fish would be, we used the same tactics on the river.

 

Have you tried Fly fishing in saltwater dude?

[Captain Bonglington]

It's not always the case, you can catch fish at your feet, but overall, in my usual venues, the blokes that can really put a lead out will consistently catch more than those who can't. 

Fly fishing is pretty much the only genre of fishing I've never really got involved in...I've done little bit. 

I've a lovely little river with wild browns and stockies within sight of my cottage, but I usually have them in tiny soft plastics, my ultralight perching gear. Usually fish plastics and metals for Bass when I get the opportunity too. 

[Pepe Ramon]

Pulley rigs do work, IMO they result in more hooked fish than other rigs I have used, that's why I used them so often, but I used them with a slight variation. Describing rigs is difficult without pictures but I'll have a go...

 

So working from the end that the weight is attached to, tie on a link for a lead to 60lb mono, the length of this bit of mono is very much is personal preference, but 18" would be a good starting point, then thread on a bait clip or an impact shield, then thread on a really strong swivel, through one of its eyes, so it runs freely along the line, then finish with a clip, something like a Gemini Genie Rig Clip, you can even use the ones that are attached to a swivel. 

 

This design allows me to change just the hook snood every cast, rather than change my whole rig. It gives me the flexibility to use different size snood lengths and different sizes of hooks. I make my snoods separately, each with a swivel at one end and the hooks at the other. While I have a bait in the water, I can then bait up my next snood in preparation for my next cast, this is called 'double patting'. If I am lucky enough to catch something, I can remove the snood from the rig, which makes it much easier to unhook the fish that I have just caught. Just clip the baited snood via the swivel on the end, to the link on the pulley rig and you're good to go again. If you intended to keep the fish you just caught, you could cast out again, before you unhook it.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Maesteg Cannabis Club

[Kush Lover]

Distance in the cast can always increase your chances in the deeper water but if you get to fish somewhere like Chesil, chuck a mackerel head and guts in the ruts no more than 40 yards out and wait!

 

Have to say since I started beach fishing there has been a massive decline in fish and its made the sport a lot harder. Even mackerel fishing is noticeably different.

 

I've changed my whole set up and style and moved over to lure fishing which is so much fun, You can cover lots of ground trying different locations and constantly on the move. A backpack full of lures and munch and off you go hunting rather than waiting for the fish to come to you.

[*DJ*]

Couldn't let a full moon go without wetting some line, done my first bit of fishing up the beach last night (high tide 23,45 pm) first cast, first fish, only a whiting, but any fish from the sea counts, had loads of knocks on one rod, by the rocks, but the fish came from a open water spot? Anyways I'm pleased as punch, might even go again to night, whoop whoop.

 

DJ...

[Captain Bonglington]

On 16/03/2022 at 5:24 PM, Kush Lover said:

 

Have to say since I started beach fishing there has been a massive decline in fish and its made the sport a lot harder. Even mackerel fishing is noticeably different.

I agree, I'm not a particularly experienced sea angler, but even from my annual holidays in Pembrokeshire over the years the decline in Mackerel in particular is very evident.

Hardly surprising with the factory ships dredging up anything that swims. 

That Fearnley-Whittingstall chap went down in my estimation when he told everyone to eat Mackerel because they're this new, tasty, largely untapped sustainable resource, completely failing to even begin to understand the principals of the food chain. There's loads of them. Eat them all. Like Buffalo.

Off to Chesil tomorrow, hoping for a plaice or two on one rod and maybe a ray on the other. Anything other than dogs. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Captain Bonglington

[*DJ*]

I can remember having a few caravans on a site about 5 mile up the coast, there was always fish in the pool once the tide came in, filled it and went out, flatfish, baby polok, small bass, eels, allsorts, ya don't see anything like that now, even the sea weed looks a bit ropey  so I'd agree without hardly any sea angling experience that stocks have declined.

 

DJ...