General info
I plan on putting together some info on sea fishing and will do this over a series of entries as and when I have time.
There are no hard and fast rules to sea fishing, what works in Devon may not work in Ireland, but may be scoffed at in Durham and so on.
This will not be by any means exhaustive I will just offer some pointers that worked for me over the years. I am not an expert but I get better year on year here is what I have found.
OK so what do I know about it? I have been a Sea Angler for approx 30 years and had some nice fish but never the monster I want, but I will get it one day. Fortunately a couple of people have taken me under their wing and my knowledge has really grown, some of this info I will pass to you.
Think fish!!
So you decide you want to catch a fish be it for sport or food on the table, you could get a cheapo rod and reel from a tackle trader and a loaf of bread head for the nearest breakwater, pier, rocks and catch a 5lb Mullet 1st cast, but in all theory you wont if you do it’ll be luck and will probably never happen again.
Before we move on to tackle, and venues and differences in hooks, rods, reels etc etc lets think about Fish in general.
1st off they have to eat so where are the going to eat, think about where smaller fish, crabs, molluscs, worms congregate a couple of quick examples Prawns and small fish stay close to rocks and weed for protection, worms live in the sand, molluscs live in rocks, weed, Crab live anywhere where there are nooks and crannies for them to get into.
Where these creatures live should be a target area where I said live in rocks also think “manmade rocks” ie pontoons, piers, breakwaters etc where I say weed also think “manmade weed” chains, ropes etc so these areas will hold bait, therefore proper sized fish will eat the bait and hunt these areas out.
Fish will eat all bait, BUT they will favour certain types in this neck of the woods, Gilt Head Bream will hit peeler crab and little else, Bass will kill for live prawn, and peeler crab (peeler crab is a crab with breaks its shell for growth and is at its juiciest, giving off fish attracting pheromones) so you need to be armed with their favourite food.
The bait they eat is affected by tide state, think prawns and peeler crabs at low water will be on the shoreline, in rock pools, damp areas etc so when the tide floods there areas the fish will be exposed to marauding predators, so worth thinking about when you decide at what time to fish, no point going on an outgoing tide. Also Plaice, rays and other flat fish wait in sand channels and wait for their prey to come along this is your target area has a look at low tide to see where these channels are.
Feeding habits, some favour first and last light as killer times especially for Bass and I have found personally this to be totally inaccurate I have caught fish (bass and others) all times of the day and night, my theory which is shared with others is most people go fishing before or after work catch fish so this is the best time.
Also think what is about at what time of year, in the winter months fish head off towards deeper or warmer waters so no good looking for mackerel, mullet or bass in December or January although applying the no hard and fast rule they can be caught but as a rarity rather then in quantity.
All the above will come with a little bit of work, as in all things effort in = reward out. TOP EXAMPLE Bass love prawns if you make the effort to get prawns the night before or collect and keep them your chances of catching them will increase 100 fold, compared to just turning up with bait or spinners, I never go float fishing for bass without live prawn.
I will add to this series and may ammend origional posts willy nilly when I thik of something to add.
Starting out.
Rods, reels and tackle do matter but at the novice stage best to borrow off a friend or get a cheapo set, all rods and reels will catch, as will all terminal tackle, again I will cover differences in line, hooks, floats etc as we progress.
Target a particular species or a selection of spices, for your area or time of year. I would suggest if you want to catch a few fish hang fire until June July time, get a cheap spinning set from a Tackle shop, head off to a pier or breakwater and go for a Mackerel session, they will be abundant and it will not be hard to catch a fair old few. Please do only take what you need, or what you intend to freeze down for bait, nothing sickens me more than seeing tourists in the Torbay area catching Mackerel 6 at a time on feathers and killing them all no doubt to be thrown away when they get the bin liner full back to the caravan, yep seriously I have seen people do this.
Whilst in the middle of summer you could turn up anywhere with a bit of the Briny and cast out and get a bucketful of mackerel, garfish, dabs, plaice, Bass, Mullet other months can be sparse for them so define your target species, no point in turning up for a session when fish are not about, this is relevant in December – March which are really slow months in the fishing calendar, only doggies, flounders, whiting and Thornies about really, so no point in trying for anything else.
You can find out what is being caught and when by using our the internet, sites like World Sea Fishing (WSF) have members constantly updating, where they have been and what they have caught, another source is local papers they often have a weekly fish report, as do the angling magazines.
People suggest joining a local Sea Anglers Club and attending events and gleaning information from them some places are supposed to be quite forthcoming with info others are not, so that ones up to you. I am a member of a club but not for gaining plastic pots to fill the mantle, nor do I fish a competition, I fish when I want and where I want.
I am a member just in case I ever catch a nice one they do the submissions to records and relevant organisations. I have not weighed in a fish in years, I always said I will not weigh in a fish less than 100% specimen – fish are noted as what constitutes a nice size for the species, that is considered a 100% or specimen weight a Bass form shore is 6lb 8oz so a 4lb 4oz is a 50% specimen, 9lb 12 oz a 150% specimen; I have had a few over this size but let them go. Most sea angling clubs also have a club house or meet in pubs.
Another good source of info is your friendly tackle dealer; he may point you in the right direction, or may let something slip inadvertently in conversation. The more you buy the cheaper things will become, and more banter and advice will come your way.
So we know what’s about and roughly where people are getting the fish, we need to arm up with our gear, and bait, as mentioned previously the right bait really does matter, and off we go for a fish, again I will elaborate on tactics later, but for now we will say we have gone with a bit of knowledge.
Log your trips, I used to use a diary and refer back the previous years to check what fish I caught, and also what I saw other people catch or info from the local paper for that week, you can then have a good knowledge as to what is about when you want to go, therefore target a particular species. Also log tide state, wind force/direction, temperatures etc etc, may sound trivial but you will soon notice patterns i.e. you catch in a certain area when the winds a light westerly and not too sunny, but do not when it’s a northerly with no wind, yep this is true!!.
I now use my blog as a fishing log, one thing you may have notices is that I often do not list where I caught fish especially Bass, and even more especially nice Bass. Bass are very sought after for their taste and the sport you get from them, there is a minimum size and nursery areas, which are flagrantly flouted by some who illegally sell to Chinese Restaurants, therefore I do not let people know where I catch them nor do I let out any of my secret marks, if you do get a couple of nice ones and blab it on a blog, via word of mouth, or post on an internet forum, rest assured the next time you go it will be fished by many people or in the worst case netted or trawled, lessening if not destroying your chances of a repeat catch.
I also have a better knowledge of what is about and when, I target Bass September and October, Gilt Head Bram in May and June, Thornies in February and March and so on.
When your knowledge grows and you want to target species and know what grounds they like, time of year, bait etc. Go on google maps and look at the coast lines, estuaries, rivers and think where they may be, as a starter and a little bit of a tip look at an estuary and see where it narrows, you may want at some point to look at or buy an admiralty chart, look at the sand banks, using common sense at low tide fish will be funnelling in or out of a shorter more narrow channel so nature is helping you locate your target area but greater concentrating fish in to a smaller area.
Tackle – What will I need the 2 most basic items are rods and reels.
Again I am not getting too techie just an overview and more info if you want to ask.
Rod – There are various types of rods and believe it or not if you do take it up seriously you will need a few I have about 7 I can think of off the top of my head.
Some rod parts,
Butt – the base part i.e. the bottom and hold/handle bits.
Tip – the end part, reel seat where the reel is placed.
Reel seat – where the reel sits OR Coasters sliding/movable reel securing loops don’t want to get too techie here but apparently the reels position relevant to the location on the butt section makes difference in casting distance.
Rings – guide the line from butt to tip, 2 different styles for fixed spool or multiplier reels.
Beach casters are usually longer rods for wanging out a lead and bait over the horizon.
Spinning rods, are smaller and lighter designed for casting smaller lures/spinners and generally quite whippy for slinging minimal weight out with a whip.
Carp rods, a great all round rod for floating/spinning/plugging and light beach work.
There are additionally light beachcasters, Bass Rods, Flattie rods and a few others.
All rods are classed by weight or in carp rods TC (test curve). A beach caster may be classed to 6 oz meaning designed to cast a 6oz weight, or 3-5 oz, 2-4 oz etc i.e the weight the rod can handle no point in putting a 8oz weight on a 2-4 oz rated rod or it’ll be bad times!!
TC used mainly in carp rods is the weight at the tip which will take the tip to a 90’ angle to the butt so a rod with a 1 ¾ lb TC means it will need 1 ¾ lbs to attain a right angle tip to butt.
So which on should you buy? Depends on what type of fishing you are going to do to be honest, if estuary fishing for flatties a light beach caster or get a ways with a carp rod, codding, bull hussing a heavy beachcaster, mackerel or Gar fishing a spinner or carp rod.
There are many manufacturers and of course many different price ranges, same as anything you get what you pay for, there are brand new Rolls Royces and 20 year old Ford escorts both will get you there but do you want a smooth ride to last for years or a bumpy one to last for a couple of years?
For those starting go towards the cheaper end of the spectrum and if you want to get better kit keep the ropey stuff as a spare set or give it to someone wanting to take it up.
Conoflex, Shakespear, Shimano, Greys, Ron Thompson, Fladden, are all makers form conoflex (dear) to Fladden (cheap).
A rods purpose is to put bait into the water, if you are flattie fishing on a beach you may have to cast the bait out a fair distance so will need a beach caster, if float fishing off a pier/breakwater you only need a light flicky rod.
In all cases match the rod to your fishing requirements small weights and small fish can be caught with all rods but more fun/sport on lighter gear.
My personal rods are
Greys BZE x 2 for Bass, Bream, Flatties
Greys GRX for Thornies and long casting
Cheap beachcaster as a back up.
Ron Thompson 3 section Spinning rod, for Bass, Mackerel etc (I keep this in the car in Summer for impromptu sessions)
Rovex 3lb TC Carp rod, serious Bassing and Wrassing rod, a belter of a rod
Cheap little spinning rod, Mrs Putty uses.
Reels
There are 2 popular styles of reels used today, a fixed spool or a multiplier, centre pins are not used and I have never seen one.
They are in their basic form a device for holding, casting and retrieving line. And have a switch or arm to disengage the lock of the spool, or to put it in free spool for casting.
A fixed spool is literally hassle free and can be mastered in seconds and requires little tuning or maintenance. A multiplier is often though of as a more experienced anglers reel and can generally cast further, but more prone to tangles (birds nest/frapp ups) needs tuning and can be a little more on the pricey side.
Despite the statement above Fixed spools have come on in leaps and bounds over recent years and some fixed spools can I believe perform as well as multipliers, I personally use a mixture of the 2 depending on what I am targeting.
Some reel parts
Spool – where the line is wound around.
Drag – tension adjuster for line to be pulled from spool for fighting fish.
Handle – for winding
Bail arm – on fixed spool reels for casting.
Ratchet – acts as a bite alarm.
Bearings and gears everywhere.
Reels come in different sizes identified in increments of 500 or 1000 small sizes for smaller rods and tackle and large for large i.e. 2000, 3000, 4000, 4500, 5000, 6000, 6500 etc
So a 2000 is smallest small light tackle and rods up to and beyond 10000 for marlin on boat trips etc.
The drag is a very important as it acts like a tension adjuster for the line, and must be set to the lines breaking strain the point at what force the line will break. Imagine a 10lb piece of fishing line hanging from the ceiling if you put a 9lb weight on it, it would happily support it, an 11lb weight would snap it, so if your targeting Bass for instance a bass upto 10 lbs would be ok on a 10lb piece of line right? Wrong!!! Remember the Bass will pull against this line to try to get away increasing more weight on the line and ping lost line and lost fish, so the drag is set to allow line to come off the spool at a set point so for 10lb line set your drag to about 6 – 8lbs and it wont snap if fishy makes a run for it.
The drag also tires out a fish remember it will try to swim away (mostly) if its swimming against tension it will tire out and be easier to land when exhausted this is called playing a fish.
Retrieve ratio means the gearing ratio so a ratio of 5:1 means the spool revolves 5 times per one 360 rotation of the handle.
Ratchet is a switch you can engage on reels which puts the spool in a slight drag situation where as if a fish bites and runs it will allow the fish to take line and a clicking sound will emit from the reel telling you that you have a bite.
If the ratchet is not engaged and you are not paying attention a fish could take your rod reel and whole set up into the briny, not happened to me personally but I know it has happed too many others.
Again many different manufacturers and great differences in prices, form £5 to £500.
My personal reels are.
Shimano Speed master Multiplier the Daddy of multipliers.
Abu Chrome Rocket 6500
Shimano Exage 400
Shimano Areo bait runners x 2 there are damn good.
5000 sized Shakespeare fixed spool.
2000 Shimano Avio fixed spool.
As a final few points on Rods and Reels match your rod and reel wisely, there is no point on putting an 8000 sized reel on a light spinning outfit, nor a 2000 reel on a heavy beach caster. It comes with experience and personal choice.
Living in Torbay I often see muscle bound holiday makers using whacking great beach casters and reels and thick lines fishing for mackerel, hurling their baits or lures and not getting out too far, when I come a long with a whippy carp rod, a 4000 size reel and braid (I’ll go into that later) and a small shiny lure and cast well past them, and get the fish.
Size is not everything!!!
Casting your outfit is all a matter of timing and technique (of course this is also dependant on what you are using see above comment) of your balanced kit.
Hook, Line and Sinker.
This section refers to what additional smaller items are needed to go fishing.
The combination of tied hooks, swivels, line, beads is called a “Rig” or “End Tackle”, therefore the bits are Rig Components.
Hooks
Hooks come in various sizes and are graded thus (as a guide there are smaller and bigger)
12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1/0 2/0 3/0 4/0 5/0 6/0 7/0 8/0 9/0
Small tooooooo Big
Match the size of your hook to the size of the bait you will use, to the size of a fishes mouth
So for Mulleting with a small bait a size 8 – 5, Mackie bashing with a Mackerel/Squid Strip 2 – 1/0, Bass with a prawn/Sandeel 3/0, Bull Huss with a whole Squid 8/0 Marlin with a Bonito 15/0!!!
There are also different gauges of hook thin wiry or Aberdeen for small or light fish, to thicker styles. Make sure you use the correct thickness of hook for your prey; a hook which can bend may do so for a hard hitting fish so select a thicker gauge. I am still personally kicking myself as 2 years ago my rod went metal whilst fishing for Gilt Heads, I struck the fish and it was HUGE, then lost it as the hook straightened Grrrrrrrrr, Never again!!!.
Line
Line comes in 2 variants Mono or Braid.
Mono is made form Nylon and stretches and is spooled in breaking strain and diameter i.e 6lb thin 25 thick cheap as chips, but avoid double strength or half thickness types as they are rubbish!!
Again match the thickness of your line to your quarry, a 4lb mullet can be caught on 6 lb line and the lesser diameter makes it harder for the fish to see, although some lines claim to be invisible to fish I am personally not convinced.
Some are clear, some brown, some red, all have there pros and cons apparently I personally go for a brown colour for no reason in particular.
Also Mono will rub against structures; rock etc so should be checked for abrasion periodically, again if beach fishing with a few stones on the beach check at the end of a session if Bassing, Pollocking or Wrassing on rocky ledges with rocky gullies check virtually every cast.
Mono comes in various prices and on the whole generally cheap.
Braid
Braid is a mix of fibres braided together it is remarkable thin, strong and has no stretch, therefore it is favoured by some anglers, because you are in direct contact with a fish as soon as you lift the rod tip to strike as there is no slack to take up, whereas mono is stretchy.
Also as the diameter is thinner you can cast further, but as its thinner is more susceptible to rub and snap, therefore a rubbing leader of mono is often used to bear the brunt of the abrasion from rocks and other structures.
All this technology comes at a price and a 100yd spool can cost up to £2
One problem braid has is the dreaded “Wind Knot” where the line is so thin and floppy the wind can blow against it on the cast and you can be in a world of hurt trying to untangle it, or bite the bullet and cut £10’s worth off!!
I personally use braid for float fishing and spinning and mono for all other types of fishing
Shock leader
Shock leader is an amount usually 3 rod lengths of heavy mono tied to then end of your mono/braid when using beach caster and heavy weights.
This is a safety measure and must be employed when distance/power casting heavy weights. Reason is imagine you are using a 12.5 ft beach caster with 15lb line and a 6oz weight the power/inertia/speed the weight in full swing is liable to snap the line therefore a 6oz weight could be winging its way through the air upwards/sideways and is liable to kill someone.
People can cat 6 oz in excess of 300 yards, attached to their line and reels obviously this creates friction consequently in theory an unattached weight can hit colossal speeds and distance.
It is deemed necessary for 10lb breaking strain of leader for every 1oz of weight i.e. 5 oz 50lb, 6 oz 60lb etc.
The reason for a 3times rod length is several turns on the reel, the length of the rod and the drop from rod tip to the weight.
I always use shock leader if some one next to you is not tell them of the dangers.
Sinkers.
Sinkers, lead, weights call them what you will their role is to get the line out to where you want it and either hold it there or move in to an area.
You cannot cast too far with out it, remember this is sea fishing not fly fishing, some times for Mulleting tiny weights and dust shot are required and to reach further distances more weight is required.
Grippers are weights which have 4 wires usually sticking out the sides so when you cast the wires grip the sand or rocks and prevent movement, great for high swells and currents, when you reel in the wires fold (intentionally) allowing any snag to be overcome and enabling you to retrieve your end tackle.
There are plain round weights which are intended for minimal movement in shallow water or water with no current or sometimes employed to move your hook and bait with current and rest/fall into fish holding areas such as gullies, sand banks or holes.
Watch/clock weights are flat round weights which sit on the sand and are a kind of cross between the 2 mentioned above.
There are others but those are the top 3 as it were.
Beads
Beads are used as attractors for fish on line above the hook/s, are various sizes and colours some are luminous for night fishing. Caveat Sequins can also be used as attractors.
There other roles is to act as an impact absorber and anti rubbing device form other rig components and knots i.e. a bead is placed between a weight and swivel so rather than the weights impacting directly on the swivel and knot it hits the bead minimising damage.
Trace
Trace is the bit of line from swivel to hook, it is usually (but not always) of a lower breaking strain than the main line or leader, reasoning is if your hook is snagged on a rope/structure and you have to snap your line the line will snap at the weakest point so by having weaker trace you will hopefully only loose a hook and a bit of line rather than a whole rig saving time in re making of a rig and more importantly money.
Swivels
Are a 2 holed or sometimes 3 holed rolling anti tangle device deployed in just about all forms of sea fishing in various ways.
Crimps
Used for making multi hooked rigs
Lead Links
Links of twisty metal that allow quick changing of weights.
Lead Lifts.
Great bit of money saving kit. These are flat pieces of plastic which fix between your rig end and weight used when fishing rock/snaggy ground when you reel in the lead lift does what it say on the tin and lifts the weight up practically vertically and skims the top of the water saving you huge tackle losses.
D Vice
Like a tube weight where soft squigy bait can be placed in the tube and cast out with out coming off the hook, when it hits the water it releases the baited hook so the fish can eat it. GREAT invention, also acts as a lead lift.
