COMPLETE NOVICE, All the gear, no idea!

Joined: Aug 15, 2007 Posts: 3

Afternoon everyone.

I have recently decided, against my best judgement, to take up sea fishing/beach casting/shore fishing. The reason? My wife wants me out of the way on forthcoming trip to Cornwall. I'll be in the Penzance area close to the A30 and Lands End for a week.

My local tackle shop have set me up with 12' rod, fixed spool reel, rigs and leads. As the shop was incredibly busy and had many "regulars" hanging about, I tok his basic advice on set up, but completely forgot to ask him how to do the following. Please be gentle with me in your answers! :roll:

I need to know:

How to attach the main line to my rigs (pulley rigs and lure rigs),

How to operate the reel. It has a bail arm that seems to have 2 positions, and a lever with three positions. The shop owner already showed me how to adjust the friction on the reel, but I am guessing this will need setting with my rig and weight on the line?

How do I cast my first ever cast? What position should that lever be in? How should the bail arm be set? Do I control the feed of the line via my forefinger?

I understand I am asking WAY too much of you guys and a lot of you will be clicking your tongues and shaking your heads thinking "he should have bought a used Carp rig to practise on first". Fair enough, I know that seems to be the advice concensus. However, here I am, having been bought the tackle by SWMBO, and I can hardly hand al the gear back to the shop and tell him I want something different, can I? :oops:

I am guessing all the "fishing", or more likely casting practice :lol: , will be from the shore, or rocks.

HELP! I'm no fool, and to make a reasonable cast and snag myself a fish, any fish, would be a wonderful story to take home.

Can you help? Please? The reel had no instructions and the web seems very little help to a complete numpty and newbie like myself....

Occasional Joined: Apr 20, 2007 Posts: 188 Location: Kent

i know what it is like to be a complete novice as i was one not to long ago , the most important thing is not to give up!

here are awnsers to the questions you asked:

to tie a rig to your mainline via the swivel you should use a half bloodknot whick is on one of the resources pages.

assuming, you know how to attatch the rod to the reel, make sure the line goes underneath the bail arm, when it is in it's down position, and thread the line through all of the rings.

to cast put your index and middle fingers on the line where the reel is joined to the reel and hold it down, then take the bail arm off so the metal arc is pointing upwards, now this is the tricky bit,hold the rod bihind you and have your left shoulder towards where you want to cast, look to see where you want to put your bait then look above where you want to place your bait, swing the rod over your head and release the line when the rod has just passed your head. i would advise you to start casting gently untill you have got the hang of casting and are a bit more confident, then you should move on to casting is hard. anyway if you are fishing where other people are fishing dont be scared to ask them for help, remember everyone was a begginer once.

to operate the reel put the switch at the bottom on so that yo can only reel the line in. with the clutch which is the thing that controls th friction, you want it so that you can pull some of the line out when you pull the linewith your hand, this is because if a big fish comes and strikes at the bait really hard it lets line out instead of the fish dragging your rod in or snapping the line if you set the clutch to let no line out. and as you said you do need to set the reel up when it is attatched to the rod and the rig is tied on.

if you live any where near greenhithe contact me via pm and we can arrange a date where we could go fishing and show you the ropes, but it's up to you.

hope this helped, and remember if you need any help just ask im sure almost everyone here would be happy to help.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:12 pm

I think Sacha has ably answered all your questions. However, as a recent recruit to shore fishing and therefore no expert I can give a few of tips I found out the hard way.
1) With a fixed spool reel, when casting I always screw the clutch up tight so there's no movement, then slacken it when the bait is in the water.
2) Wrap some surgical tape around your finger where you hold the line pre-cast. That way if you're a bit late letting go of it you won't cut your finger on the line - can be painful!
3) Look on this site for info on shockleaders - some thicker line that you attach between the main line and the rig. Important to use one to save the line breaking and killing people with flying leads.
4) Learn 4 basic knots. The palomar is the easiest and is suitable for attaching things to the end of lines. The grinner (or the bloodknot as suggested by Sacha). The leader knot (to attach leader to mainline). A knot to tie line to the spool on the reel.
5) Be prepared to be patient and don't be daunted by failure to catch fish. There's an enormous amount to learn and, once you've learned to cast a distance (my problem) it's more about knowledge than technique.
6) Ask questions on this site. There's lots of knowledgable and helpful regulars and no one will take the mickey.

wotno

Guest

For the Leader knot info (and lengthy debate) go to:

http://www.sea-fishing.org/ftopict-2183.html

It should tell you all you need to know.

Also, assuming that your rigs have swivels at the top, why not try a Gemini rig clip on the end of your shockleader. It saves a lot of fiddly knot tying and you can change rigs quickly if you need to.

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

For the Leader knot info (and lengthy debate) go to:

http://www.sea-fishing.org/ftopict-2183.html

It should tell you all you need to know.

Also, assuming that your rigs have swivels at the top, why not try a Gemini rig clip on the end of your shockleader. It saves a lot of fiddly knot tying and you can change rigs quickly if you need to.

I feel ill!!!! happy

Guest

Ok Mr C. Calm down. I know I mentioned the L word debate but I think I got away with it!! Shhhhhhh! :lol: :lol:

For those of you who have no idea what the hell we're on about, just read the link above. After about page 5 you'll get the hang ofit!! :lol: :lol:

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

Ok Mr C. Calm down. I know I mentioned the L word debate but I think I got away with it!! Shhhhhhh! :lol: :lol:

For those of you who have no idea what the hell we're on about, just read the link above. After about page 5 you'll get the hang ofit!! :lol: :lol:

After page 5 you'll lose the will to live :lol:

Guest

Ok, so it got a bit long but it did bring out a number of valid points. If you like, I'll shorten it for everyone's sanity:

USE A SHOCKLEADER!!!! :lol:

Joined: Aug 15, 2007 Posts: 1

DuncBooth5 wrote:

For the Leader knot info (and lengthy debate) go to:

http://www.sea-fishing.org/ftopict-2183.html

It should tell you all you need to know.

Also, assuming that your rigs have swivels at the top, why not try a Gemini rig clip on the end of your shockleader. It saves a lot of fiddly knot tying and you can change rigs quickly if you need to.

Thank you, this link saved me asking the question why. I have read how to tie a leader on, breaking strains etc but I could not find any article on the reason for it :? Like fishoutofwater I am a novice and this site will be visited often :lol:

Guest

Just remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question. The good thing about this site is that it is generally remembered that we all had to start somewhere. We try to get people of different abilities together at various meets too. These meets can be invaluable for picking up tips from the more experienced guys. Sometimes, writing it is no substitute for actually seeing it. Theres a trip coming up in September. I don't know what area you are from but if you are able to get there, you will be more than welcome. Follow the link on the news items on the front page.

Dunc

Joined: Aug 15, 2007 Posts: 3

To all of you who have encouraged and advised, thank you. I now have the confidence and information required to make my first foray into this strange world we like to call "fishing".

I've been on many fora over the years, and this site, and forum, has to be one of the friendliest and on topic of any I have used. It is great to have the resources and to know that any daft question I might dream up will be answered with good humour and sympathy :lol:

I think it might pay me to practice a few knots tonight, then maybe follow that with a practice cast or 10 on the playing fields.

Most of my rigs do have swivels with rings and some of the lures I have bought have also come supplied with rings. Beginners luck? Hope so.

So, once again, thanks to all who responded, I'll try to digest the "L" thread later today, and I very much suspect that my preloaded reel has not got a shockleader fitted. Job for the campside fire one evening maybe...

Guest

fishouttawater wrote:

To all of you who have encouraged and advised, thank you. I now have the confidence and information required to make my first foray into this strange world we like to call "fishing".

I've been on many fora over the years, and this site, and forum, has to be one of the friendliest and on topic of any I have used. It is great to have the resources and to know that any daft question I might dream up will be answered with good humour and sympathy :lol:

I think it might pay me to practice a few knots tonight, then maybe follow that with a practice cast or 10 on the playing fields.

Most of my rigs do have swivels with rings and some of the lures I have bought have also come supplied with rings. Beginners luck? Hope so.

So, once again, thanks to all who responded, I'll try to digest the "L" thread later today, and I very much suspect that my preloaded reel has not got a shockleader fitted. Job for the campside fire one evening maybe...

just remeber to pull the knot together slowly to allow the lines to knot together properly, and don't overfill the spool. Leave about 3mm from the lip if it is a fixed spool.

Guest

Casting all the tackle tips aside, fishouttawater (pardon the pun), make your first port of call when you get to Cornwall the local tackle shop. They'll give you some advice on where to try, whats being caught and how......and if you see somebody catching a few, ask em what they are doing - I've always found people more than willing to pass on a bit of info, especially if your just down there for a week or two on holiday.

Joined: Aug 15, 2007 Posts: 3

I had a great holiday, but caught nothing!

Ah well, to be expected I guess. However, my casting went from a plop at my feet the first day, to over 150 or more metres! I was well chuffed.

Now I know I can cast with some accuracy and distance, I'l concentrate on my bait and getting some bites.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, it really helped, and now I'm "hooked".

Best,

Jim

Guest

Jim

Sorry to hear you didnt catch owt in Cornwall.

Although its after the horse has bolted so to speak- if you have Discovery Realtime Extra on your telly try to tune in and watch Fishing on the Edge with Henry Gilbey (its fishing month this month but as its the 29th today its days are numbered)- Although some people don't like his style he's from Cornwall and fishes off the rocks off the Cornish coast-as well asother places- plenty of tips/bait etc for rock fishing if that's what floats your boat.

We're going to North Cornwall for a fortnight next May but unfortunately my beachcasters wont fit in the car so I'm taking my travel spinning rod. However my missus is very unlikely to want me out of the wayas often as yours did :cry: so I'll be chomping at the bit and having itchy feet for most of the hols I suspect. I know what you mean about being hooked- Last year in Cornwall I spent most of the time staring at the sea being jealous of local lads fishing for bass.