Just Starting Out - Tackle Advice?

Joined: Aug 27, 2007 Posts: 4

I've been coarse fishing for over 20 years and have a fair number of rods and reels (2x carp rods, 2x quiver tip rods, 2x float rods, poles, whips etc etc) but I've never been sea fishing.

I now live on the South Coast (Worthing), just minutes from the beach, and would like to give Sea Fishing a try but I'm not sure where to start!

What would be a good rod for me to get? One of my Carp rods cost me over £300 and there's no way I can afford or want to spend that much on a sea rod as in all honesty I don't really have enough time to go Sea Fishing on a regular basis (one or twice a month is what I'm thinking). I would pretty much be fishing entirely from the beach so I know this means I want a beach casting rod and having always used fixed spool reels I would prefer to stick with them over multipliers but that's the limit of my knowledge. The beach at Worthing is totally stones but I've no idea what the bottom is like out in the surf and beyond but when the tide is out it looks pretty much sandy.

So can anyone recommend me a rod and reel that would suit these conditions at a price that would reflect the amount that they are likely to be used or at least a budget to work from?

This is probably going to sound really stupid but I don't even really know what fish I could expect/hope to catch from the beach in Worthing and so don't know what to look up in order to find out what baits are best to use etc. In fact when it comes to baits what do you do? Do you, like for most coarse baits, walk into your local bait shop and buy a pint/box/whatever of x bait or do you walk along the beach and get all your bait there for free?

Also can you use artificial lures etc, the only time I've ever done any sea fishing at all was as a kid doing Mackerel fishing from a boat and we used hooks with feathery bits on them but can you use similar things from the beach? Assuming you can I take it you would use them in the same way to how I use spinners and spoons in coarse fishing i.e. cast them out, let them sink and then reel them in at varying speeds to let it rise and sink looking out for hits at the tip of the rod.

Knots. Again this may seem like a really stupid question but can you/do you use the same knots in sea fishing as you do in coarse? I'm just wondering if the different thickness of the line means you need stronger knots?

Any tips, advice greatly appreciated and if anyone can recommend a book that will show me rigs to use, how to tie them and techniques to use (my knowledge of techniques at the moment is basically, cast it out, put the rod on a rest and wait for a hit, but where to cast out, how far, do you look for shelves, how do you find shelves etc etc is all the kind of things I don't know), what weights to use when and where etc etc.

Cheers

Guest

Wow where does one start!

Rods: I'm no expert but a budget of around £100 would get you what you want. There are cheaper combo's around but as you know Peak, you get what you pay for! You'll want line of around 15-18lb, (it will seem like rope to you being a pond angler), but for the rugged sea angling 15lb minimum really will suit most types of fishing, + a shockleader of 10lb of line for evry ounce of weight, eg 5 oz lead equates to 50lb shockleader. At least 5 turns on the reel and a rod and half length drop. Shockeader is essential when lobbing a 5oz lead, safety and all that.
Most angling shops will do a combo deal on rods and reels, tell them how much you want to spend and they will sort you out, dont forget to barter a little.

As for what you can catch, I'm no expert in that area but would imagine being a clean sandy bottom, Sole, Bass, Eels, flounder, Whiting, Codling, All seasonal of course. Codling and whiting in the autumn/winter the rest are summer species.

Bait: Lugworm, Ragworm, Crab, Mackeral, Squid, Peeler Crab if you cn get it.
I would start of with Lug/Rag and squid baits, you will probably need to order in advance from your tackle shop. As for collecting your own bait, alot of people do but you need to know what your doing and what to look for.
Lugworm come in 20's per pack, Ragworm either by the kilo or 10 per pack on average. 1 pack of rag equates to about 1/4 of a kilo.

Knot: http: Try this site for knots, the blood knot is a general knot for sea angling as would be for Pond fishing.
//www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

Rigs:
Take a look at the rigs section on this site. Also best to start with purchasing a few ready made rigs from your tackle shop which you could always copy later on.

Lures: Try feathers in clear water for mackeral, or rapala lures for Bass in calm clear conditions, early morning or dusk normally are the best times.

Tips: get out with someone that has been before and pick their brains, maybe start of using your carp gear for a few sessions to get used to it before shelling out any reel money.
Flog your Pond fishing kit and stick to doing real fishing of a beach:..lol
No need to try and cast to France either, stick to an easy overhead thump and progress from there, Bass, Sole, can be found very close in, 20yrds or so using big baits.
Visit your chosen fishing location at low tide, you can see what the ground is like and any shelves, fish holding area's are sometimes visible at low tide, This is something that also takes a while to master, keep an eye on reports for you area, all the hotspots will be reported on.

Keep the questions coming and people will answer, try and be specific with your questions as Sea fishing like Pond fishing has many different tactics, rigs, etc.

Good luck and dont give up if you blank on your first few sessions, keep plugging away and you will be rewarded, the problem with Sea fishing is tides, weather, and tactics all play a massive part in your success rate and can take years to master.

Guest

Soleman's pretty well summed it up. What he didn't say was that yes, you can get your bait from the local tackle shop but with a lot of them, you'll probably have to order it.

So, if you get some kit sorted, fancy a trip up to Orford Ness in Suffolk for a bit of cleaning, a bit of fishing, a good crack and some really good advice? I'm sure there's a post on here somewhere about it. :lol:

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

Soleman's pretty well summed it up. What he didn't say was that yes, you can get your bait from the local tackle shop but with a lot of them, you'll probably have to order it.

:

Oh yes I did!! :lol: :lol:

Guest

Oh all right, you did. But I can hardly leap in like a harlot and invite the bloke to Orford without saying something first!! Anyway, you could have asked him and I wouldn't have had to embarrass myself with a grovelling apology to you!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok, buy yourself a copy of Sea Anglers 'Baits and Rigs for Beginners' from Smiths. It's a good get you started sort of book.

There, now, are you coming or not? :lol: :lol:

Guest

Bl**dy eck, its like taking one step into Dicksons and getting leaped on by the sales assistant.

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

Oh all right, you did. But I can hardly leap in like a harlot and invite the bloke to Orford without saying something first!! Anyway, you could have asked him and I wouldn't have had to embarrass myself with a grovelling apology to you!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ok, buy yourself a copy of Sea Anglers 'Baits and Rigs for Beginners' from Smiths. It's a good get you started sort of book.

There, now, are you coming or not? :lol: :lol:

See! you first tell me I havn't included important info on a post and now tell me to go buy sea angler as I'm a begginer. How insulting!! :lol:

And yes I am coming

Guest

NOT YOU you steaming great pillbox!!!! God almighty, you can tell it's a bl**dy bank holiday can't you!

Right Peak. Soleman did say about ordering bait. I did invite you to the Orford do and suggested a good book. For you. Not him. 'Cos you can really go off people quite quickly. But then, I get this kind of abuse all the time. Rotten gits that they are!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

There Mr "I'm at work and have nothing better to do" Soleman. Or are you Mr "I'm at home and having a lazy day" Soleman? 'Cos if you are, I'm going to ring you and let one of my dogs breathe heavily down the phone at you! :lol: :lol:

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

NOT YOU you steaming great pillbox!!!! God almighty, you can tell it's a bl**dy bank holiday can't you!

Right Peak. Soleman did say about ordering bait. I did invite you to the Orford do and suggested a good book. For you. Not him. 'Cos you can really go off people quite quickly. But then, I get this kind of abuse all the time. Rotten gits that they are!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

There Mr "I'm at work and have nothing better to do" Soleman. Or are you Mr "I'm at home and having a lazy day" Soleman? 'Cos if you are, I'm going to ring you and let one of my dogs breathe heavily down the phone at you! :lol: :lol:

I'm at home, can you give me her name before she calls!! :lol: :lol:

Guest

Yeah-Woody!! :lol:

Guest

DuncBooth5 wrote:

Yeah-Woody!! :lol:

:lol: :lol:

Joined: Aug 27, 2007 Posts: 4

Cheers everyone for your help and invites :wink:

Think I need to do a fair bit of research before I take the plunge, I can' afford to spend a lot but equally I know what it's like to buy cheapo gear and then wish you'd spent a bit more after the first time of using it. Saying that I did have two £30-40 coarse rods, one was an absolute dog of a rod, truly dreadful, the other was a joy and one I used for about 7 years before I finally decided to replace it and even then I had to replace it with a rod costing £170 to get any real noticeable difference.

As for selling my 'pond' gear (cheeky sod :lol: :lol: ), nah couldnt do that. It probably cost me over £2K and although I haven't used it in about 8 years the very thought of parting with it makes me choke!

Guest

To be honest Peak, you could get a really good deal for £100. Fact is, once you get the hang of it, you'll end up looking to upgrade to the next level anyway. The beauty is, of course, that once you catch a keeper and eat it, you'll be hooked (pardon the pun) and the couple of times a month just won't be enough! :lol:

Joined: Aug 27, 2007 Posts: 4

Well I'm gonna aim to keep things in the "cheap, but not so cheap you'll regret it" budget :wink:

Would appreciate opinions on the following:

Rod
http://www.tackleuk.co.uk/leeda-piranha-mtp-power-plus-surf-12ft-58oz-p-2258.html

Reel
Is there an reason why I couldn't just use one of my baitrunner reels? I mean, what is the difference between a sea reel and a course reel other than the depth of the spool? If the answer is yes would you use the baitrunner facility or would you disengage it?
If the answer is no, what about:
http://www.tackleuk.co.uk/okuma-mistique-65-fd-p-3138.html

Cheers

Guest

One of my rods is a Daiwa Supercast. it was £130 new and is a good bit of kit. You can get the sandstorm for a bit less. You get the advantage of a leading brand at good prices. As for reels, the only FS reels I've got are a bit on the crappy side so I'm no judge but Okuma seem to make some good gear.

As for using your pond fishing gear, I would think that it will struggle to chuck 6 or 7 ounces of lead very far before you heard a very loud crack!! 8O