Rank Amateur - Woonona Beach

[spida]

All,

I am rank amateur looking for a little advice on beach fishing. I’ve just moved to within a stone’s throw of Woonona Beach (northern end) and would love to get down and catch a few fish though have no fishing experience. I’ve been lent a 12 foot beach rod by an inland friend, have bought some basic tackle and ventured down to the water a couple of times though spent most of my time practicing my casting.

I have been reading a bit online about rigs, bait, tides etc and am a little lost... would love to hear any tips from anyone in the area. Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Thanks

[brickman]

welcome to fish raider

you need to find a gutter but the best advise is look up rayr posts and read them all he has been doing quite well off the sand resently

cherrs gary

[mako1]

Spida.

The main fish to target in your area are tailor, salmon, bream, whiting with the odd dart and flathead.

As Gary said you need to find a gutter on the beach. These can be easily found by looking for the darker

water along the beach and in gutters the waves don't usually break till they are right on the beach.

They can run in close and along the beach or can stretch out to sea. Most of the time you don't have to cast very far out as long as you are fishing in the gutter you have the best chance of getting a fish.

Most of the time the larger fish like the tailor and salmon will hold in the deeper section of the gutter while the bream and whiting will hold on the edges of the gutter and on the sandbar flats adjacent to the gutter.

The best times to fish the beaches are in the morning and afternoon. Beaches will fish better when there is a bit more of a swell to give the fish a bit of cover in the form of white water as the waves break and this also stirs the food up and out of the sand. If it's really calm It's best to fish at first light or into the night as when the sun gets up the fish will move off.

I find that the rising tide and then the first few hours of the runout tide the most productive time to fish.

If targeting salmon and tailor use 6-10kg line on a rod and reel matched to that line class.

If you are just fishing with one rod use a running sinker rig.

This consists of a ball sinker (suited to the conditions) running to a swivel and a trace of 10-20KG.

The trace size should be shorter if it's rougher and longer when it's calmer but a good starting point is about 30-40cm. A set of 3-4 3/0 or 4/0(depending on pilchard size) ganged hooks finishes of the rig. Gangs are easier to use then a single hook as they present the bait better and if the tailor are around you’re not constantly getting bitten off. Pilchards are the best bait for the salmon and tailor but you can also use a strip of fish flesh on the gangs. You can also catch bream on the gangs and if you are constantly loosing baits to small bites or the baits are coming back with the gut section missing you can drop the gang size down and fish smaller baits to catch the bream.

If you are targeting bream and whiting you can use the same rig as above but just downsize the line, trace, sinker and use a small single hook. The line should be about 4-6KG, trace from 4-6KG and the hook from size 2-4 in a longshank or baitholder pattern. Best baits are beach worms, yabbies, fish pieces and pipis.

If there is some side current in the gutter and you want your bait to stay in a certain spot then change your rig to a paternoster style and use a star sinker so your rig will hold on the bottom.

You can keep the same sized trace and hook sizes as above and use a star sinker to suite the conditions.

Tie the dropper straight off the trace, I use the twisted dropper, or use a three way swivel.

The best advice I can give is to get out there as much as you can and try different rigs and see what you find the most comfortable to fish with.

Give it a go and let us know how you go.