Whale beach - Sat arvo

[SgtBundy]

Had a window of time Saturday afternoon to get in some fishing and decided to go so if the stirred up surf was going to be hiding some salmon or the like, and figured the high tide near sunset might be helpful. I had no idea if my theory on the conditions was practical at all but figured I have the time so I might as well learn first hand.

Picked Whale beach mostly just to go find it and see what it was like. Rocked up around 3pm., the surf was quite rough but nothing terrible, coming up on high tide and to begin with the wind and rain were tolerable. I thought I picked something that might be a hole or outflow that I could have a go at, as the rest of the beach seemed to be running sideways quite strongly considering its a small beach.

Started out with a lot of pilchard trouble - trying to use a two hook rig off some previous advice but ended up with a lot of shredded pillies, either torn apart in the surf or simply tearing off when cast. I eventually worked out a way to rig them that kept them on but by that stage the wind had turned a little and I was casting into it. Made for a frustrating session as I seemed to switch between short casts into crap water as I could not get them into the wind, short casts because I cut my finger on the line at one point and was having trouble holding the pressure under the casting load, or the bait simply breaking off. Mind you I could absolutely rocket that empty sinker when the bait wasn't fighting the wind.

Mid way through some young japanese tourists turned up and asked to take pictures with me (god knows why) and asked a few questions about the fishing. Made for a small diversion from the lack of fish. No doubt I looked resplendent in my blue rain jacket and paint covered trackie dacks.

Switched to some squid later as the pillies were just not lasting and I wanted to try and work out my casting issues without changing bait every cast. Got up to around 5pm and still not a bite and the conditions were just not co-operating so I figured I would check out some of the beaches to the south before the top of the tide. Newport looked ok but I couldn't pick anything I could call as a gutter. Went to north narrabeen and the beach was plastered in blue bottles, and the exposure to the wind was significantly worse and the rain really set in to make it more miserable. I spotted nothing I thought was worth the trouble so I called it a day to save the bait for another time.

Most productive part was when I got home and finally sorted out the mess of my premade rigs and then finally converted my surf rod over to braid for the next trip.

[leonardgid]

I think you know this already , in case you don't , try bait mate on your soft baits or take an old stocking and use single threads from that instead , you will be able to use any sort of casting technique including the pendulum without loosing a bait ,

[UnderFisher]

3 gang hook holds the pillies nicely. 2 can be tricky to rig sometimes

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[SgtBundy]

I was considering switching back to a 3-gang setup as that is what I know best, but wanted to figure out the snelled rig based on some previous discussions about it.

What I found worked was putting it tail up and trying to do a half hitch around the tail, it seemed to last longer and not tear up as much. I saw bait mate in BCF today so I might look at that as well.

With the casting the spool and run down a bit so now that it is topped up properly and I have switched from mono to braid I am curious to see what difference that makes. I don't know if some more weight would have helped with momentum in the air as the main problem seemed to be air resistance. I could get maybe 25-30m (its a 12ft graphite rod) - but when the bait flew off and the sinker went on its own it was flying 45-55m out.

[Koalaboi]

Hi,

Southerly wind, swell....

Times like this we need to choose a spot that helps us out. Maybe off the pool at Palm Beach might have been a better option. Round the back of Barrenjoey, somewhere along the northern side of Long Reef headland and the little bay just north of Mona Vale may have been worth a look.

KB

[big Neil]

3 gang hook rig with the hooks fairly close to the sinker and salted pillies may have helped the bait delivery but it sounds like there weren't fish about anyway. Did you berley at all? Big Neil.

[UnderFisher]

I've always has trouble getting big distance when using whole pilchards and a star sinker. Also you can "crack" the cast too much otherwise like you say you end up losing the bait, so you end up doing more of a Lob cast. It sometimes doesn't matter, as often they are feeding at your feet!

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[SgtBundy]

Anywhere near rocks looked pretty bad, there was some pretty high spray coming at times while I was there, but yes I think shelter would have been better considered. I didn't think much about it until I copped the full wind at narrabeen.

I was burleying with some cut up pillies plus the ones I was donating off my casts but the wash seemed to bring most of it back.

My main frustration with casting was I saw water I wanted to get into but it was just falling short into the shore breaks. Once it was in that it just came back in to shore where as further out it stayed a bit better even with the run along the beach.

It's all learning I guess.

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[GoingFishing]

Hi Mate when I go beach fishing I normally try salted pillies I find that increases casting success significantly.

[RichieR]

Try using some 'bait keeper' its like a very fine elastic cotton string, wrap a few turns around the pillie and hooks and your bait will survive until it is eaten or picked apart by crabs.

[Longfish]

Hi mate...google 'clipped up baits' and you will see the techniques uk sea anglers use to beat wind resistance on the bait...hard to get the kit for it in oz...if i have time at some point i will post my home made variation with photos.

[Palegic chaser]

Hi there when casting a star sinker with similar bait weights to the sinker, you should try keep the bait close to the sinker. This will allow you to load up the rod from a single point rather than two separate points.

As for your bait shredding and coming loose you might want to try salted pillies. I do a lot of surf and rock fishing and I find what works for is use a 3 hook rig where I have 2 running hooks & the last hook fixed. This way the fixed hook goes through the eye of the pilchard than wrap line once around and the body and set the second hook again wrap the line around towards end of the tail and set the third hook. You could also make two half hitches on the tail. This rig is great for long distant cast.. Hope this helps..tight lines

[Longfish]

Right, as promised here it is for anyone who is interested. My home made 'Maltby' anti wind rig.

Start with the biggest paperclip you can find, straighten it and cut it in half...then bend a little hook in one end and twist a loop into the other untill you end up with something that looks like this...

Then tie the looped end onto a 2-3 foot length of line. Once you have tied the clip onto this line then slide on a bead followed by a clip swivel like so...

Then tie a swivel to the other end of this line and run your main reel line through this swivel...

Run another bead onto your mainline and then tie a swivel onto the end of the mainline.

To this swivel attach your hook link ensuring that it is slightly shorter than the length of line with the clip on it. Then attach your sinker to the clip swivel you put on earlier. The clip can now slide up to where your hook is and catch it, and the weight of the lead will ensure it stays clipped to the hook...cast out (with bait!) and as soon as the lead hits the water the whole rig will go slack causing the clip and the hook to uncouple...you will notice how much better it casts...wind or no wind as lead and bait travel through the air as one streamlined object adding yards and yards to your cast... (works best without circle hooks as very occasionally their inward turned points prevent release).

A word of advice...dont make the little hook on the end of the clip too big...you want it as small as possible so it just catches your bait hook so any slack or release of tension from the lead causes it to release your baited hook.

Cheers,

Edited September 10, 2014 by Longfish

[SgtBundy]

Thanks for all the tips - I will give a few a go next time I get a chance to get out.