Beach fishing tips?

[allen_f]

Hi raiders,

I've just picked up a cheap beach setup to give beach fishing a go. It's a cheapo 12' jarvis walker royale gold 5-10kg, up to 90g lure weight with matching reel and line. (contemplating switching out the mono for some 30lb braid i recently picked up at another sale), better to keep it mono? or switch to braid with a big shock leader?

Any tips on how to set it up and properly cast it? I rigged up a paternoster rig and went down to the local beach to give it a go and could only manage a cast of 10-20m with the sinker landing to either my left or right. How do i cast this thing? I have no problem casting 50m+ on my 7 foot rod, but with this monster, i'm reduced to looking like a fool with an oversized rod. I've had a look at youtube videos and tried mimicking their actions but still no success

Also being based in the southish area of sydney, I have quite easy access to the brighton-le-sands strip of beach, are there any collectible baits there? such as worms, pippies, nippers etc. It looks pretty interesting to be able to catch beach worms, very interested in learning. Any advice?

Sorry for the heap of questions but with no beach fishing teacher around, i can only turn to you guys!

Thanks,

Allen

[Crossfire63]

Hi Allan

Mate leave the mono on the reel . Braid can be a pain on the beach especially when your getting the hang of casting. Check out John Holdens Easy Cast tips on Youtube . Its a good simple cast for beginners.

Wanda and Leura Beaches are better options for collecting beach worms

[aeb870]

Agree with Crossfire63, braid on the beach is definitely a pain and worst of all gets into all types of knots when tangling with weed.

As for a beginner setup, I first got into Beach fishing by targeting salmon. Mainline down to a swivel, then from the swivel a short leader with a star sinker attached and another leader about 60-100cm down to a set of gang hooks baited with pilchard.

Gang hooks will keep the pilchard on better while casting, but as you get the hang of it, try changing to a 2 hook Snell setup. I found this to increase my catch rate.

Have caught many fish with that setup; Salmon, Tailor, Rays and even travelley and bream.

With the star sinker rather than a running sinker you will get average distance and hold the ground better. After that your distance will increase with more practice, it's all about know when to let go rather than attempting to pelt it harder and harder.

The only tip I can give is until you can cast further, just focus on the deep gutters closest to the shoreline.

Good luck.

[allen_f]

Thanks for the tips guys! Will take it into account and give it a go after my exams

@aeb870, do you use a triple split swivel? and tie the sinker to the bottom one and use a double snell on the side one?

[aeb870]

You can use a split swivel, but I find they tangle a lot too. I use a normal swivel and tie the sinker and double Snell on the same end of the swivel.

You can even tie the double Snell on the mainline end of the swivel, doesn't really make much of a difference I find. But the triple split swivels spins too much in the surf and starts tangling.

[allen_f]

You can use a split swivel, but I find they tangle a lot too. I use a normal swivel and tie the sinker and double Snell on the same end of the swivel.

You can even tie the double Snell on the mainline end of the swivel, doesn't really make much of a difference I find. But the triple split swivels spins too much in the surf and starts tangling.

Thanks for the advice bro, will take that into account and give it a go soon Hopefully be able to report back on my first beach sesh haha