NF, I take a very keen interest in the surfcasting match scene in Europe, and in particular, the UK. Now the guys who are at the top of their game are really gun anglers, they need to be because competition is hot with such a huge population to choose from.

I have learnt a lot from a top match-man in Sussex, he fishes to a regimen I found difficult to follow but I am very glad I did. Now this isn't for the likes of Kahawhai but it works very well with general surfcasting, although it's extremely difficult to put into practice.

First he casts his rod, sets it in the rod rest and the bait is allowed to work for eleven minutes. I should explain he will have either two, but most times, three baited hooks. Should he get a really good take then he will attend the rod. If he is getting small takes, such as a gurnard, he will turn his back on the rod and go and have a cup of tea.

In his opinion fish generally work in numbers, rarely are they alone. By walking away he was quite adamant, he will frequently wind in two, sometimes three fish. He goes on to say, he has seen far more fish lost by an angler striking to soon, than he has seen landed. I am confident we have all seen that happen and will admit we have done this ourself.

I believe the eleven minute idea is so he is guaranteed five casts an hour. This allows five minutes changing rigs, he will always have a fully baited rig waiting on the beach. He simply unclips the rig he just wound in, change the rig over and cast again. As he says you don't catch fish with the hooks on the beach wasting time re-baiting. You can't argue with logic like that.

The next time you are getting takes as you describe, just once walk away, turn your back on it for at least five minutes ... that is unless the fish or whatever is feeding, pulls line. Just one or two goes can't do any harm and it could just do a lot of good.