I suppose most anglers are eagerly waiting the coming season, if you are like me you now have your gear in top order and a multitude of terminal rigs raring to go.
I am an avid follower of what is happening on the surf casting scene in Europe. In that part of the world they can't beat us at rugby but they are far and away superior when it comes to rigs and tackle. However, with the advent of the PC, and a veritable plethora of information on YouTube, at least in the rig making department we can hold our own.
When it comes to terminal rigs most serious anglers plumb for the sliding trace of the pulley pennel rig, over the years both have proved their worth. There is something odd in this because the pulley rig is mostly designed to handle larger fish, which oddly are very few and far between. To be brutally honest just how many large snapper, Kingfish or smooth hounds do you average a year?
Here I looked and researched the European scene, they have two large fish that can be caught from the beach, cod, which are not known for the fighting prowess and bass. Large bass will test your gear to the full as will a large snapper, the chances of catching a large bass (5kg plus) are about the same as catching a large snapper from the majority of beaches in New Zealand ... very slim.
So the European angler has adjusted their rigs to suit the size and variety of fish they are likely to catch from the shore, especially so in club matches and social angling. They do things differently and overall what they do works just fine.
Before I went to China I placed an order with Phil for some springs and tiny bait bait release clips for the three hook, clipped down flapper rig. This afternoon I put what I had learnt into practice and I have to say the concept and execution of this rig works brilliantly, now I wait for the weather Gods to smile and I will be heading for the beach.
Available from Phil. Cascade Swivels. Gemini Genie SRT Springs.
I suppose first of all it is necessary to work out the fish you are most likely to catch and rig accordingly. As 99% of fish taken from the beaches are of nominal size, is it sensible to target a double figure snapper when the chances are truly stacked against you? For those who have the patience they also have my admiration. I go fishing to catch fish, I am not fussy of the make and model, my target is not to blank.
I found it fascinating to watch a top match angler being interviewed. This man has many national competition wins to his name, his club achievements are up with the best and the part I like most, he thinks outside the square.
Can we learn from such a person? Well I would suggest ignore his advice at you peril. When the fishing is hard (sound familiar) he fishes a three hook rig, his reasoning most fish are shoal fish, when one finds a bait that fish is very likely to have company. He backs this statement with the information he will often wind in two, sometimes a full house of three fish.
He also offers the suggestion, he will watch the rod, see a take, and immediately walk away and have a cup of tea. He believes if baited properly with the hook point and barb exposed, that fish will hook itself and then with the fuss it's causing it will attract others to see what's going on ... hence double and triple hook ups.
One last hint he throws our way, there is no reason why, if you play a large fish properly, you shouldn't land it on a small hook. He qualified this by explaining the night before one of his customers had cleaned up a match landing four nice bass all taken on size 1 hooks, that is not 1/0, size 1. He used the old and well known expression, you can catch a large fish on a small hook, you can miss many smaller, very acceptable fish by using a too larger hook.
Of course to the diehards such an idea would be ridiculous, but to those who are relatively new to the sport and not having a great deal of success, it could be well worth a try.
One other pointer I have picked up is the number of European anglers who are now carrying a lighter carp rod along with their heavier surf gear. The whole idea of the much lighter rod is to have the baits in the area where the beach pebbles meet up with the sand. Once more there is a reason. After a blow a lot of shell fish have been dislodged and when they hit the stones they are smashed by the breaking waves. It is common sense to have a few baits in this area because the fish are very aware with broken shellfish there is a ready feed to be had.
With the heavy emphasis now placed on distance casting the idea of fishing really really short is almost alien, yet if you think about it and look at the number of empty shells on the beach, the evidence is there to be seen. Does it work? Why do you think the importance of a second rod cast very short is really taking off and paying dividends?
I have to agree with a lot of that Hangler. You may have read in the paper of my changes (similar direction) for the coming season in the local paper recently. Just a word though for those who will follow your lead word for word, most surfcasting clubs do not allow three hooks to be used during club fishing. Any other time go for it. The snapper don't know where the car park is! Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.
Sorry, I don't take a newspaper (too depressing) and I don't fish competitions, club or otherwise.
This post was aimed mostly at those who are starting out or those who have the basics but their catch rate is not what it should be or could be.
I have just added to the opening post names of the terminal gear required for the three hook rig, of course the same can be used for making it a two hook rig.
This is ideal should a few gurnard be in the area feeding, also red cod. Whilst I appreciate red cod may not be to the liking of some anglers, better to catch what is available than blank.
One thing to wary of with the smaller hooks scenario is the amount of fish that will be gut hooked .
Most if not all fishers will " fish your feet first " Its a ancient saying and still true . However being able to push a bait out a long way or into a breeze is handy just so you are not limited to only fishing in close .
Freshwater coarse anglers the world over use very small hooks, certainly far smaller than sea anglers use. Carp up to fifty pounds are hooked, landed and successfully released with little or no harm.
I would suggest a fish hooked in the gills is far more likely to be an eventual fatality, as is a fish that is landed and then dragged up a stony beach to be unhooked near the angler's gear. Why this isn't done at the water's edge is beyond me. I will add to this, the number of New Zealand videos showing an angler holding a fish with his fingers in the gill covers prior to release astounds me. The gills are possibly the most delicate of all fish organs and often the most abused.
The safeguard to these problems is having the point and the barb well exposed, the moment the fish has the bait in its mouth it generally turns to swim away and is self hooked in the mouth area. The much loved long line torpedo angler generally uses a recurve hook that demonstrates this perfectly. He does not strike and in many cases the fish may be on a hook for some considerable time before being brought ashore. Most of those fish will be hooked in the corner of the mouth, this is the whole idea of the recurve system.
Many anglers have those vital parts of the hook, the point and the barb hidden or tied deeply into the bait, this means the fish will certainly ingest the hook. I suggest it is not the size of the hook that causes damage, it is poor bait presentation.
To push this point (no pun intended) many carp anglers do not have their hooks in the bait at all, they use a small loop that keeps the hook completely free of the bait when using boiles (sp). This is an extremely successful method of hooking large and small fish and invariably the fish is hooked in the mouth and in many YouTube videos the hook with actually fall out when the fish is netted.
For those of you who have no idea what a boilie is here are a couple of pictures showing how they are presented. The hook is well away from the actual bait, there is no reason why this method cannot be used with most salt water baits and the hook will invariably catch in the lips of mouth.
Those colored balls are a man made highly oiled, scented bait, they are not a float although they very much look like one. This helps when the lake bed is silty, the bait (and hook) are suspended just off the bottom.
Well said, many years ago an old fisherman with many years of surf casting exeperience said: You young ones always try to cast to the other side of the ocean. Fish your feet first and on that day he was the only person to catch fish. I always fish one rod out as far as i can cast and i fish the other rod just over the first breaker hitting the beach. We have caught many rig on the closest bait in, than the other way around.Thanks for your good information.
You're very welcome, David. Once I can settle after recent happenings I will report on the flapper rig if there is anything worth mentioning.
Last season, although I started quite late, I had a really excellent period right up until I went to China in May.
This year, for the first time ever, I am going to keep a diary: venue, tide, conditions, bait, successful rig, time fished and fish landed, lost or blanked. I will also be recording the fished caught at the full distance of my cast, and those caught close in. I will be leaning toward a good test of shellfish baits close in.
I am simply curious as to the figures over a season.
Here's some Pania Surfcasting Club catch records for last season 2014-2015 The clubs fishing area is Herbertville in the south to Mahanga just north of Mahia. Most members tend to fish the more Northern areas.
This is the total number of fish weighed over 12 Field Weekends between Sept and May.
The red cod thing is a (you had to be there)joke from seasons past when we were plagued with them.The snapper don't know where the car park is! Sometimes it is better to travel than to arrive.
on 20/9/2015, 4:26 pm
