Beach Fishing Tackle

[I Love My Landy!]

G'day everyone,

This Christmas i was lucky enough to recieve a 12 foot beach fishing rod with Shimano 6000FB reel :thumbsup:. I do a bit of estuary fishing but i have never done any beach fishing and hence i am unsure of what sort of tackle i need to use. Can anybody advise me on suitable tackle i should purchase? (ie. hook types and sizes, swivels, sinkers etc). The rod is capable of taking 6-10kg fishing line. Which size would be the best to go for?

If it helps i live in Sydney and would fish roughly as far north as Forster and south to Batemans Bay.

Thank you in advance!

Edward :)

[Avrio]

well Edward welcome to the wonderful world of beach fishing

join this forum for some good ideas

Tacklebox Fishing Forum (http://www.tacklebox.com.au/forums/)

fishing the beach is very different and you need to be able to read a beach ie to know where the gutters and sand bars are that the fish use.

I would suggest to start with 2 types of sinker. A big star one if you need to cast out far ie over the surf and a rolling sinker so the bait can travel.
Good bait is fresh bait - pippies go well as do squid head and blue bait .

I love to go camping by the beach and fish day and night

[scarry]

We call it surf fishing up here,15lb line,12.5 ft rod & 6" Alvey reel;)
Also a Land Rover to get along the beach & find the best spots:D

What we do is usually look for a gutter & then work along it & see how you go.Use a running sinker,as small as possible,bean shape stops it being brought back in to quickly.Then a swivel,& a line trace around 500mm to the hook.
To large a sinker you get no feel,& cant get it out far enough,to small & it gets pulled back in to quickly.
Fresh worms or pipis are what we use & occasionally prawns.For tailor,etc,pilchards are also good.
Bait has to be on well as it gets a pounding in the surf.
For tailor we use gang hooks,for flathead,bream,dart,whiting,we use what we call a whiting hook,long shank,don't know what size it is,probably around 6 to 8mm across the gate,if you know what i mean.
This is my favourite type of fishing & i have done it for many years...

My son is starting to use soft plastics,but hasn't had much luck yet,he is still trying to get sorted with them,i find nothing beats a fresh pipi in the surf.

Your reel should be fine,but the fish will be different to what we get up here.
Once you get sorted ,you will be rewarded with some good catches.

[weeds]

yes for surf fishing an alvey reel is the go.....but these days you are seeing less of them

depends on what sort of fish you are chasing....but scarry has got it covered

[I Love My Landy!]

Thank you for all your replies!

I look foward to giving surf fishing a go!

Edward :)

[UNDEROVER]

Hey Ed,

as far as ganged hooks go for pillies, gar etc. I use mustads 7766's in 5/0, which are a closed eye hook, not the open eyes that are sold as suitable for ganging. My reason for this is that they are a thicker guage wire and therefore a stronger hook. I've had none open up since changing to this pattern, although the only drawback is that you have to open the eye up with pliers to be able to gang them. A decent hook file is required for all hooks barring maybe chemically sharpened ones, as they are not that great out of the packet. Also, get yourself a beach fishing only tackle box, as they will get sand in them which can wreck your other tackle.

Have fun...

[Chenz]

I have fished the surf for many years with a lot of very experienced old timers and I know I will get howled down but their name for Alvey reels is "Idiot Winders". I myself have tried using them and if you want a reel to twist your line up in a very short time - they are the reel for you.

I use a Mitchell 499 - yes I know it is an old reel but it has no bail arm, few moving parts and a huge drag. I have paired this up with a Butterworth 5 wrap 14 foot rod. Up until recently I had Tortue 20 pound mono but have recently taken that line off, which by the way has been on the reel for 8 years and is still as strong today as the day it went on, with 15 pound braid.

What a difference the braid makes in the surf. No stretch means you feel the smallest of bites and when you need to strike, the hook sets good and hard.

I have used this combo to pull fish from small whiting up to 15 kg jewfish and 6 foot bronze whaler sharks with no problem at all.

Any good quality egg beater, like a Shimano or Diawa if you look after it and wash it with fresh water when you get home will handle the surf.

Rigs vary from a simple paternoster rig to a running sinker rig with a 3-4oz ball or bean sinker to get you out the back should get you in the hunt. I agree with other posters that the lighter you fish the better with sinkers but when the surf is pounding and you need to get out past the break then a larger sinker is the go. Hooks vary as well depending on what you areb targeting but a good long shank hook in the 1 to 1/0 size will catch most fish like bream and flathead.

It is suprising how close to the beach some fish will come if the gutter is deep. I have caught tailor and bream no more than 15 metres out from the sand.

Some memorable days have also been had casting metal slice lures for tailor and salmon on 7 mile beach near Shoalhaven Heads. Best morning was over 70 tailor - kept 5 for a feed and let the rest go.

The beach is great place to fish. I watched and asked the old timers and have learnt from them to read a wash, where the gutters are and what times and baits are the best for target species. Fresh bait is best and once you have learned to catch beach worms - don't worry you will master it after 20 or thirty failed attempts, you will catch plenty of fish.

[Savanahkelpy]

I,m wondering how far north, surf fishing rods/rigs would be useful?. I,ve never seen them in use in FNQ, so i,m wondering what is the cut off point, in geographic terms?
Is it because we have the great barrier reef for the major part of qlds coast, and not much surf or large waves compared to southern beach,s,,(NSW or Victoria), or is there some other reason for the lack of popularity?
Laurie:confused:

[LandyAndy]

The surf rod gives you the cast distance you need if you can cast the thing!!!! I have casting isues due to a back injury!!!
The surf rod is a giant lever,if you can use it you are smiling:cool::cool::cool::cool:
Andrew

[HBWC]

like andy i have dificalty casting
so i have now made a air cannon its very handy

[Avrio]

tell me more !

[HBWC]

i'll get some pics when i get home (in a few days cause im landyless at the moment)
basicly i have a 24lt air tank conected to a aircompressor with a 100psi shutoff then a pipe with a cock valve that i plug into the tank

with in the pipe i put a tennis ball then my sinker and bait

then its as simple as aim and fire after its just a matter of waighting for the tenis ball to float back in