Sea fishing - any advice?

[QUAID]

I would NEVER EVER EVER eat those things.... If there are Rag or lug worms around then there are other types of food - Seaweed, lympits, mussles etc.

Peeler Crabs are Excellent baits, one of the finest. Normally a good bait would be a cocktail of peeler crab, rag/lug worm and tipped off with a piece of squid.
Peeler crab is excellent on its own though. At low tide under rocks they lurk. Smaller ones sit on the hook a lot better. For the bigger peeler crabs, cut them in half.
They are easily identified as their shells should be starting to shed at their base. Collect them the day before ideally and store them in sea water the night before. When ready to use, take off the legs and peel the hard shell off, leaving a jelly like body. Place on the hook and wrap them a couple of times with elastic cotton to keep them from flying off the hook when casting.

This is a great bait, eg - Most fish i catch winter & summer have crabs in their stomachs.

Go for a hook size of around 1/0 - 3/0 max for shore fishing. (A big fish will take a small hook, but a small fish wont easily take a big hook).

[Devonian]

Another vote here for peeler crab, it's a great bait.

We also use Lug worm around the beach/estuary and then ragworm further up river.

Never really had much success with artificial spinners or lures, other than using feathers for mackerel.

[QUAID]

Not much success with Spinning either, although a 'spoon' type lure with some bait has worked for me with flounders / plaice.
The only time an 'artificial' worm has worked for me was with Pollack - fishing from the rocks.

[Devonian]

Yes, the spoons are good in this area for Flounder as well.

Have you ever tried the sidewinder eels:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150879510381? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I keep reading good things about them, but have never found anyone who has actually used them???

[farnet]

I remember catching loads of pollock when I was a kid, but I will never ever eat them now due to a bad experience.

I brought some home for my mum, and when she gutted them the intestines (in all the fish) were alive, just full of worms.

I'm not a squeemish person but that has had a lasting effect on me.....made me shiver just thinking about it...

[QUAID]

Tried some artificial sand eels a few times, but didn't have much success with them.

For any other readers out there, what success rates do you get whilst fishing?

It is not as lucrative as many people think....
During summer the fish are plentifull and i almost never fail to catch, sometimes up to 50 fish in one go (mackeral).
During the rest of the year i'll catch an edible size fish (legal size limits) every other trip.

[Devonian]

A good trip would be a couple of reasonable sized flounders and a bass.

But it's not uncommon to come away empty handed...... not ideal in a survival situation.

[munchh]

Any luck with bank lines?

I would think being able to set some lines and get on with something else (SHTF) would be a better senario?


Just thinking out load, ive only tried sea fishing twicw, the first time i left my frozen sand eels on the dash of the car to warm up and by the time i got to the beach i had cooked them and the other time i just blanked and went home.

I have been course angling all my life, so i can transfeer my skills i recon, but im 35miles from the beach so dont get chance really.

[Devonian]

Never tried them, but I cant see bank lines working for shore fishing, the currents/tides are too strong and they will simply get snagged with seaweed and debris.

[farnet]

I do think if it was a SHTF situation, you would be quite happy with beach combing, and rock pooling...

You can get tonnes of shrimp, winkles, small crabs that is where we are very lucky in the UK.

Proper line fishing would be a luxury in that situation.