Level-wind?

....and going full circle on the rod thing, I too live and fish in NW
Scotland (a bit further N than Angus's Applecross) and have been
fishing here since kid-hood many years ago, mostly from boats. Just
this year I was looking to buy a carp rod so I could get more sport out
of catching all these hard-fighting Pollock ...

In article 4325fa02.0@entanet, Eric The Viking
wrote:

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...

[ Long range beachcasting is a specialist technique that you only need to
consider if you have very flat, featureless beaches and the fish swim at
extreme range. It so happens that there are a few venues like this near
London and home counties journalists naturally write about the conditions
they experience. Most anglers in the west - with a few exceptions in
Lancashire/Cumbria - could fish successfully for a lifetime without even
owning a conventional beachcaster. OK, most do use one sometimes when
fishing is slow or the whiting are running.
]

Utter bilge.

:-) Go on, think about it...

Longe range casting isn't just for casting long ranges. When fishing into
the wind the ability to put some extra power behind the cast ( long range
techniques ) allows you to put the lead out far enough to get into calmer
water and get a grip on the bottom. Under such conditions you may still
only be getting 40yds - but anglers than can't cast as far end up packing up
and going home.

Some would check the weather forecast and put in brownie points at home
until the storm is dropping and the disturbed bait is dropping out of the
water column into the gutter...

If you can cast long distances you have the option of fishing close in, or
far out. Anglers that cannot cast long distances can only fish close in.

Fine. There are almost always more close in. Leave the specialist
long-range stuff 'til it's needed.

The whole point is widening your options, if your limited to short range
you had better hope the fish are close in.

Furthermore distance casting in itself has developed into a sport enjoyed by
many anglers. The process of learning and prefecting the pendulum cast or

Which is fine if that's what you want. Have fun. The OP is beginning
sal****er -fishing- and has been misled into following a standard form that
would result in him catching fewer fish than he might.

With respect to beachcasters, what beaches do you fish on where the anglers
"use one sometimes when fishing is slow or the whiting are running"? Have

Practically all of them. The pity is that many use them the rest of the
time too. By far the greatest number of the fish I catch from the shore are
taken flyfishing.

you been fishing since the 60's? Blimey even Mackerel fishermen use
beachcasters. I don't think I have fished a single shore match that didn't
feature dozens of beachcasters.

A classic story is the one where two anglers turned up at a local beach to
find a match in progress. Dozens of beachcasters. They wandered down the
beach flicking out plugs and spinners between the matchmen and caught and
returned a dozen or so bass, several of them sizeable. The match was won
with two smll flatties.

On another local beach (Chesil) organisers took to banning floatfishing with
groundbait for gar and scad because the same two or three anglers were
winning everything.

Just because match anglers all do the same thing it doesn't follow that they
know what they're doing.

What strangely misguided advice.

I don't think I've used a beachcaster in the last three years - but I've
caught plenty.

Cheerio,

--

In article , Angus Robins
wrote:

BTW are dogfish a nuisance...I thought that they might offer a good bit of

Sometimes. Luckily they don't often get to a float fished bait.

sport on the right tackle and I was hoping that I might stand a chance of a
shore caught Tope. Perhaps I'm being a little over-optimistic: beginners

The few places where that is a possibility are way beyond long casting
(possible exception during the spring spawning run.) One I can think of is
a very flat estuary where you wade out at low tide, cast half a flounder
into the channel, wade back and retreat as the tide rises and begin to hope
for a take about an hour an a half and three hundred yards later. You can
understand the frustration if that turns out to be a small doggie...

However, all I own are present are some carp rods, so I'll have to get

They will do for at least three quarters of your fishing. Carp rods are
made to deal with fish up to thirty pounds or so and there's not a lot you
can expect from the shore that runs larger.

carefully to any more snippets on the pros and cons of multipliers but why
not use an 11' or 12', 4 - 6oz beachcaster even for quite close-in rocky
shore work?

You can if you like but they're awkward to hold, lousy for playing fish
(designed for casting, not fishing) and vastly overgun most of the fish
you'll meet.

I was quite used to handling carp from the margins on a rod of
that length.

So use the carp rods. Only copy the other beachcasting anglers if and when
they are catching more and better fish than you.

Cheerio,

--

Angus,

Which is fine if that's what you want. Have fun. The OP is beginning
sal****er -fishing- and has been misled into following a standard form that
would result in him catching fewer fish than he might.

Derek has a very good point here, horizon blasting can be necessary
to reach fish on very flat beaches but around your area there's plenty
of deep water close to and you can easily over-cast the fish as they'll
be feeding in the weedy/rocky margins rather than the 'desert' further out.

Blimey even Mackerel fishermen use beachcasters.

And that's a real shame, mackerel on light tackle = fun, mackerel on
a 6 feather string and beachcaster = waste.

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:17:42 +0000 (UTC), seaside
wrote:

Angus,

Which is fine if that's what you want. Have fun. The OP is beginning
sal****er -fishing- and has been misled into following a standard form that
would result in him catching fewer fish than he might.

Derek has a very good point here, horizon blasting can be necessary
to reach fish on very flat beaches but around your area there's plenty
of deep water close to and you can easily over-cast the fish as they'll
be feeding in the weedy/rocky margins rather than the 'desert' further out.

There are areas where fishing close in demands very heavy tackle
indeed. On the east coast, particularly northwards from Northumberland
to NE Scotland, most anglers use heavy beachcasters and anything from
30lb bs line upwards to tackle the rough ground cod fishing.
The fish are usually close in, and you could quite easily use a carp
rod to reach them, and such a rod would be more than capable of
handling any fish likely to be encountered. What a light rod couldn't
do is get the fish out of the kelp tangles in the first place.
The anglers up there don't use heavy tackle because they're numpties
who don't know any better. In summer many of them use carp and light
spinning rods to tackle the pollack, mackerel and estuary flatties,
and even bass where they're to be found, but experience has shown that
such gear is totally inadequate to bully cod out of the real rough
ground.
Such fishing might not appeal to the 'purist' but demands skills of
its own, and to denigrate the use of beachcasters without taking into
account the circumstances which have led to them being the 'weapon of
choice'in some areas and at some times is as blinkered as saying that
only beachcasters have a place in sea angling.
I use everything from fly gear at one end of the spectrum to heavy
rock rods at the other, throughout the course of a year, and I'd be
hard put to say which gives the most pleasure.

Cheers
Ian D

In message , seaside
writes
Blimey even Mackerel fishermen use beachcasters.

And that's a real shame, mackerel on light tackle = fun, mackerel on
a 6 feather string and beachcaster = waste.
Depends how long the barbeque has left to burn. Fastest time from sea to
plate was just a tad under 10 mins which I don't think you could achieve
if you are 'playing' the fish with light tackle.
--
Clint Sharp

In article , Clint Sharp
wrote:

Depends how long the barbeque has left to burn. Fastest time from sea to
plate was just a tad under 10 mins which I don't think you could achieve
if you are 'playing' the fish with light tackle.

Why is the unhooking, killing, gutting and dropping onto BBQ process faster
if the fish is lifted from the water on a 50lb feather snood rather than a
6lb bs straight through freeline?

Cheerio,

--

In message , Derek.Moody
writes
In article , Clint Sharp
wrote:

Depends how long the barbeque has left to burn. Fastest time from sea to
plate was just a tad under 10 mins which I don't think you could achieve
if you are 'playing' the fish with light tackle.

Why is the unhooking, killing, gutting and dropping onto BBQ process faster
if the fish is lifted from the water on a 50lb feather snood rather than a
6lb bs straight through freeline?

Cheerio,

Because you're not playing the fish for five minutes before you lift it,
I suppose I should have said from strike to plate really. It also helps
if you have a fully occupied 6 hook set of feathers if you're feeding
several people which I think you would have difficulty retrieving on the
rig you mention.
--
Clint Sharp

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...
In article 4325fa02.0@entanet, Eric The Viking
wrote:

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...

[ Long range beachcasting is a specialist technique that you only need
to
consider if you have very flat, featureless beaches and the fish swim
at
extreme range. It so happens that there are a few venues like this
near
London and home counties journalists naturally write about the
conditions
they experience. Most anglers in the west - with a few exceptions in
Lancashire/Cumbria - could fish successfully for a lifetime without
even
owning a conventional beachcaster. OK, most do use one sometimes when
fishing is slow or the whiting are running.
]

Utter bilge.

:-) Go on, think about it...

Longe range casting isn't just for casting long ranges. When fishing
into
the wind the ability to put some extra power behind the cast ( long range
techniques ) allows you to put the lead out far enough to get into calmer
water and get a grip on the bottom. Under such conditions you may still
only be getting 40yds - but anglers than can't cast as far end up packing
up
and going home.

Some would check the weather forecast and put in brownie points at home
until the storm is dropping and the disturbed bait is dropping out of the
water column into the gutter...

Some of the best fishing is in stormy weather, not to mention to
exhilaration of your nostrils being force fed sea air at 40 MPH! Or match
fishing for that matter, if you turn up for a match and it's blowing a
hoolie you will stand a better chance oif winning if you can fish the
conditions. Ok, match fishing isn't everything but it's another aspect of
fishing that benefits from a wide range of techniques and tools.

If you can cast long distances you have the option of fishing close in,
or
far out. Anglers that cannot cast long distances can only fish close in.

Fine. There are almost always more close in. Leave the specialist
long-range stuff 'til it's needed.

Absolutely, but remeber there are times when it is right to leave the carp
gear at home too.

The whole point is widening your options, if your limited to short range
you had better hope the fish are close in.

Furthermore distance casting in itself has developed into a sport enjoyed
by
many anglers. The process of learning and prefecting the pendulum cast
or

Which is fine if that's what you want. Have fun. The OP is beginning
sal****er -fishing- and has been misled into following a standard form
that
would result in him catching fewer fish than he might.

The OP actually started the thread by asking a genuine question about
casting distances and hasn't necessarily been mislead into anything. I
think its more misleading to summarily dismiss 'heavy fishing' and coax the
OP down a single route. Fishing is all about building skills in various
areas, sometimes light tackle is right, sometimes heavy tackle is right.
There is no single right way to sea fish, the best an angler can do - even a
beginner, is to just go out and fish without worrying that they are using
the right tackle, the right bait and the right techniques. This is all
knowledge that comes with experience.

With respect to beachcasters, what beaches do you fish on where the
anglers
"use one sometimes when fishing is slow or the whiting are running"?
Have

Practically all of them. The pity is that many use them the rest of the
time too. By far the greatest number of the fish I catch from the shore
are
taken flyfishing.

If you predominantly use a fly rod then you are going to catch more fish on
a fly rod. If you always use a beachcaster then you will always catch fish
on a beachcaster.

you been fishing since the 60's? Blimey even Mackerel fishermen use
beachcasters. I don't think I have fished a single shore match that
didn't
feature dozens of beachcasters.

A classic story is the one where two anglers turned up at a local beach to
find a match in progress. Dozens of beachcasters. They wandered down the
beach flicking out plugs and spinners between the matchmen and caught and
returned a dozen or so bass, several of them sizeable. The match was won
with two smll flatties.

I have fished matches where I have been stuffed by anglers using coarse gear
to catch Mullet - I fished for Wrasse with heavy gear and blanked, they used
match rods and weighed in 7 or 8lbs. I have also fished matches where I
have stuffed people using match gear, they caught no Mullet, I caught a 13lb
Conger. Who was right?

On another local beach (Chesil) organisers took to banning floatfishing
with
groundbait for gar and scad because the same two or three anglers were
winning everything.

I have fished these matches on Chesil, personally I think the ban is a good
thing as often 1st prize would go to 45lbs of Garfish. Thats just absolute
slaughter. Besides catching garfish after garfish after garfish just gets
plain boring after an hour or two. I usually fish two rods in these
conditions, beachcaster with big bait on the bottom at various ranges and
while waiting for a bite the carp rod goes out with a float on for a bit of
fun. The two styles of fishing aren't mutually exclusive.

Just because match anglers all do the same thing it doesn't follow that
they
know what they're doing.

True, but doesn't mean the techniques and tackle are to be 'poo-pooed'.

What strangely misguided advice.

I don't think I've used a beachcaster in the last three years - but I've
caught plenty.

Good to hear it. I've caught plenty on heavy tackle fished at long range
;-)

Cheerio,

--

In article 432a9049.0@entanet, Eric The Viking
wrote:

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...

Some would check the weather forecast and put in brownie points at home
until the storm is dropping and the disturbed bait is dropping out of the
water column into the gutter...

Some of the best fishing is in stormy weather, not to mention to
exhilaration of your nostrils being force fed sea air at 40 MPH! Or match

I would never suggest a beginner fished in the teeth of a f8 gale. It's
risky even for experienced anglers especially in NW Scotland.

fishing for that matter, if you turn up for a match and it's blowing a
hoolie you will stand a better chance oif winning if you can fish the
conditions. Ok, match fishing isn't everything but it's another aspect of
fishing that benefits from a wide range of techniques and tools.

No sane organiser would continue in such conditions, there will be some
sort of alternative venue or a postponement.


The OP actually started the thread by asking a genuine question about
casting distances and hasn't necessarily been mislead into anything. I

It was clear from the question that he had already been misled.

think its more misleading to summarily dismiss 'heavy fishing' and coax the

I don't recall dismissing heavy fishing anywhere in this thread. Perhaps
you can remind me where I did so.

If you predominantly use a fly rod then you are going to catch more fish on
a fly rod. If you always use a beachcaster then you will always catch fish
on a beachcaster.

Quite. I bet I have more fun though :-)

I have fished matches where I have been stuffed by anglers using coarse gear
to catch Mullet - I fished for Wrasse with heavy gear and blanked, they used
match rods and weighed in 7 or 8lbs. I have also fished matches where I
have stuffed people using match gear, they caught no Mullet, I caught a 13lb
Conger. Who was right?

None of you. Matchfishing is another highly specialised regime which is
over reported in the angling press and seriously misleads beginners. You
would almost certainly have caught more if you had not entered the match in
the first place.

On another local beach (Chesil) organisers took to banning floatfishing
with
groundbait for gar and scad because the same two or three anglers were
winning everything.

I have fished these matches on Chesil, personally I think the ban is a good
thing as often 1st prize would go to 45lbs of Garfish. Thats just absolute
slaughter. Besides catching garfish after garfish after garfish just gets
plain boring after an hour or two. I usually fish two rods in these

So now light tackle is to be eschewed because you catch more?
My original point was?

Cheerio,

--