Surf fishing- When they don't bite??

[Fisheasy]

Just a general question. When you hammer the beaches and the fish appear to be off the bite, do you make any changes to techniques, rigs, baits etc to attempt to get the bite happening. Doesn't matter the species.
Thanks

[agnes_jack]

Fisheasy
With all fishing changes in tactics will sometimes(but not always) be worth a try. It is hard to be specific without knowing your exact situation, But often things like different tide phase, casting distance, bait, place your fishing, rigs etc will make a difference.
Could even just be the wind direction in relation to where you are fishing. Experimentation is the go!

Regards Tony

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

do you make any changes to techniques, rigs, baits etc

rig is dependent on bait & conditions, technique is dependent on rig.

Fishing the beach isn't rocket science, the rigs are simple & the choice of baits are too. Fresh is best with live even better.

Tony pegged it, the important changes usually involve TIME (time of day, state of tide & time of moonphase) OR LOCATION (choice of beach form & where you are placing the bait in it).

To be more helpful,
What species are you chasing? Where?


seeyainthesurf,
chris

[NeilD]

When fishing the beaches you have to remember as light levels change, different species feed in various types of beach formations. The same goes for tide changes where one formation provides ideal feeding conditions at one stage of the tide and may hold nothing at all during a different tidal phase. I usually change target species, rigs and locations several times during a session keeping the above factors in mind

Cheers Neil

[sharkbait]

Try going down in line size to 6lb and a longer trace even 4 ft or more if you have to. Chris nailed it but, if I havent got live bait i dont bother, with a couple of exceptions

[Remo]

fisheasy, dont feel bad I fished the beach yesterday aftrnoon and didn't raise a scale. The week before I absolutely brained them Thats Fishing

I have a question? I love my 10.6 rod and 600b alvey reel but How the hell do you stop the line twisting around the sinker after a while of fishing.
30 years of fishing and still don't have an answer.

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Remo,
Last week was the run up to the full moon. This weeks the back end of the full. Try again next week between last quarter and the new moon on the 21st and let us know how you go.

As far as the twist; sh!t happens.
Best you can hope to do is minimise it.
1. I try to run off whatever length of line I have been casting after each trip to get any additional twists out. Usually there is a couple of hundred meters to walk up the beach, so I run the line out and drag it behind me for a while on the beach. Then rewind (under some tension) and I run it through a rag or shirt tail to get the sand off.
2. Next thing is I try to lay out the bait and leader after a cast with a couple of winds in after it lands. Hopefully then it will tumble sideways in any current and not over and around itself.
3. I find penn 10X as trace seems a bit stiffer and seems to sit out away from the swivel and sinker better.
4. Don't bother myself, but have read somehwere two swivels with your running sinker between is better for controlling twist. This might mean a longer length of line off the end of your rod when casting than what you would normally have and might fell a bit weird.
5. I cut off a couple of feet of line after each trip and get rid of the most heavily abused bit on the end that seems to be the worst bit for twists.
6. Sh!t happens.

As for the original question of the post; looks like the other guys have it covered. There is high tide holes and gutters and there is low tide holes and gutters. Sometimes there is only a few fish in each hole; sometimes the fish move.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Remo]

Gorilla,

Thanks for the advise, I have tried all those you mentioned,
but without Avail. The running out the line, I do very couple of trips. As you say, shit happens.

As per the moon, I normally fish the last week of the waning moon and the last week of the waxing moon.
But since I have been working on the G.C. I fish a couple of nights a week after work in different spots.

But thanks for the help

Ray

[sharkbait]

The two swivels, thats what alvey say to do. using your main line as leader might help. Also if you are using a cheaper line try something better, shogun or platil are good in 6lb and platinum in 8lb, like gorilla says get rid of a bit every time you use it and wash in freshwater as well.

[sams_fish]

re the 2 swivel rig, it is definitely an aid in reducing line twist, but the swivels need to be small, a number 12 or 14 swivel has a breaking strain of between 20 & 30 lbs, they are small but will handle the job. also really fine diameter lines twist much more than ordinary mono, i've been using platypus pink in the surf for years, not real fine diameter but is low stretch which helps, still twists after extended fishing sessions but i usually get rid of 3-4 metres of it after fishing,
hope this helps
regards
sams_fish

[Fisheasy]

Thanks heaps for your ideas.

[straddie]

Fisheasy
Bait changes, length of cast and trace lengths can often have the desired effect for me. Other times there might be a big school of kingies sitting in close putting the wind up the other residents of a gutter, they seem to lose their appetites when those and other thugs are about.

Remo
Pay careful attention to how you bait your hook, if you use a bent up pilchard with the last hook behind the gills, or a pippi that sits across the gape its going to spin and cause a lot of twists that are avoidable. Presentation can not only improve your catch rates but save you a lot of hassles as well.