Sprats for shore fishing

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Sprats for shore fishing ? Just been think which is rare I know, but does anyone have any good exper.. with using sprats whilst shore fishing

I suppose you have to use a minn pennel rig or use the frozen for casting

So any ideas as would like to know about sprats while shore fishing as I have used them for freshwater fishing and they are deadly for pike and zander

[devondave]

well in the next few weeks the large shoals of sprats start hitting the shoreline here and when they do so do the large macky and a few rarer species to my area.
in the torbay festival a couple years ago the sprats hit the shore so hard i had to sweep them off the pontoon to get to the boat without stepping on them!
that year 2 cod of over 10lb were caught in the strangest of places for cod in the bay here and its all because of the (sprat run)
alot of fish like them i have never used them but i would say around this time of the year would be the time to try with them

[fishypaul]

i too have had a similar experience,on dungeness beach a couple of years ago i witnessed mackerel chasing the sprats until they actually beached themselves,i put a couple on the hook,but caught none,the only time i have been sucessful with sprats,( apart from pike fishing)is pier fishing for whiting,they are much too soft for beachcasting,but a gentle lob from the pier with a sprat and lug cocktail can be deadly

[Ben]

on afew occasions i have been down the beach when tthe sea has come alive with sprats, shool bass love them along with sea gulls, i guess big bass will as well
i tryed float fishing white bait once before but didnt ca tch, wasnt really trying that hard though
i didnt think you liked shore fihsing that much richard

[steve devon]

used them but never had nothin on them

cant wait for those "rarer" species i would love to catch 1 or another triiger

[devondave]

well when i said rarer steve i mean the fish that won the torbay festival (was legit) i know the guy who caught it and it was a 12lb cod (which from shore in sept down here is rare and it was caught on meadfoot beach (which again is extremely rare.)
you can fish that beach all winter and not catch a cod and 2 came from there that week ll because they were following the sprats.
i havent heard of any sprats in the bay yet but once they do arrive in numbers the macky come and you cant get bread to the bottom in the harbour because of the macky!!
it doesnt happen everyyear in such a style but when they do arrive the macky too 2lb plus come along

[steve devon]

o rite i thought u ment rare species as in bream, triggers that kindof thing

[squirrel~]

thats wot might have been happening today, the gulls were going mad just along the bay where i was, i did think about going along but couldnt be arssed to lug all my gear over the rocks (bad attitude).
this was on the west coast of ireland, dont know where they would show first.. didnt even get a nibble in the end.. .....squ~

[JuanPablo]

yeah there are huge shoals of mackerel in the bristol channel right now = something which hasnt happened for years! witnessed a big shoal feeding on baitfish on the surface just last week...

[devondave]

plenty of bream in the salcombe estuary at the moment steve so i am being told. although on saying that i have had a fair few of the black and gilthead bream mysellf from inside torbay nothing huge but we live in hope lol