Using Freshwater Kit for Sea Fishing

[duncan]

Whilst you may well hook into 'anything' in some areas of the States Aku94, we can prety much guarantee the top end of our inshore/estuary/beach fishing here so he's not going to be outgunned by anything hooked!

However one consideration I would through in is line - or line capacity. Generally you will want to use stronger line because of the rough natureof the sea/estuary bottom; shell and sharp rocks abound hence the general use of 15lb. This needs a fairly big fixed spool to enable good casting. You can of course use braid and the floating 18/20lb used by many carp anglers is excellent in these conditions. 10lb mono will pretty quickly end up shredded though.

[tjnorton]

For me the best way i started was to go light and by a cheap beach cster outfit. I bought a abu garcia enticer rod and a shakesspear reel for foughly £70. SInce then i have now purchased a Zippie and a sloch 30. Its all about hwhat you feel confortabale with. When fishing for mackeral light gear is always the way to go. Fishing is about enjoyment, and what enjoyment do you get fishing heay tackle. You know you are going to land the fish.

tj

[CHUBB]

i do all my fishing with ULTRA light gear, sometimes that i go to the rarer extreme of catching fish that are way to heavy for the rod. for example, for wrasse fishing i sometimes use a 5foot £5 tourist spinning rod, and often i hook into a wrasse over 2lb, sometimes up to 4-5lbs! the prblem comes when the fish fights and the rod completely blanks out and bnds right over until it can bend no more. now that produces a VERY interesting senario, trying to fight a BIG bucking wrasse on a rod that is on the point of snapping, thrilling stuff

last year i snapped my old light rod witha BIIIIIGGGGGG wrasse and i lost the fish, it just dived, i set the hook and brought it up 2 feet anfd then it decided it wasnt going to get landed, and it didnt!

my advice: stay light, stay happy!!!!

[duncan]

I enjoy fishing light too but wouldn't include wrasse as a target species for fishing that way - they are a quick burst of energy fish rather than a stayer.

However you can get hours of fun out of a mackerel or scad .....literally, and conger on balanced gear and slack tide will tough it out for a long long time.

[CHUBB]

you are right but it something that you have to try at least once!!!!!!!

[devondave]

Originally Posted by james_carpman

Fair point aku94, i've landed Carp up to 25lb on the Carp rods i intend to use, so i can't see much of a problem using them for light sea fishing, plus i like a good fight from a fish I looked at some beach caster rods at the weekend and the blanks seemed so thick, for heavy weights/long distance casting i guess you need that kind of backbone in a rod, but surely the fight you get from fish under 10lb is weak??

i agree 100% alot of ppl underrate carp gear and say it isnt upto the standards of sea gear blahblah blah..... in my mind a carp rod is the best tool i have ever had for my fishing needs...

i use a match rod a 4lb line for the mullet and occasionally for the mackie when there is loads around and i want a challenge from it fish as light as you possibly can im going to be on princess pier for the mackie in the summer with a roach pole i cant wait for all the funny looks and comments

[CHUBB]

that should turna few heads, the strangest thing that i have seen off there is a sea trout and that was years ago.

good luck, maybe you will uncover a secret killer strategy!

[james_carpman]

Originally Posted by devondave

i agree 100% alot of ppl underrate carp gear and say it isnt upto the standards of sea gear blahblah blah..... in my mind a carp rod is the best tool i have ever had for my fishing needs...

i use a match rod a 4lb line for the mullet and occasionally for the mackie when there is loads around and i want a challenge from it fish as light as you possibly can im going to be on princess pier for the mackie in the summer with a roach pole i cant wait for all the funny looks and comments

ummm... Fishing with a pole, for mackeral... it could undoubtedly work but you'll have problem swinging in a large mackeral, unless you're using a very heavy elastic, anything soft and the elastic will just keep stretching without lifting the fish from the water... unless you have a drop net, then everything would be sweet

[greg]

mackerel on a pole that would be gr8 fun! i remember in gran canaria sum kids were catching the little fish in the harbour on a small pole and that looked like hardwork, i cant imagine how fun a mackerel would be, i might bring my feeder rod with a bit of mackerel guts mixed in the swimfeeder nxt time i go outany one tried it??

[greg]

mackerel on a pole that would be gr8 fun! i remember in gran canaria sum kids were catching the little fish in the harbour on a small pole and that looked like hardwork, i cant imagine how fun a mackerel would be, i might bring my feeder rod with a bit of mackerel guts mixed in the swimfeeder nxt time i go outany, one tried it??