Gonna try Shaldon "beach" tomorrow night for bass

[devonutopia]

Well - one can hope can't one.

I was driving back from Torquay tonight so thought I'd take a small detour and drive down to the seafront, near the Ness, to check out the fishing, as it was pretty much 2 hours into the incoming tide. (around 10pm tonight).

There were quite a few peeps on my side, and I could see them in the "getting pretty bloody dark" light, over on the spit too. Left me wondering which side of the river was better and which got the incoming stream / channel the best. After watching the incoming water for a minute or so, I decided the Shaldon side was closer, marginally, although with a little weight it must be possible to cast RIGHT over the entire river at that point.

SOOOO, reckon I might nip down there with my uptider, rapala, and see what can be had out the water there. Reckon I'll start at 8pm, and maybe fish into the dark until around 11, and see what goes on.

LOOK OUT! The fishing bug is highly infectious, and I'm VERY sick.

[pingu]

good luck, hope the bass like the new rapalas

[Ben]

not as sick as me, i have realy been missing it all week
good luck tonight!

[bassbandit]

Good Luck Hope The Fish Are Feeding Well And Let US KNOW HOW YOU GET ON

[devonutopia]

It was rubbish. Think my tide timing may have been off....

I ended up fishing an hour of outgoing tide, half an hour of dead calm, and half an hour of incoming.... But my rapala never got a sniff at anything but the odd bit of weed.

Anyone know the best tide time to really make good of Shaldon beach fishing? There were a few peeps out tonight, quite a few on the spit too.

Funniest thing was as I was packing up to go home (no light) a bloke came walking down the spit 200 yards away carrying THE brightest lamp I've ever seen! I was having to squint to see it from the other side of the damn river! !

[Norfolkboy]

Better luck next time Jason

[bassbandit]

HI JASON SHAME ABOUT NO FISH BUT LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE IF YOU DONT GO NO CHANCE OF A FISH. BEST TIME TO FISH USUALY 2HRS EITHER SIDE OF LOW WATER BUT BETTER RESULTS ON SPRINGS THIS MAY BE WHY.
LIVE SANDEELS ARE A GOOD BET GIVE IT A TRY.

[devonutopia]

How does the live sandeel thing work then? Never tried them to be honest. Is that spinning a live sand eel, or just bottom fishing? I have a couple of bottom fishing rigs and a rod rest. It also sounds a lot less energetic than spinning, although I enjoy lobbing out a rapala / spinning rig a lot too.

[Plod]

Jason,

Either freeline them or put them on a long trace with a small sliding ball weight, just enough to get you out into the channel. Let them bounce along with the flow trying to keep as tight a line as you can, so that when you get a tug you can hit it. I have seen a lot of people have success with this method on both sides of the teign, at the mouth. Unfortunately I've only had a couple of go's at it, and failed both times.

I've also seen a bloke float fish with live sandeel off the spit. He also had some success.

Some ideas for you anyway,

Darren

[devonutopia]

Originally Posted by Plod

Jason,

Either freeline them or put them on a long trace with a small sliding ball weight, just enough to get you out into the channel. Let them bounce along with the flow trying to keep as tight a line as you can, so that when you get a tug you can hit it. I have seen a lot of people have success with this method on both sides of the teign, at the mouth. Unfortunately I've only had a couple of go's at it, and failed both times.

I've also seen a bloke float fish with live sandeel off the spit. He also had some success.

Some ideas for you anyway,

Darren

I tried using a small ball weight to give my rapala a little more go last night, but the combination of the ball & the rapala on a 6 foot trace couteracting each other, meant I was getting same distance but more tangles.

How long a trace do you reckon should be needed? Around 6 foot OK? Then, its just a question of getting hold of live sandeels. I've never used / bought them before.