Surfcasting Fishing Tips
Keep all your bait scraps and bait fish carcasses and keep them in the freezer
to use as burley on your next fishing trip. Even when surfcasting from the
beach, just throw in a good lump of burley and within a very short time you will
attract the fish.
Try to use keeper hooks on your rigs. Not only does the keeper hook help to present your bait nicely, you will be amazed at how often the fish is actually caught on the small keeper hook. Not just small fish either!
Try to use keeper hooks on your rigs. Not only does the keeper hook help to present your bait nicely, you will be amazed at how often the fish is actually caught on the small keeper hook. Not just small fish either!
Use Attractor Beads, Luminous
Tube, and flashy things on your rig near the hook to help attract fish to your
bait.
If you know that snapper or other large bitey fish are being caught in your area at the time, use strong rigs and put some protective tubing on your trace near the hook to help avoid being bitten off.
If you know that snapper or other large bitey fish are being caught in your area at the time, use strong rigs and put some protective tubing on your trace near the hook to help avoid being bitten off.
Use Attractor Beads, Luminous
Tube, and flashy things on your rig near the hook to help attract fish to your
bait.
If you know that snapper or other large bitey fish are being caught in your area at the time, use strong rigs and put some protective tubing on your trace near the hook to help avoid being bitten off.
When going out on your fishing trip, take a variety of bait with you. Usually pilchards, bonito, trevally and mackerel work well.
If you know fish are there and they are not biting what you are offering, then try some other type of bait.
When you do catch a fish, open it up and inspect it's stomach to see what they are eating. If they are eating very small baitfish then try to cut your bait in the same style to represent a small baitfish (a strip bait). If they are eating crabs then cut a big blobby shaped piece of bait. If they are eating worms, tie on a strip of red material to your bait to represent a worm.
Increasing your distance with your cast can be very useful for getting into the right channel or hole where the bigger fish are. We've designed our rigs to enable you to achieve those extra few metres by making them more streamlined. Rigs with only a single trace with a strip bait fly much better than double or triple traced rigs with big chunks of bait attached.
Rigs with bait clips on them fly even better with the whole rig set-up being very aerodynamic. The shape of the sinker also makes a difference.
Use a good quality mainline (no heavier than 18lb) but be sure to use a shockleader, or your line will keep breaking off. (preferably a tapered shockleader so that you end up with a nice small knot where the shockleader joins onto your mainline and will fly through the guides easily) Straight off the ground cast Good casts require a lot of practice. With this cast start facing in the direction you want to cast to. Place your sinker directly behind you in a straight line with it resting on the ground. Your rod tip should be pointing down in the same direction and in-line with the sinker. Maintain enough pressure on the line to just feel the weight of the sinker. (Don't forget to open up your bail arm on your reel and make sure drag is up tight).
Start the cast by using your body weight to pull the rod up in a smooth movement (to load up the power in your rod) and turning your body to face the right direction while pulling down your leading arm and finishing with a 'punch' from your trailing arm.
Releasing the line off your finger at the right moment also takes a lot of practice. A lot of people find it falls of their finger automatically, but try to release it when the rod is at about the 1 o'clock position. After casting, wind up any slack line, loosen off the drag a bit and place rod in your rod holder.
Have fun! but watch out for other people around you when casting. The odd stray cast does happen from time to time. Also see the Robinson Auto Caster
Instructions on how to tie a tapered shockleader onto your mainline Autumn is a great time of year to get out and go fishing. The fish are in much closer, the weather is (slightly) more settled and the fish are hungry.
So check your fishing rods and reels.
Make sure you have no scratches or nicks on your guides by rubbing a cotton bud around and inside your guides. Give your reels a birthday treat by cleaning them and check that your drags are working properly. Nothing worse than a sticky drag.
Now, check your tackle box!
Plenty of sinkers, sharp hooks (don't bother keeping your old rusty hooks - dispose of them safely), clips, swivels, etc.
Check your rigs.
Do they need replacing? repairing? Experts say to use a new rig every time you go on a fishing expedition After all, you spend a lot of money on a good rod and reel but it's the end tackle that actually catches the fish!!
Check your bait supplies
The best bait is fresh bait (at least not some old bait that been sitting in the freezer for months or years) Bait gets freezer burnt and the fish won't touch it. Why go to all the trouble and expense of good tackle gear, and use old bait?
How to spool your line
Modern monofilament line is tough and requires little care. But here are a few tips that beginners should follow to keep their line in the best possible condition..
Sunlight weakens monofilament. Don't leave in direct sunlight when you are not using it. Pronglong heat weakens it. Never store your line (or your rods) in hot areas like car boots or a back car window, attics etc. The best place to store your fishing rods and excess line is in a dark, cool room, closet or garage.
Don't let your line come in contact with gasoline, oil, suntan lotion, or other harm-full chemicals. These cause monofilament line to break down or become brittle.
Even with proper care and normal use, monofilament lines ages. It's a good idea to periodically strip and replace old line. Two line changes a year should be sufficient - at the beginning and the middle of the season.
Last but most important be on constant guard against nicks abrasions or other weak spots in your line. You can detect these spots by running the line through your thumb and forefinger. If you find a rough spot, clip off the line above the bad spot and retie your bait. It's better to lose a few feet of line than to lose that trophy fish!
Night Fishing
IS NIGHT FISHING BETTER THAN DAY FISHING?
This really depends on the species you are targeting. Day fishing is more productive if fishing in coloured water than in clear water and also better on cloudy days than bright sunny days. Also day fishing is probably more convenient for the whole family to enjoy.
However, night fishing can produce some excellent sized fish especially the big predatory type fish that come in closer to feed at night.
Night fishing is a great expe and an excellent way of testing all your senses. You have to cast in the dark and use your ears to listen to your line going out(it always sounds like it's going out a long way). You have to feel when your sinker hits the water or the bottom so that you can readily take up any slack. You wil be on full alert at all times. Of course, to make life easier, take a good lamp and/or torch with you. Attach a tip light to your rod so that you can easily see any bites and that your rod is actually still standing up and hasn't been washed down by the incoming tide.
DO LUMINOUS ATTRACTORS REALLY WORK?
Yes, yes, yes. They really do. From a number of experiments we've carried out, the rigs with luminous tubing and beads have definetly caught far more fish than the ones without.
Just shine your torch on the luminous tubes for a few seconds before casting to increase the glow.
Baiting up using Pilchards and making cocktail baits
The Pulley Rig & How it Works
Learn how to make a sliding stop knot
Winter
At this time of year the the fish are not all that hungry because they have been gorging themselves on all the whitebait and small bait fish. What they are probably more interested in, is probably snack food. After all, would you like to have a large roast meal and then five minutes later have another one. (Well, some of you might) Personally, I would be far more tempted with an after dinner mint straight after a large meal. So next time you go out try this.
Only use a small piece of bait to resemble a very small bait fish or whitebait and use smallish hooks. Also try using shorter traces to give the baited hook a quicker movement in the water and add a 5cm length of lumo tubing and lumo beads to the trace. Try attaching a short traced fly onto a single ledger rig. The one shown here is a regular Fixed Kahawai Rig. A small piece of strip bait can be placed onto the hook if desired (ensure the bait is only hooked through once so that it kind of swings).
Having the trace short will add better movement to make the fly work at it's best.
The fly acts as an attractor and also...if the bait gets stolen, there is still the fly left to entice that hungry fish.
If you know that snapper or other large bitey fish are being caught in your area at the time, use strong rigs and put some protective tubing on your trace near the hook to help avoid being bitten off.
When going out on your fishing trip, take a variety of bait with you. Usually pilchards, bonito, trevally and mackerel work well.
If you know fish are there and they are not biting what you are offering, then try some other type of bait.
When you do catch a fish, open it up and inspect it's stomach to see what they are eating. If they are eating very small baitfish then try to cut your bait in the same style to represent a small baitfish (a strip bait). If they are eating crabs then cut a big blobby shaped piece of bait. If they are eating worms, tie on a strip of red material to your bait to represent a worm.
Increasing your distance with your cast can be very useful for getting into the right channel or hole where the bigger fish are. We've designed our rigs to enable you to achieve those extra few metres by making them more streamlined. Rigs with only a single trace with a strip bait fly much better than double or triple traced rigs with big chunks of bait attached.
Rigs with bait clips on them fly even better with the whole rig set-up being very aerodynamic. The shape of the sinker also makes a difference.
Use a good quality mainline (no heavier than 18lb) but be sure to use a shockleader, or your line will keep breaking off. (preferably a tapered shockleader so that you end up with a nice small knot where the shockleader joins onto your mainline and will fly through the guides easily) Straight off the ground cast Good casts require a lot of practice. With this cast start facing in the direction you want to cast to. Place your sinker directly behind you in a straight line with it resting on the ground. Your rod tip should be pointing down in the same direction and in-line with the sinker. Maintain enough pressure on the line to just feel the weight of the sinker. (Don't forget to open up your bail arm on your reel and make sure drag is up tight).
Start the cast by using your body weight to pull the rod up in a smooth movement (to load up the power in your rod) and turning your body to face the right direction while pulling down your leading arm and finishing with a 'punch' from your trailing arm.
Releasing the line off your finger at the right moment also takes a lot of practice. A lot of people find it falls of their finger automatically, but try to release it when the rod is at about the 1 o'clock position. After casting, wind up any slack line, loosen off the drag a bit and place rod in your rod holder.
Have fun! but watch out for other people around you when casting. The odd stray cast does happen from time to time. Also see the Robinson Auto Caster
Instructions on how to tie a tapered shockleader onto your mainline Autumn is a great time of year to get out and go fishing. The fish are in much closer, the weather is (slightly) more settled and the fish are hungry.
So check your fishing rods and reels.
Make sure you have no scratches or nicks on your guides by rubbing a cotton bud around and inside your guides. Give your reels a birthday treat by cleaning them and check that your drags are working properly. Nothing worse than a sticky drag.
Now, check your tackle box!
Plenty of sinkers, sharp hooks (don't bother keeping your old rusty hooks - dispose of them safely), clips, swivels, etc.
Check your rigs.
Do they need replacing? repairing? Experts say to use a new rig every time you go on a fishing expedition After all, you spend a lot of money on a good rod and reel but it's the end tackle that actually catches the fish!!
Check your bait supplies
The best bait is fresh bait (at least not some old bait that been sitting in the freezer for months or years) Bait gets freezer burnt and the fish won't touch it. Why go to all the trouble and expense of good tackle gear, and use old bait?
How to spool your line
Modern monofilament line is tough and requires little care. But here are a few tips that beginners should follow to keep their line in the best possible condition..
Sunlight weakens monofilament. Don't leave in direct sunlight when you are not using it. Pronglong heat weakens it. Never store your line (or your rods) in hot areas like car boots or a back car window, attics etc. The best place to store your fishing rods and excess line is in a dark, cool room, closet or garage.
Don't let your line come in contact with gasoline, oil, suntan lotion, or other harm-full chemicals. These cause monofilament line to break down or become brittle.
Even with proper care and normal use, monofilament lines ages. It's a good idea to periodically strip and replace old line. Two line changes a year should be sufficient - at the beginning and the middle of the season.
Last but most important be on constant guard against nicks abrasions or other weak spots in your line. You can detect these spots by running the line through your thumb and forefinger. If you find a rough spot, clip off the line above the bad spot and retie your bait. It's better to lose a few feet of line than to lose that trophy fish!
Night Fishing
IS NIGHT FISHING BETTER THAN DAY FISHING?
This really depends on the species you are targeting. Day fishing is more productive if fishing in coloured water than in clear water and also better on cloudy days than bright sunny days. Also day fishing is probably more convenient for the whole family to enjoy.
However, night fishing can produce some excellent sized fish especially the big predatory type fish that come in closer to feed at night.
Night fishing is a great expe and an excellent way of testing all your senses. You have to cast in the dark and use your ears to listen to your line going out(it always sounds like it's going out a long way). You have to feel when your sinker hits the water or the bottom so that you can readily take up any slack. You wil be on full alert at all times. Of course, to make life easier, take a good lamp and/or torch with you. Attach a tip light to your rod so that you can easily see any bites and that your rod is actually still standing up and hasn't been washed down by the incoming tide.
DO LUMINOUS ATTRACTORS REALLY WORK?
Yes, yes, yes. They really do. From a number of experiments we've carried out, the rigs with luminous tubing and beads have definetly caught far more fish than the ones without.
Just shine your torch on the luminous tubes for a few seconds before casting to increase the glow.
Baiting up using Pilchards and making cocktail baits
The Pulley Rig & How it Works
Learn how to make a sliding stop knot
Winter
At this time of year the the fish are not all that hungry because they have been gorging themselves on all the whitebait and small bait fish. What they are probably more interested in, is probably snack food. After all, would you like to have a large roast meal and then five minutes later have another one. (Well, some of you might) Personally, I would be far more tempted with an after dinner mint straight after a large meal. So next time you go out try this.
Only use a small piece of bait to resemble a very small bait fish or whitebait and use smallish hooks. Also try using shorter traces to give the baited hook a quicker movement in the water and add a 5cm length of lumo tubing and lumo beads to the trace. Try attaching a short traced fly onto a single ledger rig. The one shown here is a regular Fixed Kahawai Rig. A small piece of strip bait can be placed onto the hook if desired (ensure the bait is only hooked through once so that it kind of swings).
Having the trace short will add better movement to make the fly work at it's best.
The fly acts as an attractor and also...if the bait gets stolen, there is still the fly left to entice that hungry fish.
