Beginner needs some advice

I’ve only fished a few times, usually borrowing a rod a off someone. But when my birthday came around my girlfriend decided to get me a rod (Emerald Beachcaster 360, casting 200 – 300 gr.) and a reel (Penn GX6000).

Are they suitable for a beginner or should I change them for something else and what does “casting 200 – 300 gr.” refer to? I am probably going to be fishing around Howth and Wexford. The rod looks fine but the reel is enormous.

Thanks

Can't help much as I live in Clacton England and am not familiar with your area, but would strongly suggest you join a local angling club where you can gain vast experience from other anglers.Not come across your rod or reel before but I can tell you that your rod casts7-10ounces which is a bit on the heavy side for beach fishing if that is what you intend to do.

The emerald rods aren't great but they are cheap so you get what you pay for. If you can afford it and are thinking of going seriously into fishing than put a few more quid in and buy a ron thomson G-force otherwise the emarald rod will serve its pupose for the moment. Couple of guys in work have Emerald rods and they've taken a conger hitting 20lbs but the rings will break very easy if the rod gets dropped and compared to my penn rod they are awful to use. Are you sure thats the casting weight if so I'd change it to something lighter.

Donagh

Emerald rods are cheap and cheerful but the reel sounds like it could be a decent one, does it look something like this fixed spool one?:
http://www.thefishermansstore.com/store ... el6000.jpg
I'm guessing that the reel is a fixed spool type and is enormous as it's designed for beach fishing (This doesn't mean you can't use it for other methods)

Anyway, the rod and reel will do you fine if you are getting started (As long as the reel is fixed spool type) but it depends on the method of fishing you intend trying. When you went fishing before were you spinning (continuously casting and retrieving a lure or weighted feathers), float fishing (using a float to detect bites) or ledgering (Baited hook and fairly large weight, watch the rod tip for bites)? Were you fishing from rocks/pier or a beach?

The casting weight means that the rod is designed to cast a weight of 200 to 300 grams. This is the optimum weight for the rod for maximum distance. While it is a bit heavy it doesn't mean you won't be able to cast lighter weights you just won't be able to take full advantage of the rods (Aledged) ability. But don't worry about that it will probably do you fine for casting lighter weights from a pier or from rocks. It takes a lot of practice to be able to cast a long distance which can be required for beach fishing at the best of times, even experienced anglers find it difficult.

I'd advise you to use that outfit for ledgering or float fishing from rocks or from a pier, somewhere you can access deeper water close to shore. If you you do want to concentrate on spinning with a lure or feathers which is the way most people start sea fishing, then I would advise you to get a smaller reel (A 3500 or 4000 size) and a spinning rod, as you will find your outfit very heavy for spinning. Recently I was spinning feathers off a cliff using my spinning rod with a 4500 size reel, I found that it was too short for keeping everything clear of the cliff so I used my beach rod which has a 5500 size reel attached, my shoulders killed after about an hour.

The ron thompson superior combos are great for beginners and cover all aspects of sea fishing, Boat, Beach, Bass etc.

Your gear is just fine as you are only starting off mate.

Like most people I caught the fishing bug whilst mackeral fishing. Get yourself some 3 or 4oz plain weights, and a few sets of feathers. Head up to Balscadden, Dun Laoghaire, or the area known as Pigeon House (a quick web search will locate this for you). Fish over high tide, and try and get used to casting with the rod and reel. Fling the feathers out, and reel them in at medium speed. This will give you confidence with your casting, and also produce a few mackies for you hopefully.

If you are looking to try bait fishing, You will need a little more gear. Again plain leads of around 4 or 5 oz should do the trick. Rather than getting into the whole idea of tying your own rigs, start off by buying a few ready made traces/rigs in the tackle shops. "Two hook paternoster" rigs would be a good start (the tackle shop will know exactly what you mean, don't worry!). Clip the weight on, tie the trace to the line, using a good knot, not a shoelace knot. It's worth taking the time to research some knots, as otherwise you will lose your gear every cast. If you are using anything more than a lob while casting you will need a shock leader (heavier line which is attached to your reel line at one end, and rig/trace at the other. This is used to stop the line snapping while casting, which can be dangerous).

Ask for a trace with hooks around size 1. Use ragworm or lugworm for bait, which can be bought, or dug very easily in Sutton/around the Wooden Bridge in Dollymount. Thread them onto the hook by inserting the hook through the head and running it down through the body and out it's tail. Try not to pierce the body too many times, ideally the hook should be inserted through the head and not exit the body again until close to the tail. Cast out, tighten up the slack line, and sit back and wait for a bite. Again stick to areas where you know fish can be caught regularly. If you are fishing on beaches you will need something to hold your rod, so try making a home made rod rest.

If you decide that fishing is for you, then you can look to upgrade your gear in the future, and maybe buy a spinning rod for spinning and float fishing. You can find out more about tying your own rigs, and collecting your own types of bait. You mentioned that you were wondering if you could change the road and reel. The reel is just fine, but if it is possible try and exchange the rod for another beachcaster. Something casting 100-175 grammes would be lighter and easier to hold and cast with. Shakespeare make good rods, and can be bought quite cheaply. Also Ron Thompson have cheap rods which are perfect for begginers. Both of these can be bought in most tackle shops.

Best of luck mate and don't hesitate to ask questions on the forum, that's what it is here for, and everyone is only too happy to help.

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is a picture of the reel, except the one featured is a 3000 and mine is a 6000.
http://www.etackle.com.au/cgi-bin/fishi ... e=GENXPLUS

If the reel is any good I might just hang on to it and get something smaller that will allow me to do a bit of spinning and ledgering. It wont be perfect but it will give me a feel for it and allow me to learn a bit before I decide what to do.

I may have misled you with my comments above. The reel you have would do you for spinning and ledgering however that reel combined with the rod you have would be uncomfortable to hold for a period of time while spinning simply because of the weight. If you are going to change anything change the rod as Steve said above. If I had to have only 1 rod I would choose a decent spinning rod. You can get a decent spinning rod quite cheaply, I had a 8' Shakespeare Mustang spinning rod up until recently and I used it for ledgering as well as spinning and trawling for pike from a boat, unfortunately it's at the bottom of a lake now :cry:
Hope this helps.

You poor unfortunate person. I too was lumbered with a Shakespear Mustang 12 ft Beach caster for a long time before making the leap to a 'Real' rod. Those things are the pits! It is supposed to be a 6-8 oz casting rod but it is more like a 2 - 4 oz! They are a cheap rod that will get you fishing but are incapable of launching a lead any propper distance if that is what your fishing requires. Since i do all my fishing in summer from a boat it took me a long time to shell out money for a good beach rod last winter but when I did I could not beleive the difference! My Mustang has well and truly hung up its horse shoes for good! It will not be getting an outing this coming winter. Good riddence to bad rubbish!

Hi Luke,

I wasn't talking about a beach rod, the one I had was an 8' Mustang spinning rod and I found it to be very good. I've no idea what the Mustang beach caster is like and I won't be finding out after what you've just said.
What beach caster did you buy?

I use a Penn Exreme 'Villain' rod coupled with an ABU Mag Elite and find this combo to be excellent. I also just purchased a Penn Extreme 'V-3' three piece which is brilliant. I plan to couple this with my ABU 7500 C3 CT reel or perhaps the other way around now that I have the two rods. I wrote up a post on this forum describing what I thought of it. I have not used a great deal of beach casters. I have only ever owned four different ones but these rods are very good and capable of getting very good distances using the off the ground method. I am not able to do the Pendulum yet but am trying and would imagine the Villain would be capable of 180-190 yards using this technique. I am hitting about 150 with these rods using 18 lb line on the Mag Elite. I would imagine I could get a little further if I moved down to 15 lb. The C3 CT with 18lb line is getting about 100 yards.

The whole lot was €98 or something similar. A lot of money yes but not for the rod that you get! Certain tackle shops that shall remain nameless in Dublin (Kieran :wink: ) charge €300 for this rod and that gos for all the rods in this series. They are all half price! The Villain is excellent as well and is beefy enough to handle Pendulum should you progress into this casting style. The Vendetta is beefier again suiting Pendulum more in order to truly bend it. The V-3 is great for the Off the ground style cast and will handle this better than many 2 piece rods. 3 piece rods have a bad reputation as lobbers but this one is well up to the job of the full whip of an excessive off the ground. :wink:. It is thin and light but a full pendulum would probably be pushing it.

I have the villian (groundcaster) myself and it is nice rod and easy enough to bend but you'd really want to plan on learning at least the OTG cast to get the best out of it though it will still lob a bait. I'm told its designed to carry you up to fishing pendulum stage.

Donagh