Started Beach Fishing This Summer..

I just took up beach fishing this summer after having only fished from rocks for the past 15 years or so. For those 15 odd years I never bait fished :shock: but simply fished with feathers / lures for mackerel & pollack. This year I made the resolution of trying to improve my fishing skills and try to target more species, in particular I would love to catch a bass..

So I set about reading what I could and doing some research before I went out and bought an entry level 10foot beachcaster for 40odd quid with a casting weight of 100-300gr. I replaced the line on my fixed rell with 18lb mono, and put a 20 foot shock leader of 50lb line. Then I made a basic rig (see image below) based on a trace shown in The Sea Anglers Bait & Rigs book, and attached a couple of bait clips and a 3oz breakaway lead before my first trip to the beach.

[img]http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7866/my2hooktracesmis4.png[/img]

I'm based in Cork city and chose the following mark (White Bay beach at center of Google Maps link):
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... 5&t=h&z=16

I have now tried the same beach 3 times, drawing blanks each time, and am starting to wonder if I'm doing something fundamentally wrong. Each time I fished with lugs (bought frozen), and also used mackerel strips on one session. Couple of things in particular that I was wondering about are

* is the rig I used OK or should I use something different (I suppose for targeting bass) :?

* if a fish bites, does he 'de-anchor' the breakaway lead or will he sometimes just sit there and you won't know you have a bite as the line remains taught from weight being anchored in the sand

* how often should one change the baits on the rig

* when casting I think I was probably only getting about 70 odd yards - is this enough?

* when fishing this morning, there was a fair bit of wind and the waves were crashing. I noticed that after casting and reeling in the slack, the line would keep losing its 'taughtness' and I would reel in a bit more each time - was this due to the current pushing the weight in towards me (even tho it shud have been anchored)

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, I've spent a combined 8 odd hours now beach fishing drawing a blank... I did feel a bite on the first session in very calm waters but the bait was eaten straight off the hook :cry:

You should try fresh worm baits (Much better this time of year).
What size hooks are you using??

cheers keith, not sure where to source fresh worm baits, apart from digging them up meself.. is the scent of fresh worm baits much better than frozen?

I have been using size 3/0 hooks on the rig.

welcome to the site and the wonderful frustrating world of bass fishing(unless your cortaz :lol: )

70 yds is plenty distance for bass at most marks.

make sure you try the mark at different stages of the tide.

when casting into waves keep the tip of the rod high in the rod stand to stop the waves hitting the line and after casting dont tighten the line immediatly instead allow some slack for 20 seconds or so to allow the weight to bed in before putting pressure on it.

i tend to use a pulley rig with pennel hooks(two hooks on one snood) as this allows bigger baits and better presentation

bass (even small ones) can dislodge a grip lead giving a "slack line" bite where the rod springs back, or they will give a good solid tug on the rod

fishing at night is much more productive

check out the "predictable fishing" thread
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... a471dca478

Many thanks for the tips green giant, I'm going to try and put together a pulley rig as suggested and see how I get on.

The predicable fishing thread makes very interesting reading and as I also have a strong interest in astronomy I'm generally aware of the phase of the moon when heading out. I hadn't realised that there was such a strong correlation between the moon phases and the potential number of fish to be caught!

I think my main mistake so far has probably been using frozen lug which seems fairly useless, I'm going to invest in a fork and try to find a spot to get hold of fresh lug / rag..