holding the bottom

hey guys
Im having trouble getting tight line, was fishing a big swell and medium winds, 30 to 40kmh, tryed using 8oz non gripper (heaviest i had, can just about swing it to ha) today but it still rolled around, and i missed all the bites and landed no fish cuz of the belly in line, nearly feel like adding chicken wire to lead or some sort of extra spikes to dig in better, or is 8oz gripper the best u can try? any advice greatly appreciated, good to get out anyways felt good , even the owl sun made a show imagine that...

watch leads or pyramid leads work best for me hate using grippers

grip leads are they way my friend unless ur fishing slack tides or scratchin, pyrmid leads are good aswell but if u really wanna hold bottom in winds like dat a grip lead is the best i think.......some others can give u their views i reckon......

Grip lead is the one for me walk up tide about 50 yards and lash it out. walk back to the stand and you will get to hold bottom then it will have gripped it self by the time you have walked back just take up the slack and off you go.

cheers lads. gona try the watch n pyramid. was looking at the Gemini Breakout Sinkers seemed pricey but wonder if there wort it?
i was thinking elastic band around the normal grip lead to make it harder to release the grips?
was reading on web n chap said u have to cast uptide to anchor the grip lead proper, can anyone tell me more about this, he was on a beach doing this if thats means anything

thats funny u talk about uptide wen i was just writing question about it, tell me about this up tide, i do be at rock mark , if the wind is blowing in one direction how u no witch way tide is going

I only do this on the beach its when the tide is pulling strong left or right pulling your lead with it.If its pulling hard to the left walk right 50 yards or so and cast.It should find a spot to grip by the time you have walked back to the rod stand give it some line while you walk back it should grip. If the tide is pulling very strong it will come out after awhile

try using braid straight to your lead I use 60 lb and find it cuts through the water and does not get carried by the tide
mickser

cheers lads im getting a better picture of wat to try wen im there next, need to get a nice seletion of sinkers in the tackle, gona try the gemini sinker. they say there extra strong hold but also im thinking rubber band on normal grip mite do the same job gona try both anyways n c wat happens, yea have 50lb braid on her and 70lb leader, think it was just to rough out altogether but u never really get out otherwise, do mean take the leader off? small trace?

A tip I saw on a DVD was he wrapped bait elastic around the bottom of the break out wires . To hold the wires together under pressure . It might be some use to you.

Bend up about 10mm of the end each gripper its helps to grip the lead as well .

Long tailed Namix weights with rubber around the wires always worked best for me, never got pulled even in really strong currents at the Shannon Estuary. Add a lead lift above just to be sure you wont get stuck in the rough.

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nice ausy, thats the business right there , thanks lads. wat do u mean ''Add a lead lift above''

a lead lift is basically just a little wing made from plastic which helps your lead swim up from the bottom over possible snags. You can easily make them yourself from a yoghurt pot or similar if you don't want to shell out for the commercial version.

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for very bad days buy a fixed gripper the wires are in the tail of the lead and bend out as you pull ,simply rebend them before casting ,they come in different thickness wire with some very stiff ones for the mad days to be honest i never use braid in such conditions as it will pull your lead out too quickly,casting uptide with mono and a nice bow in the line will normally do the trick you prob wont see any bites but a decent fish will pull out your lead and hook itself

I would suggest braid and grips shouldn't go anywhere with that

The biggest problem with braid is any movement of the rod tip will pull the lead free. If the wind is howling and the tip is bouncing the lack of stretch in braid will make it very difficult to use.

top tips there lads, great help this is, cheers everyone..all the best in the new year

I agree, there's no give in the braid it'll just keep pulling the grippers out, better off with mono at least there's a bit of give in the line so it'll give your lead more chance of holding bottom. The cheapest way out of it is just wrap bait elastic around the grips, it'll keep your grips together but also they'll pop out with a good pull when reeling in

There is no real need for any of the above.
unless its an insane tide a 5/6 oz impact lead will hold in most situations.
Cast slightly uptide and leave decent amount of slack. The slack line will catch in the tide and help with gripping.
Always mono from the shore, never braid , the stretch in the mono helps with overcoming the wave action.
Remember it is very important to leave a good size bow in your line as this is what keeps your lead in the sand.
If there is weed in the water get your rod tip very high.
No need to see or strike bites as the fish will hook themselves.