Fishing over sand.

[anthony2carr]

I'm looking for information on inshore sand fishing. This is one subject i don't have a clue about.

- Is spinning over sand any good?
- In order to hedge your bets what bait would you use on a 3 hook rig.
- Is there anything you should look out for in a mark e.g. depth?

The location i'm fishing is very good over the kelpy ground, close in. I have never seen anyone fishing the sand which occupies 90% of the area.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, i'm looking to increase my species list from the kayak next year.

[JimC]

Anthony,
Sand by its nature can offer a large flat area that may or may not hold fish however what seems like a flat area can be crisscrossed by gullies or banks.

-Spinning from the boat, onto the kelp and off onto sand can be productive. You may just find an area where bass hold, pollack and wrasse will often be on the border line as well. Maybe try trolling a plug around the sandy areas, you might winkle out some feature that is holding fish, there may be little reefs around.

-On a three hook leger for drifting sand I would try ragworm, mackerel and crab. Not necessarily on each different hook but certainly I would try all baits over a session (if available).

-Look for subtle changes of depth , gullies or banks and drift these. Try and drift right from where the rocks meet the sand. If you catch, mark the spot on the gps and you may build up a picture over time.

[anthony2carr]

Cheers Jim

[jw]

the other thing you could do is try anchoring and putting out big chunks of mackerel or squid.
After a while the scent trail builds up in the water and species like ray, tope or huss will follow
it to the boat

[Tanglerat]

I love fishing over sand, but it's usually offshore, not in close.

I like best having a two up, one down rig, where the one down is on a long trail. Long enough so the bait doesn't lose contact with the sand when working the other two. I may put a small (1/2oz) drilled bullet above the one down to help hold it on the bottom. Mixed in with a few beads, like.

I use anywhere between 2/0 - 4/0 sizes, although I will go smaller if the fishing's hard and I want to scratch out any kind of a fish.

Bait is usually mackeral, but I'll mix in anything to hand as well. The two up hooks might be hokkais, so I may leave them unbaited if bait's scarce, but never the one down - it gets the bait every time.

Best thing about sand is that you rarely get stuck in the bottom, losing gear. It's a pleasure to fish it.

[anthony2carr]

If you go to Donegal, Then portnoo and zoom into the lowest level you can see a close up of the area and the ground

http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicv ... m=S1&user=

You can also zoom in on the Gweebarra estuary (another location I will be trying).

I'm really not sure if Portnoo is good over the sand. I would say chuming the waters for the duration of the session would give me a good idea either way.

[SeanP]

Some great tip there lads, that ordnance survey site is superb as well, nice one

[PaddyB]

If you go to Donegal, Then portnoo and zoom into the lowest level you can see a close up of the area and the ground

http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicv ... m=S1&user=

You can also zoom in on the Gweebarra estuary (another location I will be trying).

I'm really not sure if Portnoo is good over the sand. I would say chuming the waters for the duration of the session would give me a good idea either way.

Anthony that map site is excellent! I had been using the map on the donegal planning website, but its feirce slow, nice one