Absolute beginner question about bites

[ecleary]

Hi . I'm new to the forum and fishing in general and have been trying my hand at a bit of shore fishing.

I'd like to catch any type of fish but am going to target flounders for a start. What i'm having problem with is figuring out when a fish is taking the bait. I have often baited the hook with a ragworm and bit of quid only to find that the bait is cleaned of the hook when i reel in. I'm not picking up any bite indication at all? Any ideas what i'm doing wrong? Do i need to secure the bait using elastic? Should i be looking to strike for flounder or will the fish self-hook on the weight?

Using a bass rod and usually 1 up/1 down rig with size 1 hooks or a 2-hook flapper. Usually use a 2 to 4 ounce weight; sometimes with a wire grip. Fishing in north dublin area - howth, sutton, malahide

Any advice welcome!

[saltydog]

Try a 3 hook flapper with size 4's lengthen your snoods try to avoid grippers if the tide is pulling to strong for plain / watch leads put on a pyramid lead that will still allow some movement in your baits... Fish in close and try twitching in your baits which essentially means reeling in a few ft then pausing for a couple of mins any carrying on till your back on the beach... Time your casts to see how long your baits are fishing for before they are stripped and adjust accordingly... Vary your baits rag on one hook lug on one etc flounders are a greedy enough fish that will hook themselves without problems when on the feed movement in your baits is key and fish in close... Tight lines

[gerryl]

As above 'small' hooks and don't over bait them...try Running Ledger...always keep yer line tight...after 5mins reel in few feet slowly and let it sit 'line tight again' watch yer not feeding the crabs!

[fishy1987]

yeah and bait elastic definetly especially for the messier baits crab/razor etc!and another tip buy a few of them because they have a strange habit of getting lost in my case anyway lol!
fergal

[ecleary]

Thanks lads for advice. A few things to try on my next session and hopefully I'll be posting a catch report next.

[johnnohayes]

Crabs !!!!!!

[saltydog]

Crabs !!!!!!

If your bait is sitting static for any lenght of time inevitably you'll have crabs find it... So rather than stating the obvious it would be better to try an offer solutions such as:

Try the venues your fishing at various stages of the tide, from LW up, the last couple of hrs of the rise last few hrs of the drop... Different venues will have their own stages of the tide when fishing is at it's best so keep track of when you catch state of tide, bait used, distanced cast etc after a while you'll have a clear record of what works and when... One last thing if nothings doing on one part of the beach move and try another look for fish holding features over LW such as gullies & channels etc and fish into these...

[roger de dodger]

buy a spool of braid

[roger de dodger]

and a rod with a tip that bends