Just Wondering If Anyone Here Does Sea Fishing?

[guppy_man]

Im a course fishing angler but have recently taken up sea fishing as my mum and dad bought a caravan close to a beach, so i thought why not give it a go

only been once, but i was wondering if there are anyone here who does sea fishing?


thanks

 

[CFC]

I converted from freshwater match angling to sea fishing a couple of years ago, living in london i dont get to go very often but i try to get out on a beach at least once a month.

The hardest thing i found with changing over was forgetting everything i knew from 20 years of coarse fishing, the two sports are as different from each other as apples are to pears. Now i think like a sea angler my catches have improved greatly, i now regularly have decent sized bags of good sized fish (all catch and release i will add), mainly dogfish and pollock but theyre a lot better than reeling in 3" pout every cast Whiting and codling season is starting now so i'm hoping to get into some of those when i go in a weeks time.

All i have to do now is work on my casting, i'm still not quite managing that magic 100 meters that a lot of venues require you to be able to cast to reach the fish, you can have the best bait and rig in the world but if you are 20 meters short of where the fish feed you might as well have a bare hook on some beaches.

 

[Dave Spencer]

My 12 year old son goes sea fishing on a boat off the N. Wales coast fairly often. He mostly catches Gurnard, Dogfish and Tope, but is now getting ready for the Cod that are imminent. He loves the fishing, as well spotting all the other wild life such as Dolphins.

Dave.

 

[helterskelter]

I used to do loads of fishing, course mainly and did some sea fishing, but i never have the time now and after working of a fish farm stocking lakes and rivers i dont think i'll do any fishing for a while yet. Yet i have been thinking of doing some sea fishing.

 

[CFC]

Thats a crime living in Dorset and not going fishing, whenever we go to visit my mother in law who lives near Bridport i'm on the beach within a couple of hours of arriving. There are some fantastic beaches along there and the famous Chesil beach isnt too far.

 

[helterskelter]

Tell me about i live 20 mins from Poole and Christchurch which are both great fishing places
still got loads of rods so perhaps I may did one out and get new line and see what happens

Also heard something about EA thinking of brining in a licence for beach casting, has this happened or was it talk?

 

[CFC]

Sea angling is still un licensed, i think it would just be too hard to enforce a license scheme on the miles and miles of coastline.

 

[CAC]

I try to go as often as possible, but I rarely go. Over in England, course fishing is terrible IMO. Without going carping, theres nothing special out there (i.e doesnt give a good fight) and aswell, fishing off shore is great because you get the chance of congers (if you go to a wreck), tope, flatfish like dabs, soles etc, skate, dogfish etcc etc. And from shore fishing you can easily get a nice mackeral tea if your patient enough. In south africa however, freshwater fishing is immense...Weve caught catfish in excess of four feet (have some pics of them if anyone whats to see them?) aswell as loads of mudfish, carps etc.
Sea fishing rocks!

 

[CFC]

To be fair coarse fishing is what you make it, if you fish for 8oz roach with a 5lb line and an avon style rod then you arent going to get much of a fight from them, catch that same fish on a whip coupled with a 2lb line and it feels like you've hooked moby dick. The only reason i dont coarse fish any more is because the carp puddles ruined the compettion side of the sport, instead of water craft and skill being the tools needed to win matches instead its come down to how much bait you can afford to throw into a lake and who has the best and most up to date equipment. The lure of big prize money and 100lb bags of fish took anglers away from the smaller matches on the rivers and streams and now they have ceased to exist. I find sitting around a man made featureless hole in the ground that is so stuffed with fish that it needs aeriators to keep them all alive to be depressing, but i also find little pleasure in fishing a river with no competition around me as catching the fish is like stealing candy from babies. Beach fishing offered me the chance to learn new skills and presented me with new and exciting species to fish for.

If you want some exciting coarse fishing in England try spinning or plugging for pike or stalking barbel along a clear gravel stream, pound for pound they'll fight just as hard on well balanced tackle as any foriegn species.

 

[CAC]

Yeah theres a pool thats about 10mins from me which is really great for pike. If I ever do go course fishing in the UK I use a spinnier, prefer that to waiting for too long, I prefer having something to do whilst trying to catch something.
I just feel that sea fishing offers so much more, and I think being able to eat whatever youve worked hard to get is the best part, which sea fishing offers.
I understand what you mean though about having the right line and rod, it does make a differance. Have you tried fly fishing? I havnt yet, but hopefully later on in the year ill be doing some where yuo get taught the basics and then get to have a go. The good thing about that is you can also enjoy what you catch, as long as you go to a licenced river/stream.

 

[CFC]

I've been fly fishing a couple of times, i didnt catch anything either time and a yearly trout license is too expensive for my tastes so i never bothered pursuing it any further.