Big Fishing Blog

There is a wealth of fishing tackle available for the angler interested in this avenue of sea angling

Spinning is my favorite method of catching fish. You really need to hunt the species down, take time over where you are going to go fishing, look at what they are feeding on, use lures right for the conditions and get great sport when you hook a fish.

Selecting tackle for spinning depends upon what types of lure fishing you intend to do and the locations that you are going to fish for example spinning rod length depends on the following,

1. Rock ledges require a longer rod. 10 to 11 foot is ideal in my opinion as you can get the lure back from an over hang without getting to close to the water, especially if it is rough.
2. Longer rods are good for light ledgering. I often use a light carp rod to spin and ledger for Bass and Flounder.
3. Shorter rods are better if you have foliage over hanging you behind ie when you are plugging for Bass in estuaries.
4. Plugging from boats and kayaks is easier with a short 8-9 foot rod. You can bring your catch along side the boat far more easily and from a kayak you don’t have such a long butt section to get in your way.

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Next month our competition prize will be this extremely high quality Diawa Reel.

With a 6.1 : 1 ratio, 4 bearings, 250 meters of 20lb line capacity and weighing in at 14.5 oz. This quality rough ground reel is built to last with a one piece CT Graphite frame. The high speed retrieve helps keep your tackle clear of the seabed when fishing over rocky ground. Casting is controlled by centrifugal brakes

I am getting a lot of questions about fishing with a bubble float, so I will attempt to answer a few with this post.

The bubble float is a hollow container, generally spherical in design. They have plugs that allow you to add water to add weight to the bubble float to adjust how it sits in the water and to improve the way it casts.

There are a few methods you can use when fishing with a bubble float, these include,

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Get double for your money with this fantastic offer from Tacklebargins on thier Salmo lure offer.

If you spend £10 on these lures they will send you £20 worth.

Have a look here for Salmo Lures

These Lures are ideal for plugging for Bass and Pollock!!

Just a very quick note, but something I have recently thought about after reading a publication on fishing regarding using braid with your fishing rod.

Make sure the rings on a spinning rod are suitable for braid. Check at the angling shop before you buy as ring linings vary and some lining material can be quickly damaged with braid. If you plan to be landing strong fighting fish like Pollock and Bass you need quality rings capable of withstanding heavy use, if braid is your main line.

Further to my post about bubble floats I have remember reading in “Hooked on Bass” (a must read for Bass fishermen) about their Jif lemon rig. This used an empty jif lemon bottle filled with wax to act as a float to cast red gill and sand eel huge distances and still surface fish.

I myself tried ice cubes frozen with a swivel and kept in a wide mouth thermos. There are issues unless you are fishing the artic, but the theory was to get lures out as far a possible without an obvious weight. This ice cube idea is one I will talk about in the future as it gave me ideas for casting soft baits big distances when beach casting.

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Fishing hook sizes are not scaled to a world standard, but the industry comply with the following sizing structure,

32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 8/0, 9/0, 10/0, 11/0, 12/0, 13/0, 14/0, 15/0, 16/0, 17/0, 18/0, and 19/0

A size 32 is very, very small just big enough to hold, the 19/0 is a very large hook.

You then get Short, long and regular shank lengths. This is the distance from the bend in the hook to the eye of the hook.

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This is the sand spike I have been using for about 5 months now.

It’s a great bit of fishing tackle and compared to many other sand spikes its long allowing you to fish out of the waves.

I will point out though that I generally hold the rod for best bite detection when I am Bass fishing, But this way you can fish two rods easily.

Veals Pro 5′ Single Sand Spike
5′ sand spike with metal head and adjustable metal butt cup. It has a folding kick plate to help push it in to the sand/shingle and the extra length allows you to get the rod tip high to help avoid the breakers.

If yopu are interested look here for a range of rod holders and sand spikes 

I know you already do this and I am acting like mother here but from some body who never used to care about this aspect of fishing please look after your gear when you get home.

Rinse your reels, rods, used rigs, lures, wet suite, shoes in fact everything in some fresh water, then allow it all to air well before packing it up for the next session. Slat water gets into everything and it will destroy your best fishing gear in no time at all.

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I use an 10 foot spinning rod for float fishing from a pier, you can buy specalist pier fishing rods its upto you but a spinning rod gives you more flexibility. 10 foot is a minimum in my opinion, consider that many piers have walls that are wider at the bottom and that extra length will come in very useful.

Pier fishing rig

10lb or 15lb line straight through will be plenty (I go a bit lighter when possible). Feed a bead onto the main line, then a pencil float, then a ball weight to “cock” the float and a swivel. Attach your leader length to the swivel about 2 to 4 foot tied to your hook. Now the float can be fished at any depth you desire by adding a stop knot or float stop on the line above the float. Fish at all depths until you find the fish!!

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