A guide to reading the beach

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    Posted: 13 Sep 2012 at 8:09pm
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Identifying where to fish on the beach

Reading the surf has to be one of the toughest things to write about as it is a huge topic and there are so many situations to cover. It is something that you pick up with experience from sitting on a beach for hours on end.  I will start with the basics of identifying water depth and targeting certain species in different situations and explain why.


When first arriving on a beach the first thing I look at doing is isolating an area or section of the beach that I think will be holding the fish. Below is an example of a beach that is reasonably small but jam packed with character. 


 1) At the top end is a good reef structure, full of shellfish, crayfish and has good potential for fish habitat. 

2) Through the mid section of the beach is channels, gutters and lots of holes

3) At the southern end is a river mouth where fresh water flows


So when I am planning a trip, I break a beach down like this before I even head to there. Using google maps, wams.org and marine map. I could write a novel on each of these section and why and when to fish them, but I will try to make it brief. On different beaches you break it down for different reasons, there may be structures or an old wreak, there may be rocky ledges which alter current, you just have to judge it as you come across it.



I am sure at some stage or another you guys have seen certain parts of a beach that is just jam packed with weeds on a particular part of the beach. This will depend on the swell direction and tides as to where it ends up. If you think what has washed up, and why it has washed up, you will realise that after onshores and heavy swells weed, mussels, pipis, tuatua's, scollops ect.... are all in amongst the masses of sea weed, just remember, you can only see a fraction of the tucker. You should also realise that after big conditions fish feed up. Well where better to fish than an area that has already got natural burley in the water! By watching the conditions, swell direction and winds you can pin point where this is likely to occur before you even arrive. If the swell direction is north east on the map above, there is going to be a hole lot of stirred up shellfish down that southern end of the beach. You may not sea the evidence on the beach, but the tuatua beads under the water would have had a good scour from strong currents down that bottom end of the beach and the fish will know this.


Other indicators on where you fish depends on the target. If a kahawai contest is on this beach, the most productive area is going to be around the fresh water. This is where all the bait fish are, so it is only natural the kahawai are going to be there too. With this being said, if you are planning on spending the evening chasing a kingfish, again, you will know the kahawai are going to be around the fresh water and the kingfish are not going to be far behind so this makes section 3 the best location.


On the other hand, if the whole beach is flat, and it is November and the crayfish are shelling and you want to catch big snapper, where do you think they are likely to be found? Crayfish are all over the reefs, so putting a fresh bait beside a reef is going to be your best option in this situation, so section 1 is going to be the pick of the spots.


Late in spring when the Gurnard run, you can be sure you are not going to find them over the reef, they are a sand scavenger. They don't mind fresh water but are very rarely caught on the edge of a river because it is to shallow and to much turbulence. So you will look to the middle of the beach where the penny crabs are, and try and find a hole with little current where a gurnard can sit in relative calm water, section 2.


I always believe when you head to a beach, you should pick a species and target it, know a bit about that species like spawning, what they feed on at certain times of the year, and this will make selection of an area on the beach much easier. From this you may now understand why just rocking up to the beach, parking up the truck and flicking a bait out is not very productive sometimes. Just by giving it a little bit of thought, you will soon lift your catch rate and you wont have to think about these things, it will become second nature.


Thats part one, identifying how to break down the beach into area's to increase your chances of catching your target. Part two is breaking down each section on where to fish.  Here is an example of a river mouth in section 3.



Snapper can be caught in section 3, infact it can be a great spot. The water is deepest here, there is less current and fresh water hitting this area which snapper prefer, but it is in a good position to catch any food washing out the bar, like baby eel migrations, anchovies, flounder and all the other goodies that wash out. The trick is identifying this on the beach, these usually sit within 400m of any major bar on the coast.


Trevally is marked on the end of the spit. This is a common spot to target trevs, just on the edge of the spit, good currents pushing tucker out and they love turbulence. Very simular spots to the kahawai, only difference is the water is a little deeper. This is also a feature of most bars around the country, keep an eye out for it, trevs make a massive raw fish.


The area I have marked the great place to catch a live bait. This goes for all bars, fresh water, harbours our what ever, they will sit just out of the current, in a back wash in a deep area and hide, drop some sabikis in, and you have fresh live baits on tap!!  These baitfish will include, piper, yellow eyed mullet, kahawai ( small ) trevs ( small ). They will travel within 2-3 spots through different parts of the tide.


Kahawai, well it is well known they like the white wash and turbulence. This is identified as the shallow area the waves break in. Usually waste deep water. No need to cast far, short casts are the answer of the day.


Kingfish, and my favorite to chase in this area. Uusally ( not shown in this pic ) you will find a still water eddie, this is created when the tide pushes hard in one direction, its like a pressure release and it forms a natural back wash close to the shore line, this is the prime area to put a slide bait. The second area is to use the rips ( current ) to take you live bait out to the back of surf. There is an art to this and I wont go into it, but once you have a good understanding of the tide, current and formation this will become easy. These king fish sit back in the slightly deeper water just of the edge of the shallows where there is good current and pick off the weak and unsuspected baitfish and kahawai.


This is simple stuff and comes with time spent on the beach. Its not that you wont know this information, its more that often you wont stop to think about these things. This layout works all around the country, species and structure changes, and seasons come into play, but this is a good guide to use when planning a fishing trip. 


Hopefully you get something out of this.


Next I will post on identifying holes, gutters, bars and rips in the surf. More on identifying different structures and where fish sit in these structures.


Reading the surf, CONTINUED



This part is based more around section two of the diagram, large open areas of various structures under water that all look the same. I guess this is the part where most who have no idea on where to fish will get a better understanding of what they are looking for and why. 



This is not always possible, but if I can drive the entire beach in the truck I will, failing that, I will use the quad bike. When driving the beach you are not looking at the sea so much, your looking for concentrated areas of shellfish beds like tuatua. Low tide is best for this. Sometimes this will come in the form of an area with a large build up of shells, other times, much like being out in the boat, you are looking for birds, like oyster-catchers. They are the big fat black birds, with long beaks. They survive off shellfish, so when you find them, the shellfish are not to far away. You will find these birds mainly in the areas with high numbers of pipi/tuatua and you will see their holes from them digging in the sand. 


The reason the shellfish is such a big thing is because this is the bottom of the food chain, this is where the feeding cycle begins, these beds are usually thick in waste deep water on low. From this point, large amounts of penny crabs ( Baby paddle crabs ) nestle and so it continues.


Once you have located the shellfish the next thing you need to do is find a vantage point, like up on a sand dune. When you look from the water level it can be very difficult to actually see what is really happening. Getting a few extra metres in height to look down on the surf will give you a much better indication of channels, rips and holes. I can't stress enough, taking your time to do this right will be the difference between the 10% that catch fish and the 90% who go fishing. Getting up nice and high to look at the surf is great, but it does you no favours at all if you don't know what you are looking for.


Staying within the general area of the concentrated shellfish beds, here are a few examples of what you may see. I'll break down each picture and explain what you are looking at. Most will know this stuff, but for the guys who just see walls of white wash, this may explain a few things.



Fishing inside sand bars

Sandbar: This is an area where sand builds up and forms small sand hills under water, these are identified on the surface by whitewash.


Whitewash: This is the white aerated water you sea when a wave breaks, when you see whitewash, this indicates the water is shallow.


Channel: This is defined as a long stretch of clear water that runs along the beach inside of an outer bar. It is identified when the waves break further out, then reform, when the waves are reforming, there is no white wash, this is an indicator of the depth of water


Rip: This is a release point for inside channels, all the water that pours over the sand bars can not go back over the sand hills, it creates inner channels for water to run allong the beach, as it builds up it forces breaks in the outer bars, these are commonly known as rips.


Holes: When the water clams right down, on settled days with little current, the breaks in the outer bars created by rips settle as holes. Over long spells of fine weather, the sea natrually starts to full these up, that is why after a big blow, when new structure is made and new feeding areas for fish form, they come in and pounce.




Take note of this diagram, its a typical layout over all channels amongst the surf zone. Regardless of where in the country you are, these exist, they can be more defined in rougher waters but most surf type beaches have them. I have placed a white line in the diagram, this is like a road for fish, a highway the fish use through various times and stages throughout the tidal phase. Every time you see a gutter/channel in close along a beach it will have two points to take note of. The place where the water runs in from, and a point of release ( also know as a rip ) where water flow from the inner channel runs back into the sea. Basically over the two tides the rip will alternate between the two inlets points as it changes from an incoming and outgoing tide. These inlet and release points are like intersections on the fish highway, this is where you are more likely to find most of the traffic ( fish ).  The channels cover vast areas under water, in side these channels there is allot of baitfish, crabs, shellfish for fish to feed on. Fish like snapper come in through the inlet and sweep in with the tide and eventually pop out the rips which push then back to sea. When the current is running, a fair amount of debris and crustaceans gets forced out the rips, so fish wait at the back of these and feed. Channels will vary in size from beach to beach, but they all have the same principal. 


Dropping a bait anywhere along this white line will work well, although I always like to fish on the inlets as this is where the fish enter and leave so it would only make sense. There is a spot along the white line to suit pretty much everyone, guys n gals who are short casters and the bigger boys with a a few pies in the belly who can cast out into the deeper water of the inlets.



Fishing out the back


This diagram shows that there is no spots inshore to fish, so we need to find an area we can wade and punch the baits out the back of the wash. The whitewash shown in this picture indicates good water to wade in, there is a small outlet  ( rip ) pumping food out the back and lower in the diagram is a good sized sand spit which are fantastic to wade and cast from. In an area like this, that has allot of shellfish, as the tide comes in, the fish push behind the waves sucking up the shellfish as it is slowly revealed as the waves push forward. The area circled in the white line, is the best area to get your bait in this situation. As long as your bait is clearing the whitewash and hitting blue water, you are in for a shot at the snapper. 


Near perfect conditions. This photo illustrates one of those magic days where it doesn't really matter to much what the surf is doing, as it is not going to effect the fishing at all. Fishing over a large bed of shellfish, wading out and casting into undefined calm water. Fishing the day time in conditions like this is not ideal. Because the water is so clean there is very few fish that will venture into the shallows and feed, the main species in day time fishing in these conditions are primarily bottom dwellers like gurnard. At night its a much different story and it can be a complete contrast. Due to the calm conditions, over the high tide at night, fish can feed on areas they can't usually get to due to weather, and under the cover of darkness it can be dynamic. Snapper smashing the shellfish and the frenzy begins. This is a common site in areas south of Hohora, Kerikeri, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay. Make the most of these flat conditions during the day by wading out to where you feel comfortable and unleash a big cast to hit the deeper darker water, where snapper are waiting for shelter to come in closer and feed. At night though, these snapper will be very close and in shallow, short casts will work a treat.





This photo here shows no inner channel at all, however there is a good break in the bar. This is the best spot to fish on this beach. My left rod is positioned in the hole itself, the bait has been dropped short on the edge of the bar where the fish will be feeding over the incoming tide. My right side rod is going long, here I am wading out as far as possible, wading through the shallow whitewash and unleashing a cast as far as I can into the deep water out the back. So I was using two different methods on this occasion covering my bases to see if the fish where in close inside the hole, or out wide behind the far bar. When driving along the beach, it looked like a wall of whitewash, but by getting up high, it identified a fantastic spot.



This photo shows the top of the 90 mile beach on a calm day. You can see that in this photo, near the centre, the deep water comes right into the beach. Where you can see white wash inclose is shallow and would be comfitable to wade in, this would allow you to hit the deep water. If you stood on the sand dune just up from the beach, you will see this huge area. It certainly had some fish this day! Being able to identify where you can wade is a really good tool, it is very simple, its just a case of keeping an eye on the whitewash which gives you the depth. Standing back with show you where all the spits are and where you will be able to wade and get right out onto the deep water.



Section 1


The final part in reading the surf is in identifying foul ground and building an understanding of how to attack it. I should have saved this topic for my book as it is quite a large and popular subject, but I guess its good to be able to share a little info from time to time and give something back for all the years of sitting at the waters edge.


It doesn't matter where you are fishing around the country, foul ground and structure attracts fish. In the south island, that may be moki, blue cod and elephant fish, through wellington, its more moki, trevally and snapper. As we head north through Hawkes Bay, this is where we find moki, snapper and kingfish. Taranaki, channels between rocks are amazing for snapper. Auckland again snapper is a hot topic and fish like john dory. To the far north, reefs attract large trevally, snapper and so on. So having a good understanding of what species are on offer from your local fishery and the time of year they are caught is a massive advantage when you go fishing. 


So far covering off the other sections, we have looked at river mouths, covering off kingfish, kahawai, trevally and snapper. Then moved into the open sand aspect looking at gurnard and open beach snapper fishing. Now its all about structure which opens up new species depending where you are in the country and different tactics to catch them. What I mean by tactics is having a basic understanding of fish habits. Moki for example, they will not feed on oily baits like pilchard and bonito, they primarily feed on crustaceans and shellfish like mussels, crab and crayfish. So knowing something little like that and going to the beach with green lip mussels will already improve your chances of success. Other little things that are notable is the distances you catch moki. They are in close only a few meters behind the wave break quite often, so ledger rigs and a short cast is a much better option than a long cast and a dirty great big thump on the rod casting to the horizon. So having a good understanding of the species you are trying to catch is as important as being able to read the surf. No point in fishing the most amazing spots in NZ if you have no idea on what to expect and how to catch them, take the time to do a little reading and understand why fish do what they do and things become much clearer. 


Most structures like reef and wreaks all have shellfish. Mussels, sea weeds, paua's and kina's all make up a healthy reef system. It is these natrual attractants that bring in the fish on a regular basis. You will usually find after heavy onshore conditions in places like the 90 mile, Matata ect, all have build ups of seaweed. Bits of bullkelp that has been shared off the rocks in heavy swells with mussels attached, and kina's that have dislodged, this is all great stuff and will attract fish on those open beaches when the weather settles. Unfortunitly, these reef systems are to far to cast to, but other spots around the country where the reefs are much closer are absolutly gold when this occurs.


Small inshore reef

The photo below demonstrates a very small reef system in close to shore. Two smaller rocks the size of a vehicle over a clean stretch of beach. These two rocks over the low tide will force a little bit of swell to break over them, and this usually puts fisherman off the area as they see it and think, bugger that im not going to lose any gear. However, over this barron stretch of beach, these two rocks provide a substantial amount of tucker. There is a large amount of mussels spread over them, the white wash dislodges particles from the mussels, much like a mussel farm, but on a smaller scale and this attracts snapper.


I have roughly drawn in white around the rocks the areas where I would look to land a bait. Far enough away from the rock itself to not get snagged up, but close enough for the scent of a good bait to lure the fish off the reef. You will find little things like cross winds and onshore conditions will place the fish in a concerntrated area and make it easy to catch the fish. These are little things to keep an eye on. Because these particular rocks are is very close to shore, if it was dead flat, and bright conditions, you would look to hit this on dark and through the night. In cloudy water conditions like the image shows, the fishing would be fine through the day as the fish have a little coverage to merge into.


Large reef structures

This image shows a much larger reef system which runs a reasonable distance to sea. At low tide this is seen by white wash breaking on the surface. Towards high tide, this is seen as darker water, much like clouds shadowing the water.

SPOT

#1 Shows a deep channel over sand down the edge of the reef. This is seen as being deep due to the lack of swell peaking through the area and the colour of the water. This spot would be my choice during the day for snapper. The reason for that is distance is not restricted, and during the bright conditions, I want to be able to hit the deeper water.


2# This is a great spot for moki at night cruzing the inner channel just behind the waves. At night they frequently move off the deeper reefs and cruise the open coasts and this is the kind of areas to look for. Close inner channels inside reef systems.


#3 This spot is simular to 2, however your not fishing over sand, your casting a heavier line directly onto the reef like 15kg mono. Spots like this can be a hassle with congas and typical reef fish, but on the other side it will yield blue cod, blue moki, snapper, trevally ect. It is a risky place to fish as it can cost allot of gear, but if you get it right, it can be very productive. It pays to use a sacrificial sinker when fishing areas like this


#4 Is very simular to spot #1 however it is quite a bit shallower.( Often you can find one side of a large reef is deeper than the other side. This is created through prevailing currents and prolonged winds from any given direction. It tends to sweep the sand from the sheltered side of the reef.)  It is close enough to the structure to catch the reef fish without being at risk of snags. Because it is shallow, it is better suited to twilight and night fishing. You would expect snapper and all sorts to venture as the sun sets on the horizon.


Its the same principle with fishing near a rocky point, ether use heavy gear and cast over it, or stick to the lighter stuff and hit the open sand near it. The catch 22 is the closer you get to the reef, the less room you have for error, in other words, the fish don't have very far to hit safety. Decent snapper, moki, trevally will all power 15 meters on a good first run, sometimes more.





The diagrams are very basic and broad, but they give a very general impression of how to fish structure. Everyone of the spots over any given reef like that or similar will hold many different species. Anyone can go to a beach and catch a fish, thats easy, but catching fish consistently off the beaches you need to think about things and carefully decide where to fish, take your time and weigh up all your options. An extra 15 minutes is not a bad price to pay for 5 or 6 hours of fantastic fishing, rushing there, flicking a rod and catching bugger all is not much fun, especially when it gets to the point where your wife thinks your not even going fishing !! 


A few key points

kingfish, you want current and baitfish. So river mouths and bars are the best option to find them

Kahawai feed in very shallow water, in most cases using the white wash to pounce on there prey ( sprats )

Snapper mainly feed morning and night, but can be caught during the day in deeper water, or in shallow water that is murky, so they have cover to feed in.

Gurnard prefer sheltered calm clear water, there not usually in decent numbers when the water is dirty


If you want any additional info added, just ask. I will add a brief part on a few rigs for fishing different locations. Again. this topic has been brief, I have to save some things for my book or it won't be worth bloody reading lol. There are allot of variances like wind and weather but those are the things you gain in time, I hope this has shed some light on the walls of wash that grace our beautiful shore lines here in NZ.


Chur








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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Chris B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Oct 2013 at 12:06pm
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Just wanted to say thanks Chad, this is great stuff.
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F****** Beautiful! usually i just park up and throw a line in but now i see whats going on. Cheers! 
" Sex is great but Fishing lasts all day. "
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really awesome guide there mate,  So fishing the snapper area's, what kind of rig would you use to get them, and best baits, is my idea right... sinker at bottom,  1/2 metre thn first hook, 300mm then 2nd hook???? otherwise i would use hook on bottom with a bead and floating sinker(free to move)
and baitwise, fresh kahawai, squid or mullet????  or is there something i am totally missing :p
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Brown Dog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Nov 2013 at 12:50pm
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Bamapple, here's a good starting point for you, a pulley rig. The one in the picture includes a bait cllip, so for extra distance you can clip your bait for streamline casting.

Pulley Rig

If you don't want to make your own, go to Tackle Tactics online shop and you can buy them made up.
http://www.tackletactics.co.nz/pulley-rigs.html

As far as bait is concerned, if your fishing up this way in Auckland I would suggest starting with Mullet as its is easy to rig and will stay on the hook, try getting it from Packn Save as its fresh and usually cheaper than the frozen stuff you get via the bait merchants, Mullet is usually my go to bait for fishing up around the Manukau and West Coast. Pillies and Anchovies also are a go, as is squid.

If you check out the video I recently posted you will see Michael Jenkins catching plenty of Snaps on Pillies. Play around with different versions of your rigs.

If you are targeting Snapper at this time of year, on Auckland's West Coast, key as allways is getting your bait in front of them, this will usually mean getting the extra distance in your cast, so good rods and rigs are essential to achieve this, you will be amazed what a difference a quality rod teamed up with a good reel will make, and match it up with a good casting technique. As we move into late Summer and then Autumn, you will notice that the fish will move closer in so longer distance casting is not always as essential. Key thing is not to give up.


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yea thanks, i live around otaua area, been fishing manakau harbour the past 3 years or so, thinking about getting out to the coast as a friend managed to land a nice snapper around keriotahi from surfcasting, also you and michael seemed to do well at hamiltons gap etc in your video. i had not known where to get the parts previously but i guess dkm in waiuku has the clips etc, i have already looked on tackle tactics.co.nz and ordered some clips there, they have some awesome gear on that site, i dont see too much of that gear in shops i usually goto, maybe i just dont look hard enough, but thanks for all the info @Brown Dog it is a huge help!!!!
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I agree Bamapple Tackle Tactics have some good gear and carry a lot of what other tackle stores don't have, I need to grab some bent genie clips from them so I can make up my and over pulley rigs. A nice simple rig for you to use on the west coast up there is the 90 mile rig all you need for that is a length of 50-60lb mono tie on a break out sinker then also slide on an impact shield and have that directly above your sinker then  put on a bead and then a crimp to finish that bit off tie on a swivel to the end of the sinker trace thread your mainline through that then tie on another swivel to the mainline then tie on trace, clip the baited hook to the impact shield and away you go it will send your bait and sinker out in one package just like a pulley rig.
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Can anyone share some info on what to look for at a beach for increased chances of catching kingis on slide baits.
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I also put a bright float, lumo bead and a couple of sequins on the trace, if you've ever swum in the surf with a pair of goggles on things go from sandy and foamy to clear to sandy and foamy as each wave passes, it can be very hard to see, so having something that's such an un-natural colour like the float is a good attention grabber, the sequins reflect light and sparkle and the lumo bead reflects UV light. Also the float will make sure the bait moves about with the waves both getting the fishes attention and making it harder for crabs to get hold of. All that stuff gets refered to as 'bling' Some surfcasters don't use anything like that at all and still do very well, but i've noticed most of those fishos come from BOP, hawkes bay, and Wellington areas where the beaches are steeper and the sands grittyer, so water vsibility would likely be better than our westcoast. bait elastic is pretty much essential in my books with softer baits like pilchard, anchovies, bonito and shellfish other wise they can fly off the hook when you cast or the hooks can tear out when the bait splashes down, i even use bait elastic with tougher baits like mullet, squid, mackrel and kahawai as is keeps the hooks nicely positioned and makes the bait kinda pack down tight so it's nice and aerodynamic and doesn't flap about during the cast (less wind-drag is also the reason for the bait clip, keeps the bait and sinker flying togeather, instead of twirling around each other), elastic also slows the crabs and pickers down. Here's a pic of how I usually rig a 1/2 pillie with 2 snelled hooks:


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looks good, and the floating rig would be a very good option, now2 i hqve one more question and then should have the hang on things to do with this rough west coast :p .... what are usually the best tides to fish from port waikato(waiuku side) to manakau heads bar(south side) 
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Originally posted by Michael Jenkins Michael Jenkins wrote:

I also put a bright float, lumo bead and a couple of sequins on the trace, if you've ever swum in the surf with a pair of goggles on things go from sandy and foamy to clear to sandy and foamy as each wave passes, it can be very hard to see, so having something that's such an un-natural colour like the float is a good attention grabber, the sequins reflect light and sparkle and the lumo bead reflects UV light. Also the float will make sure the bait moves about with the waves both getting the fishes attention and making it harder for crabs to get hold of. All that stuff gets refered to as 'bling' Some surfcasters don't use anything like that at all and still do very well, but i've noticed most of those fishos come from BOP, hawkes bay, and Wellington areas where the beaches are steeper and the sands grittyer, so water vsibility would likely be better than our westcoast. bait elastic is pretty much essential in my books with softer baits like pilchard, anchovies, bonito and shellfish other wise they can fly off the hook when you cast or the hooks can tear out when the bait splashes down, i even use bait elastic with tougher baits like mullet, squid, mackrel and kahawai as is keeps the hooks nicely positioned and makes the bait kinda pack down tight so it's nice and aerodynamic and doesn't flap about during the cast (less wind-drag is also the reason for the bait clip, keeps the bait and sinker flying togeather, instead of twirling around each other), elastic also slows the crabs and pickers down. Here's a pic of how I usually rig a 1/2 pillie with 2 snelled hooks:



Agreed nothing wrong with a bit of bling to add a bit more movement to the bait here is some of my traces I have blinged up I use genie clips on my traces to make for quick bait changes aswell as quick change arounds with traces if one type of attractor does not work. so it does not hurt to add an octopus or needlefish skirt to your trace.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote chad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:09pm
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Gidday Bradley,

I have been meaning to update this for a while now. I am going to put up a big write up of my most recent trip away and update this to include a bit more slide baiting for you. 
https://www.facebook.com/nzsurfcasting
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Michael Jenkins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:16pm
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Looking forward to it chad! :)

very nice hunter, i use the genie clips too and wear one of those alvey bait buckets and a knife on a belt then have atleast 2 traces going so while one is out there fishing in the rod holder i'm baiting up the next one, so when I wind in it's a quick clip-off, clip on, cast out, then i bait up the next trace, helps make the most of bite times.

Bamapple: out west I focus my efforts around the low tide, can still get fish on the hightide but by far the majority of the action happens in the last 2 hours out going and first 2 hours incoming ( can be a bit quiet for 1/2 hour or so over slack) Be careful though, there's usually atleast 1 or 2 much bigger wave sets that roll threw at the top and bottom of the tide, and the bigger the tides, the bigger that set is relative to the other waves.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Surf_fisher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:26pm
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MJ All I use for a bait bucket is an old 1kg yoghurt container cable tied to my beach spike so I keep my bait cotton in there along with baits and just hang the baited traces off the edge of the yoghurt pot by the hook works very well for me
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Michael Jenkins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Nov 2013 at 5:06pm
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good idea hunter, cheap, easy, does the job and makes use of some trash, I like it. reminds me to make up something i'be been intending to do for a wee bit, and that's a stringer line to go on the rod holder, so i don't have to run all the way back up to the catch bag after every fish when out on a sand-bar, can just drop them off when i get more bait. Just a piece of string with a clip to thread threw the gills and out the mouth to hold the fish.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Pickles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Apr 2014 at 6:53pm
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Fantastic read, any chance you finished and are selling your book?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote kingfishers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 2014 at 4:05pm
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very informative..!! important information i was looking for...!! Thank you very much.Thumbs UpStar
"My mind has gone fishing, ask all questions tomorrow"
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FizFisho Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 May 2018 at 11:58am
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Originally posted by Michael Jenkins Michael Jenkins wrote:

I also put a bright float, lumo


I just use the orange floats so might give the rest a go, but I always use them surfcasting now. After seeing the difference getting bait off the bottom from pauls fishing kites Im convinced having it in the water column is better than on the sand.

What rig do you use? I use a simple running rig with a breakaway approx twice the length of the trace.

My first learning of the beach is the eastern northern end of coromandel. Surf casting was my predominant form of fishing as it was the only way I could fish every day during the holidays lol.

Is it Gil Henderson from 90 mile area, he wrote a really good book I had on reading the surf. Apologies if Ive messed up the name its been a long time since Ive seen that book.

Great write up OP
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FizFisho Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 May 2018 at 12:01pm
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Oh and just another tip. If you own a drone, you are at an advantage.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote newbiesurf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2020 at 9:45pm
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I cant see the clear image...Cry
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