Reading a Surf Beach - help for a beginer
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Landbased & Surfcasting
Forum Description: From rocks or beaches, here's the place for the landbased fishos to share information
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=137395
Printed Date: 24 Sep 2023 at 12:40pm
Topic: Reading a Surf Beach - help for a beginer
Posted By: Tressagail
Subject: Reading a Surf Beach - help for a beginer
Date Posted: 07 Jan 2023 at 8:34am
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Hi there. I have been in the last couple of month privigaged enough to be able to purchse a bach at Baylys beach. This has spured me to want to try my hand at surf casting. I have done quite a bit of reading (on this forum and other) as well as watching a bunch of YT to get me started, However one of the things that i am really struggling with is reading the bach (i have read the pinned post here as well) At my bach i am lucky enough to have access to the cliffs on at the right of the bach, so on any given day i am up here, i can get a pretty good areal shot. however when i look at the beach i see a beach, and am struggling to pick out the formations that would give a good indication of where to set up. I have attached a photo to this post and am hoping someone can start to point me in the right direction. Appreaciate any help Cheers Photo stored here: (dosen't seem to want to let me add the photo) https://photos.app.goo.gl/dVyz4Cfqd4ag6TKw8 |
Replies:
Posted By: shaneg
Date Posted: 08 Jan 2023 at 10:10am
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Look for clear patches of water where waves aren’t breaking as these are deeper holes where fish will conceal themselves. Also look for patches of clearer water behind sand banks which you can still cast into or over. These are gutters, often run parallel to beach, where fish will sit or use the deeper water behind a bank to approach shellfish beds, or edge of banks where food such as crabs or shellfish are being uncovered or dislodged by wave action. Fish change of light as this is when fish more often feed and are also more likely to enter shallower water in the lower light less bright conditions. That said often fish are taken from open apparently featureless beaches in bright conditions. Just a matter of being lucky and having bait in water.
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Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 08 Jan 2023 at 8:03pm
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Look where others are fishing - especially if they are catching. I'd try toward low tide when the swell is down plus the stuff that ShaneG mentioned ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Shilo
Date Posted: 09 Jan 2023 at 8:55am
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One good way of looking at it is that the places where it is dangerous and you shouldn't swim are the spots to throw a bait in. Heaps of info on the web about how to recognise rips and channels for swimming dangers. Any rip going out to sea will normally have a channel leading to it, different spots along the channel and the rip exit make for good fishing. Another way is to walk the beach at low tide. You will see long lengths of low areas, these are where the channels are during high tide. They normally last a few days to a few months. Draw a line marking each side of the low area up above the high tide mark and head there with the rod a couple of hours before high tide. If you wish to fish during low tide or at high tide if you haven't sussed the area out previously, then spotting the difference in wave action is the best way. The higher you are the better so climb the sand dune and just watch the waves in the area. For a channel or a hole you will see the waves breaking further out but as they come in closer the break stops and the form a smooth lump before breaking close to the beach again. The exit of the channel or hole will see an area (think road) heading out to sea where the waves just aren't breaking as much as they are at the rest of the area of the beach. If there is not much swell and calm waters, the holes and channels can be near impossible to spot. This is why it is better to suss the beach out when it is rough. Any hole / channel you discover will fish well for quite a few days to months, but it will eventually start to fill in and shallow up. Don't worry, another will be forming somewhere else on the beach. |
Posted By: BananaBoat
Date Posted: 09 Jan 2023 at 9:02am
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Good reading here https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/a-guide-to-reading-the-beach_topic82433.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/a-guide-to-reading-the-beach_topic82433.html |
Posted By: Shilo
Date Posted: 09 Jan 2023 at 9:03am
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Using your own photo: Possible channel marked here since it is a stationary photo. Seeing the wave movement will highlight it more. Not all rips have channels but most do: |
Posted By: Tressagail
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2023 at 9:13am
| Thanks for the advice :) |
Posted By: Tressagail
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2023 at 9:14am
| awesome thanks :) |
Posted By: Tressagail
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2023 at 9:15am
Thanks for this. This confrims what i was thinking, but was really a bit unsure as to what i was looking at! |
Shilo wrote:Posted By: Shilo
Date Posted: 11 Jan 2023 at 6:16pm
One extra tip. I prefer to fish the edges of the rips, holes, or channels. The centre of these areas can have some strong currents and fish are lazy, why swim up against the current when you can cruise along the edges and use less energy. Also any crabs, tuatua's, worms etc are being exposed as the current wears away the sand at the edges. More food + less energy needed to get it = what I would do if I was a fish! 
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Posted By: Tressagail
Date Posted: 13 Jan 2023 at 8:04am
Awesome tips thanks! |