Fishing - what line for rig?

[User name]

On the positive side, you did catch something. It would have been more miserable had you come back empty-handed. Now you know where to improve for next time.

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by User name

On the positive side, you did catch something. It would have been more miserable had you come back empty-handed. Now you know where to improve for next time.

Yeah we got our catches right at the end of the day and were all ready to be proper depressed until it happened . We came in earlier and got advised by a local fisherman to go out to a spot where water's a bit deeper, so went out again and got result.

You know - the sea state this coming weekend is looking even better than this weekend. If I can summon the energy I might go for round 2 lol.

[Pikey Dave]

I rig the rods before we leave shore. Feathers, weights on, all ready to drop. You want to reduce the “at sea” faffing as much as possible. We fish a mark for 20 mins or so & if no action, move on. If you fish the same area often enough, you start to get a feel for where the fish gather. If you’re new to the area, see where everyone else is going, but keep your distance once on the marks, it’s very bad form to crowd another boat or get in the way of their drift, I usually keep a good 1/2 mile way from the nearest boat.

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I rig the rods before we leave shore. Feathers, weights on, all ready to drop. You want to reduce the “at sea” faffing as much as possible. We fish a mark for 20 mins or so & if no action, move on. If you fish the same area often enough, you start to get a feel for where the fish gather. If you’re new to the area, see where everyone else is going, but keep your distance once on the marks, it’s very bad form to crowd another boat or get in the way of their drift, I usually keep a good 1/2 mile way from the nearest boat.

With the exception of the 20 min thing (we hung around the same sort of area for ages, but only because we didn't know where else to go sort of thing), we did all of that. But we only had one rod so we switched the rigs we'd prepared out as we wanted to try new things. The main issue was that we hadn't prepared the rigs or spooled the reels (just didn't have the time in the week) until we were about to launch, so it was all stressy and crap. Like I say, mistakes were made .

[User name]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I rig the rods before we leave shore. Feathers, weights on, all ready to drop. You want to reduce the “at sea” faffing as much as possible. We fish a mark for 20 mins or so & if no action, move on. If you fish the same area often enough, you start to get a feel for where the fish gather. If you’re new to the area, see where everyone else is going, but keep your distance once on the marks, it’s very bad form to crowd another boat or get in the way of their drift, I usually keep a good 1/2 mile way from the nearest boat.

Good tips. I'd also decide on what I'm targeting before going out and don't be tempted to bring everything but the kitchen sink. Try to keep the kit lean.

If you're targeting fish like bass or mackerel, they don't really congregate in an area long so it's best to keep moving around to find them. Others like pollack, wrasse and the likes will be more likely to be confined to a specific spot where the structure of the sea bed suits them.

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by User name

Good tips. I'd also decide on what I'm targeting before going out and don't be tempted to bring everything but the kitchen sink. Try to keep the kit lean.

My main takeaway was this, and not just fishing, camping as well. We got to launch well late also because we were making breakfast ("must have a cup of tea") at campsite etc. Which means more crap to carry (stove, crockery, washing up stuff etc.). From now on, if it's just one night's camping for one day's fishing, it's eating out or eating cold supermarket stuff lol.