Fishing - what line for rig?

[Croolis]

I am learning this stuff. Have just bought rod and reel - rod is cheap Ugly Stik 7ft 7-15lb. Reel is cheap Shimano 3000 FX . Everything else is cheap, unsurprisingly, though I'm still dumping a large amount of money on this, ouchy.

Am going for a 15lb braid for mainline, a 15lb fluorocarbon for leader. Note that I am using the words, but I barely know what they mean. I shall be using a Carolina rig, I believe it's called, where I attach a weight (1oz) to the bottom of the leader on a swivel, then have another swivel going off the first with another bit of line a few feet long going down to the sandeel lure/feathers I'll be using for bass and mackerel.

My question is: what line should I use for the rig? The same fluorocarbon as for the leader? I can't seem to get a clear idea googling (tired).

Any thoughts? Cheers.

[Pikey Dave]

Been mackerel bashing for years, caught bass/ Plaice/turbot/gurnard along the way. One thing I’ve realised is the fish have no idea what rod/reel/line you’re using. The secret of catching fish is right place right time. In the RIB we use 7’ 12-20lb rods, on the SIB we use 4’ 12-20lb kayak rods. We use the same reels & swap them over as required. The reels have 60lb braid with a swivel on the business end. For mackerel, any old feathers will do. For Bass, I get best results with Black Minnows. As I said, you need to be where the fish are, that’s the skill, not the gear.

[whiskylee]

We keep it simple, No rods or reels ! Just crab lines with mackerel feathers or silver foil attached onto the string with a lead weight on the end, saves space inside the boat, the crab lines can be put away in one fishing box.
if your on top of the mackerel my son catches them by the bucket 🐟😁 in North Wales

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by whiskylee

We keep it simple, No rods or reels ! Just crab lines with mackerel feathers or silver foil attached onto the string with a lead weight on the end, saves space inside the boat, the crab lines can be put away in one fishing box.
if your on top of the mackerel my son catches them by the bucket 🐟😁 in North Wales

Awesome.

I did £150 on fishing tackle last couple days. Rod, reel, line, lures/hooks, weights, swivels, specialist pliers, landing net, ice pick for braining 'em.

Remains to be seen if two grown men, a bucketed anchor, transom wheels, all the tackle and tough bucket for fish (have to catch them first ) can fit in a 3.2m SIB. This weekend we find out lmao.

Want a fish finder but that'll have to wait. Not even about funds on that, it's finding the time to research and mount the transducer thing on the boat, no clue.

[charliee]

15lb braid is very fine - for casting in wind you can expect wind knots - I suggest 20lb braid and this is where you should spend money - cheap braid is generally crap! if budget is tight then spool with mono and then top load 100m of good braid - at the moment I'm using and liking Diawa J braid X8. Tight lines

[Brinormeg]

No expert, but if money is tight I would get Navioncs on your phone to search around for “fishey” ground at home, before even hitting the water.

Sure fish finders great, but navionics could be all you need most of the time.

Check out the fish locker, sib fishing adventures, muscle fishing, oban on the water, reel isle on youtube to name but a few….some of whom also frequent here.

Feathers are good way to start, even if you shorten the length and amount of hooks, and a tiny bit of any sort of bait on the hooks can throw up a few surprises.

Yet to get a decent go at sib fishing so hope you have more luck than our very limited sessions

[User name]

Originally Posted by Croolis

I am learning this stuff. Have just bought rod and reel - rod is cheap Ugly Stik 7ft 7-15lb. Reel is cheap Shimano 3000 FX . Everything else is cheap, unsurprisingly, though I'm still dumping a large amount of money on this, ouchy.

Am going for a 15lb braid for mainline, a 15lb fluorocarbon for leader. Note that I am using the words, but I barely know what they mean. I shall be using a Carolina rig, I believe it's called, where I attach a weight (1oz) to the bottom of the leader on a swivel, then have another swivel going off the first with another bit of line a few feet long going down to the sandeel lure/feathers I'll be using for bass and mackerel.

My question is: what line should I use for the rig? The same fluorocarbon as for the leader? I can't seem to get a clear idea googling (tired).

Any thoughts? Cheers.

You can use fluoro or mono for the rig. Fluoro has its advantages but it also a lot more expensive than mono. I generally pre-make rigs using old mono. Ideally you'll want your rig to be of a lower breaking strain than the main line so if you get snagged, you can break off at the lead or swivel etc. It's typically your lead that will get snagged, rather than the hooks so you could rig just that on a lower breaking strain line. That way you'll only lose the lead and you'll get the rest of your rig back.

Depending on the target species, I'd generally go between 30-80lb braided main line, and for bass, mackerel, Pollack etc you'll be fine with a 15-25lb rig. If you're after mackerel, look up the "twisted blood loop". They move in very large schools so you'll want a multi hook rig and the twisted blood loop is a simple knot for tying hook lengths on a rig from a continuous length of line. It's quick to do and very strong. I'd also recommend the Navionics web app. You can use the free features in the browser on your phone to find depths and the type of sea bed wherever you are. It's very useful when targetting specific types of fish.

[Croolis]

Thanks folks.

Navionics I have, carry an old tablet on the boat with downloaded map, though for fishing I'm not educated enough to use the information well. Launching from Pwllheli.

I have 30g 150mm sandeel lures, am going to try using those for bass without a weight on at all. Also smaller minnow looking ones 9g 80mm. And have a large selection, bought as a bundle, of mackerel feathers of varying designs.

Most of my inspiration for doing this has come from Fish Locker and Oban on the Water .

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Croolis

Awesome.

I did £150 on fishing tackle last couple days....

Reminds me of a time when we were camping in Normandy. We got back to the campsite, (having burned half a tank of fuel, towed the RIB to France) with a good haul of mackerel & set about giving them away to fellow campers. A couple of Brits a few tents up, thanked us for the fish (there's a quote in there somewhere) and added that "it must be great being able to catch all this free fish....."

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Reminds me of a time when we were camping in Normandy. We got back to the campsite, (having burned half a tank of fuel, towed the RIB to France) with a good haul of mackerel & set about giving them away to fellow campers. A couple of Brits a few tents up, thanked us for the fish (there's a quote in there somewhere) and added that "it must be great being able to catch all this free fish....."

I once did research on raising my own chickens for meat (not eggs). I forget how much more it was gonna cost than supermarket but it was, unsurprisingly, lots.

I 'spose the potential for quality (aside from simply the fun of doing it) is there. Was in Morrisons the other day, was trying out filleting and biscuit tin smoking and bought a couple whole bream. Wanted mackerel, didn't have any. Had bass, but they looked so small after watching all these youtube vids I balked at them straight away. I guess it's affecting my brain already. Bought bream for the novelty.

TBH pan frying is better than biscuit tin smoking IMHO.

[Croolis]

The weather and sea state for Cardigan Bay tomorrow looks mint .

[Pikey Dave]

Good luck. Re bought mackerel, once you’ve tasted fresh line caught, you’ll never buy another.

[whiskylee]

Originally Posted by Croolis

The weather and sea state for Cardigan Bay tomorrow looks mint .

We launch from Abersoch, try just near the old launch lifeboat station at high tide or anywhere around the st tudwals islands, keep drifting around and I'm sure you will �� ��

[paintman]

I've use 66lb PowerPro for years for pretty much everything on multipliers & fixed spool - sea (boat & shore) & pike (boat & bank) & for carp fishing where permitted.

Sounds huge but it's about the same diameter as 15lb mono.

Some carp waters specify mono only if fishing for carp but allow braid for spodding & marker floats & for pike if pike are in the same waters.

Doesn't suffer from windknotting like some of the thinner braids & if you get a bird's nest on a multiplier/baitcaster you've got a fighting chance of unpicking it!

Another advantage is that if a lure (or deadbait when piking) gets caught up on a snag I usually get it all back as the hooks or the snag will give way before the braid. Esp important with deadbaits as you don't leave a baited rig out there.

I do have some 12kg PP but that's specifically for vertical lure jigging on Rutland water for zander.

If you do need to pull DO NOT wrap it round your hand or fingers. Braid, esp thin stuff, can cut like cheesewire.
Wrap it round a bit of branch or something like a wooden hammer handle - I use one that I've lead loaded as a priest.

Unless pike fishing for cast & retrieve the lure is clipped to a quick change clip tied directly to the braid with no trace.
I do use a fluorocarbon trace if I'm using a boom for vertical plastic sandeel/dead sandeel/mackerel strip rigged like this:
Gilling trace https://planetseafishing.com/rigs-an...s/gilling-rig/


You shouldn't have any problems casting your 9g & 30g lures for bass without any extra weight I do a lot of this with the 22g Westin Sandy Andys.
If you do want extra distance but keep the lure up in the water - esp off the beach or in shallow water from a boat then consider bubble floats or a bomdarda style carp surface float (available from Angling Direct etc) used like the chap in this youtube. I bought a 20g one having used bubble floats for years & it really does cast like a missile!

Bit long winded but he gets there in the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0IY6CtMWnY

and this, click on the subtitles unless you speak Danish!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCn_rErc1dA

[Croolis]

Originally Posted by whiskylee

We launch from Abersoch, try just near the old launch lifeboat station at high tide or anywhere around the st tudwals islands, keep drifting around and I'm sure you will �� ��

I'm in a tent right this minute camping somewhere on the peninsula. Tomorrow morning it's Pwllheli harbour launch, will pootle along the coast to Abersoch if it's not too far (and my bottle holds, I'm new to salt water sibbing), to try for bass near those two little islands down there, see if the bass gather there for the bottleneck between them. Dunno. I'll let you know how I get on .

[Croolis]

Actually I've just double checked the distance on that and it's too far I think. I'll do that next time, launch from Abersoch maybe.

[paintman]

Forgot to put in my 'War & Peace' post, yes, your Carolina rig would work absolutely fine if you want to use extra weight!
When using with a weight that can slide on the mainline check the section of line for any damage from time to time & a bead between the weight & the swivel will help to protect the knot.
I've used that style of rig - although didn't know it as a 'Carolina Rig' until the last few years - for decades for salmon & other spinning, usually with what are called 'Wye leads' which also function as anti-kink to minimise line twist with lures that spin.
In use here with devon minnows but works fine with all manner of lures, spoon, spinners, tobies, soft plastics etc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38H8ScJl4TE

[A1an]

There is a good Youtube channel call Fish Locker. The creator John Locker is very good at helping other anglers with hints and tips with rigs/baits/methods etc.

The link below is to a playlist of his where he shows you how to tie certain rigs and how to fish them.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...lVVBboaEQa1jc1

[paintman]

I spend a fair bit of time watching his videos - very entertaining & informative & when he's out of Falmouth he's fishing just up from where I do.

[Croolis]

Just got back. We had lots of issues due to ignorance with the tackle and whatnot, being totally bloody ignorant. But we persevered and caught... total of 3 ~25cm mackerel. Not exactly set world on fire but, mistakes were made and lessons learned. Do better next time. God I'm tired.