Beach Fishing - Help Required!

[Fishing.Hooked]

Hi Guys,

I've been fishing for the last year from wharfs and easy land based areas in the harbour areas and have had some good success and learnt a ton in that time period, however this weekend after long deliberation myself and my mate have decided to go to the northern beaches to have a fish on the beach itself, e.g Dee-why.

1.   Can anyone advise a good decent spot to head to 

2.  Best rig setups and bait to use.

3. Low or high tide preferences ?

My outfits for the weekend.

Reel: Shimano Stella FJ 5000  (30lb Braid / 50lb Leader)
Rod: Daiwa Sandstorm 10'6 (6-12kg)

Reel: Shimano Bait Runner 6000D (30lb Braid / 50lb Leader)
Rod: Shimano Aerowave Graphite Surf 10ft 5-8kg

Reel: Diawa BG 2500 (10lb braid / 20lb Leader)
Rod: Crucis 7ft (2-5kg)
(Used catching my bait)

I would like to thank everyone in advance for your help and advise!!!


 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Fishing.Hooked
Forgot a question

[big Neil]

G'day Michael. Beach fishing is usually a good way to catch fish. Fish the gutters in low light times with either squid, pilchards or fish strips (mullet, etc), Pilchards can either be halved and put on a single 5/0 hook or whole on a gang hook setup. One thing that a lot of folks overlook though is berley. Chucking a few pieces of pilchards in the wash now and then will bring the fish in and may even keep them there. TIP: Try to have a look at the beach you intend to fish at dead low tide so you can form a picture of where the gutters are likely to be. OR while it's still light have a look at the water from a higher vantage point to help spot the gutters. Final tip. Stick at it because the fish often turn up unexpectedly, especially if they get into the berley. A running sinker down to a single hook or single gang hook is good or a Paternoster rig with either a double or single hook setup. Good luck, bn

[PaddyT]

First things first- what do you want to catch?having a plan and a target species always makes for better results.

[Green Hornet]

Irrespective of what species you're chasing, the first thing I'd be doing is fishing lighter. 15lb braid is plenty for the beach and leaders between 8 and 15lb will get you out of trouble as long as you intend to fish ganged hooks if using whole pilchards or fish strip baits. 8lb leader for bream and whiting, 15 for salmon and tailor.

The lighter braid will help you cast further, feel bites better, get more bites and won't drag around in the surf as much as your current 30lb.

The first 2 outfits you mention are certainly pretty good outfits to get you up and running.

Have a bit of a search around the site. I'm sure there's plenty of good info on beach fishing to get you started.

[Berleyguts]

I agree with Green Hornet - don’t fish too heavy. I’ve never found the need for more than 12lb mono off the beach. You’ll even manage jew on 12lb line - it’s pretty clean territory. 15lb is fine too - I just fish in ANSA line classes, which means 6kg (12lb)... next division up is 10kg (20lb)... rarely necessary on a beach.

Edited November 20, 2018 by Berleyguts

[Koalaboi]

Hi,

Living at Neutral Bay you have access to the northern beaches all the way up to Palm Beach. Experiment with wind, swell and tides at different beaches and over time, you will know what to fish for and where and when to fish in a range of conditions

I have found that fishing around high tide to be more productive.

Beach worms I reckon are the best all round bait: jewfish, salmon, bream, whiting, flathead, trevally and dart all go for the humble worm so, invest some time in learning how to catch and keep them. There's plenty of info on that on this site.

All the best. The biggest fun in fishing is the learning process and though frustrating at times, it's a bit of a triumph when well laid plans achieve success.

KB

[Volitan]

Adding a bit to the advice you’ve been given.

Do a google about finding and fishing the structure on a beach. There are lots of sites and videos that show you how to recognise gutters, rips, channels etc and how to utilise them. Dee why probably doesn’t have very marked structure but even a 30cm difference in depth is enough to concentrate the fish. Most of the fish on the beach will be concentrated into a few spots.

dont make the mistake of thinking of it as a casting marathon. Often the fish will be in close - especially fish like dart and bream that love the stirred up sand.

you can fish by the tide or you can fish by the light. If it’s the tide then just before and just after high tide works where I fish. If it’s the light, then just after the sun comes up and just on sunset are the times. Light beats tide by a wide margin but if you can get both at their peak together then all the better.

that last half hour before dark very rarely fails to produce.

its probably best to do something else if the waves are over about 1.5 metres.   The fish will still be there, but the increased Longshore drift, seaweed, difficulty holding bottom, tangles and general discomfit will lessen the appeal.

my favourite bait is beach worms. I’ve never learnt to catch them (too slow) but they are one bait which works well when you buy the frozen version. They stay on a hook well too.

i usually use two rods. One with a combo of pilchards and surf popper, in a beach spike, for kahawai (salmon), tailor, jews etc. This has a heavy trace and big sinker so it can hold bottom and look after itself. The other rod has lightweight gear with beach worm bait (or usually a combination of prawn and beach worm on the same hook) on a longshank hook, which I keep in my hand and usually snags the bream/whiting/dart/flathead/trevally/etc. This combination seems to work well because it has almost every species covered. 

For rigs, it depends upon the surf. If the surf is small then I like a flat running sinker and fishfinder rig. If the surf is larger then this combination tangles too quickly so I use a paternoster rig, with a big star sinker which I keep the pressure on keep the line taut and prevent tangles.

 

[savit]

@Volitan, thanks for sharing. What did you mean by fishfinder rig? (In different places - fishfinder rig is different)

[Ryder]

If you are going to Dee Why try The Pole. It’s a shorter walk from the Long Reef carpark. It’s a stout metal pole on the beach, look for gutters, deep water where the waves aren’t breaking. Eg just above the mark. Fish the deep at the edges of the white water.