Sea Fishing from the shore (beach casting)

[timmy30]

Any PHers do this? I'm thinking of taking it up as a hobby now that the Mrs has banned me from shooting small furry animals on the w/e :D

There's a 12ft rod on E-bay for £40 I thought I might start with that?

[Mr Bee]

No you don't want to do that. Freezing cold beaches and small pollocks.

[Egbert Nobacon]

Its so cold and boring it rots your sole ....

[blindswelledrat]

I love fishing in every format but beach casting is by far the least interesting form.
Living in berkshire (if you still do) you have access to some excellent freshawater fishing and will catch more and bigger fish than you would beacj casting.

[timmy30]

Ah okay that seems pretty unanimous.

Does anyone know any good places to fish in Berks then? I suppose the Thames is the obvious one really, presumeably need a liscense?

[Mr Bee]

Carp fishing ! now thats a sport. Spending 3 days sleeping behind a an electronic bite alarm waiting to be woken up . I love it.

[blindswelledrat]

timmy30 said:

Ah okay that seems pretty unanimous. Does anyone know any good places to fish in Berks then? I suppose the Thames is the obvious one really, presumeably need a liscense?

The best place to fish by far is the Kennett around Thatcham/Aldermaston.
You do need a license (online from environmental ageny or post office) adn also many of the waters are private so you need to join a club.
In the meantime I can reccomend a fewplaces you can fish on a day ticket until you find out if this is for you.
In many places the Thames isnt anywhere near as good as you'd expect.

[NJW 77]

timmy30 said:

Any PHers do this? I'm thinking of taking it up as a hobby now that the Mrs has banned me from shooting small furry animals on the w/e There's a 12ft rod on E-bay for £40 I thought I might start with that?

Silly boy, just shoot the fish

[apache]

blindswelledrat said:

I love fishing in every format but beach casting is by far the least interesting form. Living in berkshire (if you still do) you have access to some excellent freshawater fishing and will catch more and bigger fish than you would beacj casting.

I used to line fish from PanAm beach on Ascension Island at night, we caught shark, grouper, rays and eels, great fun. For a trace we'd twine 4 or 5 strands of locking wire, line was para cord and for weights a coupe of torch batteries.
There was some really big stuff out there and we'd get trace bitten off regularly

[timmy30]

apache said:

blindswelledrat said: I love fishing in every format but beach casting is by far the least interesting form. Living in berkshire (if you still do) you have access to some excellent freshawater fishing and will catch more and bigger fish than you would beacj casting. I used to line fish from PanAm beach on Ascension Island at night, we caught shark, grouper, rays and eels, great fun. For a trace we'd twine 4 or 5 strands of locking wire, line was para cord and for weights a coupe of torch batteries. There was some really big stuff out there and we'd get trace bitten off regularly

:Yikes:

Erm I had in mind catching some cod or plaice in the Severn estuary rather than snagging Jaws....

Btw any reason why you can't river fish with a beach casting rod anyway? Surely it's just a hook and line?

>> Edited by timmy30 on Friday 14th October 11:47

[blindswelledrat]

Theres nothing to actually stop you but it wont work properly and you would lose enjoymetn from fishing. Specific rods are designed to use with speific line strength.
In the sea you use heavy rods with heavy lines for a number of reasons but the result is that most time you wouldny evenknow you had your plaice on the line until its in your hands.
A good part of the enjoyment of fishing comes from playing a hooked fish so the lighter/more flexible the rod is the more of a fight youll get from a fish.