Category Archives: Fishing Gear

Fishing gear and fishing tackle articles.

Beach Fishing Tips – Gear & Tackle – Surf Rigs & Lures

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Beach Fishing TipsThe Facts on Beaches in Australia

Beach Fishing Australian beaches is for many Aussie anglers the most rewarding form of the sport bar none. Why wouldn’t it be? With 36,000km of beautiful Aussie coastline, one could fish the beaches for several life times and still barely scratch the surface, always enjoying an abundance of our most famous sport and table species. A recent publication by Professor Andy Short provides some very interesting facts about Australian beaches that only confirms how blessed we are here down under. In many respects, it is beach fishing in Australia that remains the last bastion of angling exploration. According to Short “Most of the coast is unvisited…I think Australians would be surprised to learn that the typical Australian beach has no name and no access”. This sort of information augers well for the beach angler determined to experience untouched, pristine beach fishing environments. Short goes on to say that “Twenty five per cent of beaches are accessible by car along a sealed road, 14 per cent are accessible by four wheel drive and 55 per cent aren’t accessible at all.” One could argue that ‘access’ should be rated against desire to access. There might not be a road but, a want of roads never stopped the determination to access places yet untouched. Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth crossed the mountains without a road. The results were historic.

Adventuring sprit aside the average beach angler can access 25% of our beaches in their humble day drive. That’s approximately 9000km of easily accessible beach. The beach angler also enjoys a dizzying array of beach fishing gear and tackle, and beach fishing tips to hit the sand with confidence. Regardless of budget restraints, experience or lack thereof, beach fishing is available to all, is incredibly rewarding and a famous discipline within the sport where you can enjoy access to awesome fish in some of the most picturesque environments Australia has to offer.

Before we look at basic beach tackle, rigs, lures and tips, it should be noted that beach fishing doesn’t necessarily mean surf fishing. There are hundreds of kilometres of Australian beaches that will never see a wave, even in heavy storms. Many Aussie beaches are protected bays or islands and reef. The surface of the water can be as flat and wave action free as a lake or millpond. This fact is important to note as it can alter the species you will find as well as the tactics and tackle employed to catch them. When fishing a flat beach you can fish very light indeed.

Beach Fishing GearBeach and Surf Fishing Gear and Tackle

The modern beach angler will see every fishing rig, combo and set up imaginable on the beach. From a 6ft rod sporting a small 1000 size spinning reel to a full game fishing rig set up to tackle the biggest of sharks the ocean has to offer. Of course, there is everything in between. Volumes could be written about fishing the beach and indeed have been. The key thing to remember is that much of your beach fishing kit will be determined by the location, conditions and the target species.

The most common species beach anglers target are the Tailor, Bream, Flathead, Whiting, Australian Salmon, Dart and Mulloway. Of course depending on where you are in Australia you can include fish such as Mackerel and Trevally. For the purpose of keeping this article concise, the surf fishing tips, surf fishing rigs, lures for the beach and common baits will represent a flexible, general purpose kit that gives you appropriate access to all of these species.

Surf Fishing RodSurf Fishing Rods

Look for rods starting at 10ft up to 12ft and even longer. The key feature of the surf fishing rod will be its casting ability. All the famous brands such as Shimano, Daiwa, Penn and Wilson have a fabulous selection to meet all budget restrictions. The tip here is to get as light as practicable. Holding such a big rod for hours on end can bring on fatigue. Full graphite or composite is best. Spinning rods designed specifically for the beach are the best place to start. Choosing the rating can often be personal preference and depends on whether you want more sport, casting distance, and the size of fish you target. Start at ratings around 3kg and up. This will also be heavily influenced by the reel you choose. It should be noted, if you feel like going old school and traditional and feel you would like to use an Alvey Reel, you must get a low mount surf rod to match. An Alvey is a side cast reel and requires a rod that is designed for the reel. The butt of such rods are very short.Surf Fishing Rods

Surf Fishing ReelsSurf Fishing Reel

With the exception of choosing an Alvey rig, you would usually start with choosing a rod then select a reel to balance. While overhead reels and side cast reels are fine, it is very hard to go past the modern spinning reel. The technology is fantastic and most of the major manufacturers have beach specific designs. Like the rod, the reel should have premium casting qualities, they should be very strong and durable. Sand and surf can wreck a spinning reel very quickly if it does not have the right inclusions. Sealed drag and bearings are nigh on essential, next to its casting attributes. Full graphite reels are excellent in fighting off corrosion and should also top your list.  Keep in mind, while there are beach fishing reels available at very cheap prices, a reel that has all the features you require plus durability, will cost a little more. The common beach fishing reel sizes will of course depend on your rod but as a guide will normally be from 5000 to 14000 size. These would be spooled with mono from 5kg to 10kg. Braid is fine also, and the choice of mono or braid comes down to personal preference.

Surf Fishing Reels

Surf Beach Fishing LuresSurf Fishing Lures

Here are a selection of lures that are tried, tested and very successful on our beaches. For the most part, casting requirements, wave conditions and the wind will determine the most appropriate lure for the day. While there a host of other lures one can use on the beach. These are the most common.

  • Metal slices are just about the best lure for the beach and definitely the most common. They are available in many sizes to match the bait fish your target is eating. Flexible retrieve options and incredible casting qualities make them invaluable.
  • Soft plastics are also very good on the beach. Use a jig head only as large as required for casting purposes. Add some fish attractant to the lure for even better results.
  • When the surf is a little flatter, with little or no wave action, try a popper for spectacular results.
  • Hard bodied minnows are also very good in the surf. Size will be determined by how far you need to cast and they only need be shallow divers.

Surf Fishing Lures

 

Beach RigsSurf Fishing Rigs

Here are a selection of beach fishing rigs that are very simple and very successful. These rigs will handle pretty well all fishable surfside conditions.

  • The classic. For Tailor, Mackerel and Aussie Salmon, run as much weight as required for casting, directly to a gang hook set in sizes 3/0 to 5/0 hooks. Use a snap swivel to connect your line to the hooks, this way you can change hooks quickly and mitigate against line twist. Add a West Aussie Pilchard or Garfish for bait.
  • Connect a lure to your snap swivel and start casting. Nothing is cleaner, simpler and more rewarding.
  • A sinker and swivel connected to a leader of around 50-100cm is a fantastic general purpose rig for all species. The hook size and style will depend on your target. If there are whiting, Flathead or Tailor about, use a long shank. Use only enough lead for casting to your strike zone.
  • A great rig for when the surf is pumping is the good old Paternoster. Sinker styles are variable here but often about holding the bottom to combat lateral sweep. Try a star shape sinker or a grappling style sinker. Single hooks or ganged hooks are great for this rig.

Surf Fishing Rigs

 

Surf Fishing Tips

  • Buying cheap, poor quality equipment to be used on the beach is a false economy. Purchase the best you can afford. Durability in the sand and surf counts.
  • Survey beaches from a high vantage point whenever possible. Check for variations in the water colour for an indication of gutters and holes. A good set of binoculars comes in handy for this. You can also use your high point and binoculars to spot feeding activity on the water.
  • When you feel a Whiting bite at your bait, walk slowly back up the beach to encourage the strike.
  • While a featureless beach while hold fish, always seek out structure. This is where the fish are feeding.
  • Be aware that fish will often feed right at your feet. Casting as far as you can every time will often take your bait or lure straight past the strike zone. Whiting are a classic for this, and often, a throw of just a few meters puts you in the zone.
  • While evening dawn and dusk are the standard times to fish, don’t be afraid to fish a gutter or hole at any time of the day but if you can correspond that with a rising tide around an hour or so before hand till an hour or so after the turn then you will be better prepared for a bite.
  • Just because you’re fishing a beach doesn’t mean you need heavy gear. Depending on weather your beach is calm, Try a 6ft rod with a spinning reel around 2500. Fish 3kg line with fresh flesh baits, like pippi or worms, or soft plastics. The Bream and Whiting love it. The bonus is, when you hook into an Australian Salmon, you’re set for the most wonderful fight you can imagine.

Fishing Tackle Shop  has all your beach fishing gear and tackle at awesome prices. What they don’t have is not worth buying. Stock up now and get out on one of our beaches to catch yourself a feed. Bag out on Bream or tackle a Tailor, just make sure you visit fishingtackleshop.com.au before you go.

Fish Attractant for bait fishing & Lure Scents

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Why Are Fish Attractants and Lure Scents All The Rage?

Below we are going to touch on a couple of subjects including best fish attractant when bait fishing such as the use of berley and we are also going to touch on Fishing lure scent and which ones to buy further down this article.

 

Best fish attractant when bait fishing

burleyMethods for attracting fish are as ancient as the practice of fishing itself. Many a concoction has been created and sworn by as the miracle solution for turning a sluggish fishing day into a bonanza. Unlikely substances like packaged dry dog food, cat food and chicken pellets mixed with a ‘secret’ ingredient are thrown into the water to attract the fish and / or excite them into feeding. Methods of distributing this fish attractant are as varied as the concoctions themselves and dependant on fishing style, location, conditions and target species. For example, green weed or cabbage mixed with sand will attract Luderick. Bread is often used to excite Drummer. Western Australian Pilchards are chopped up by the kilo block and fed into the current to attract just about anything, especially our big pelagic specie s.

The use of ‘Berley’ or fish attractant, is widely accepted as nigh on essential to bring the fish on the chew and keep them there. Commercial fish attractants have been available for decades. Manufactured from fish products, Tuna oil and berley pellets are a couple of the well-known standards.

Fishing Lure Scent  & Which ones are best?

Fish AttractantWith the rise and rise of lure fishing, anglers and manufacturers alike began to think differently about fish attractants, and imparting the perfect scent onto the lure soon became the new innovation pursuit. Science and technology has had an enormous impact on angling innovation. Rods and reels are just part of it. Recently, the technical boffins retired to their labs with a new challenge, to create the best fish attractant, the ultimate fishing bait scents and attach it to your lure. The feedback suggests, it works like magic. Let’s have a look at a couple.

Two of the top competing brands that have taken the market by storm are s factor fish attractant and Sax Scent. There are countless reports of anglers testing these products by casting lures with and without the fish attractant and collating results. The results certainly back up the claims of the manufacturers. Most of the anecdotal evidence and user research suggests that the fish attractant applied to your lure can be the difference between no fish and bagging out. There are many instances where two people will fish side by side, at the same target, with the same lure, technique and rigs. The difference is that the fisherman who uses the fish attractant catches more fish, the other, performs a little more poorly. The angler experiencing the purple patch also experiences far more aggressive attacks and importantly, the fish holds the lure in its mouth longer giving the angler more time to respond and strike.

When Squidgy plastics hit the market, we all remember taking them from the packet, feeling the slippery texture and smelling the aniseed. We also remember the fish smashing them. One complaint however was that the scent washes away quick. Thing is, it was meant to. The scent is meant to be dispersed, ever so gently, into the water. This is how it works. Of course, your lure would run out of scent and you would therefore lose a lure of optimal performance. Responding to this issue, the Squidgy manufactures made and enhanced a better scientifically developed S factor fishing scent available in tubes to be applied and re-applied to any lure. Of course, it sells like hotcakes.

Sax Scent works on exactly the same principle. The solution, which is available in a tube or jar, is applied directly to the lure. Interestingly, Sax Scent comes in different flavours, such as garlic, crab or prawn and others. Sax Scent also incorporates varying fleck colours that reflect light and can imitate the scales falling from a wounded fish.  Just like S Factor, the angler feedback have been very positive.

There is now a huge representation of lure anglers that are so impressed with the latest fish attractants that they won’t leave home without them. The results have been so good there are more brands hitting the shelves. You might also like to try Ultrabite or Big John’s Fishing Scent. You can safely assume though, the ingredients of these magic potions is a closely guarded secret. The thing that is clearly apparent to all, is just how well they work.

So who makes the best fish attractant? There is only one way to find out, that’s buy one of each and start testing. You can rest assured; there can’t be a better experiment.

Shop Here – For our best fishing attractant Scents 

Fish Attractant Scents

Buy Fishing Scents Here

The basics: fishing gear to set up a novice angler

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The basics: fishing gear to set up a novice angler

When you’re new to angling it can be hard to know what fishing gear to choose.  The most basic fishing equipment includes rods, reels, lines, fishing tackle and lures.  For a novice fisher it’s important that any gear you invest in is easy to use. Here are some tips to help you select a set of fishing equipment for your first fishing outings.

The rod is the most important item of fishing equipment you’ll be purchasing, so it’s worth spending some time to find the rod that suits you best.  A rod about 7 to 8 feet in length is best for a beginner as an all round general purpose size, however if beach fishing or rock fishing it is usually best to use around 10 feet off the rock ledges and 12 foot fishing on the beach.  Look for a rod that is reasonably durable but preferably sensitive, allowing you to learn the skills of casting lines and playing fish.

Give some thought to the type of fishing you’ll be doing most often and choose a rod with a casting weight that suits your purpose.  For pier or estuary fishing, go for a rod with a light fishing line rating (often 2-5kgs) around 6-7 feet in length, while for surf fishing rods or rock fishing rods usually with heavier casting weight are more suitable in a rating class of say between 6-10kgs in the 10-12 foot size is suitable. A good solution for a beginner would be a 2-piece rod.  This type of rod is easy to transport.

There are three main types of fishing reel available: overhead, Alvey sidecast and spinning reels. Of these, the spinning reel is the most commonly used, and is popular with both experts and novices. These reels are often called eggbeaters because their design is similar to those old-fashioned kitchen utensils.  For anyone who is learning angling, a spinning reel is a good choice.  These reels are very simple to use and make it easy to learn casting and retrieving.  The reels come in a variety of sizes and the size of spinning reel should be chosen to match the weight and size of the rod.

Fishing lines come in a variety of materials, structures and weights.  Other fishing line characteristics that anglers consider are visibility, cast ability and stretch.  As a beginner to angling, it’s probably best to select a simple monofilament fishing line with breaking strength suitable to the type of fish that you’re targeting and line class rating within the rod’s classification.

Lures are devices attached to the end of fishing lines to attract the attention of fish, and are designed so that their colour, shape and movement imitate the prey of the fish you are targeting. There is an enormous range of styles of lure available for anglers: check out the fishing lures stocked by the Ocean Storm Fishing Tackle Shop Online, which include lures designed to attract fresh water and salt water fish from small table fish such as bream to huge fish.

There are a few other essential basic fishing items such as hooks and sinkers, swivels etc.  While you’re shopping for fishing equipment, don’t forget a tackle box to store and carry your new fishing gear, and an ice box to keep cool all those fish you’re going to be catching. If you are after an all round beginners tackle kit then I suggest the surecatch fishing tackle kit.

 

Visit our online fishing store website to browse through our range of fishing gear and if you require assistance in making your selection feel welcome to contact us. (Usually by email or live web chat is the preferred method so we can give you a more detailed response and provide links to our website for reference where possible).