Fishing from the beach

If the fish refuse to take, the angler should look for them. Moving the place frequently is also decisive for success when fishing from the coast.
There is something static about offshore sea fishing – anglers loaded with equipment head to the previously selected spot on the beach, they assemble equipment and tripods, and then wait for it with admirable patience, what is to be. Even if they don't get any sensible fish, so they stubbornly do not change their fishery even by a meter. Actually why? After all, active fishing is much more effective! Here is an example. Classic wild Baltic coast; some stones on the bottom, some vegetation, several sand shoals – a varied and quite promising fishery, yet not every shore spot is equally good. Recently, my colleagues and I found out about it the hard way. We throw six fishing rods at intervals of five to ten meters and wait. "Fun" Soon. The first rod on the right is used to catch a double – cod and flounder, and then nothing more. Only undersized cod are regularly taken for the fishing rod next door. Rod number three is silent all the time, on the other hand, baits on stick number four are occasionally interested in not too large burbots. On the other hand, the last two rods on the left do not let my friend rest for a moment. Cod followed by cod land on shore at regular intervals, including several pieces, which you can already boast about. Fish take on drill bits. In hope, that I will finally come across some fish that is already fit for filleting, I am throwing my "undefeated" rod on the left side of the rods of my friend, so effective today. And what is happening? Not a single cod take! The only thing I manage to catch, it's a pound of flounder. Not too bad either. A bit on fire, I move with my second rod to the "left wing". The other colleague does the same. Unfortunately, the two of us are completely ignored by the cod. Instead, we catch four beautiful flounders. A moment later it was over. Until dawn, no change – not a single sensible fish. It was already light. I decide to fish a little more actively. My friends "borrow" one rod from me and they kindly agree, that I should work a little on their account. They stay where they are. I start to flip the rods by rearranging them as if on a carousel. When on the right-hand rod, nothing happens for fifteen minutes, I'm rolling her up, I go a little further and cast the remaining rods on the left side. Throughout the morning spent on the beach, I manage to catch more than twenty quite nice flounder fish this way. The two flounders were really impressive sizes.

Also in the offshore wind

A week and a half later, I insisted, that I need to check, whether the effectiveness of all of my rod shifting was only coincidental, or is it somehow saving the honor of angling in the days of total fishlessness. I am unfolding in exactly the same place as before. Fishing conditions are not very favorable – offshore wind and crystal clear water. The hope of a successful catch is diminishing by the hour. Nothing happens with the local anglers sitting nearby – they only caught a few totally unremarkable fish. At dawn, I decide to stop the senseless soaking of the worms in one place. I am starting the carousel movement of the fishing rods. With time, I am moving further and further away from my original hunting ground. And there you go – however, you can catch something from this beach. In such clear water, the fish were simply not active and only used as bait, which was lying right next to their mouths! It is true that my hike on the beach did not end with catching a whole net of fish this time, but how varied my prey turned out to be – one eel here, there are two almost "capital" burbot, every now and then a flounder, and one stray cod also took my bait. At the same time, I noticed a certain regularity: there was only one fish in each new place (or not), then silence! Perhaps it would be possible to create a new fishing maxim based on these observations – if the fish and the sea are still, the angler must move!? During my fishing trips on the beach, I noticed another regularity – better results are obtained if you fish with different sticks! As it happened, that I don't have two of the same rods, some are more expensive, others cheaper, each has a different action, and using the same weight, I am able to throw some closer, others on. Consequently, the lure will glide at different distances and there will always be some fish, who will be tempted by the thread – even then, when other anglers, fishing "precisely’ as for the subway, takes nothing. If I am convinced, that the fish are very far from the shore, I usually roll up the rod for "short distances" right away. It's just a pity for the bait. Fortunately, such situations are extremely rare – Eels and burbot almost always stand very close to the shore, a little further flounder, and cod are also found on the border of long-throw.

With or without beads?

A separate chapter can be written about the colored beads and balls that float the bait above the bottom. Anglers can be divided into two groups in this respect - one is passionate about fishing with beads and all kinds of tinsel, others consider it absolutely unnecessary. If the fish stand close to the shore and feed well, nothing to discuss – both followers, as well as opponents of decoys are successful. If, however, feeding fish are rare visitors to the fishery, the case is a bit different. I then put small ones on some of the leaders (!) single floating beads and one fishing rod I fish "clean", the other with the lure holding the lure above the bottom. I have already found out about the effectiveness of the lure many times, many times the fish took only natural bait. I have no opinion. I know one thing – Sometimes pulling the set up a few meters to the bank provoked many anemic fish to bite.