TeddyBear

Don't go cheap with reels it will end in tears. Even if they don't break, the line management will be awful and you will forever be picking away at greasy line wrapped round the spindle under the spool. Also at any sort of range a cheap reel will bend and flex and take all the feel out of fight Rods are different, you can go fairly cheap and be ok, but I would never, personally, use anything other than an ST or DL Baitrunner They are easily reliable enough to buy used in fair condition. Try the bigger more professional used tackle dealers on Ebay.. The 4000 size is easily strong enough to cover a vast range of fishing. I took a DL 4000 out deep sea fishing and it handled some medium size congers very well

I'm fond of Sticky Baits fantastic Krill Floaters The 3mm ones are great in a PVA mesh bag if you need the hookbait to pop up above weed etc when ledgering as well

The late, GREAT Jan Porter (''The Man in Red'' Matchman was a regular in the Angler's Mail's fantastic Tony Whieldon cartoon series starring Dave Coster) He was later ''The Man In Camo'' when he switched to big carp fishing Jan was very friendly, responsive and chatty on facebook back in the day. He was a million miles away from being too big for his boots. I will always miss him I got very excited when yet another new message from him came up I will never forget his simple, fantastic groundbait recipe he sent me so I shall share it with you all in his memory: One part Swim Stim Amino, One Part Crushed Halibut Pellet Two Parts Brown Breadcrumb Mix with (equal weight of total weight of dry ingredients works fine) Liquidised Green Giant Sweetcorn (he said it must be Green Giant, and it must be liquidised and not cream style ready liquidised stuff) I used his recipe a lot. I often went in with squashed boilie instead of halibut pellet, or substituted various cooked particle for some of the corn, a tin of wild salmon in brine here and there etc. Jan said he was trying dessicated coconut as well

Get something more substantial but also far better quality A proper wooden or balsa hand made float will be FAR better quality AND much easier to see than a skinny poor quality plastic mass produced job

Here is some very sound advice on sending a rod, from a rod builder who knows about these things You will have to wait in all day so be prepared for that and don't stress, its just the way it is Try UPS TODAY (Not plain UPS) for some good deals which can be around just £10 for six foot standard sections of 12ft rods NEVER declare it as a ''fishing rod'' as they will not insure it. ALWAYS declare it as a ''rod BLANK'' - that way if the blank gets broken (which is rod ruined despite what some may tell you) they have to reimburse you.. Guides can be fixed see, blanks can't

Part of the beauty of sea fishing is to be able to travel light and easy Coarse fishing (especially when night fishing) is the complete opposite (usually) with loads of heavy artillery to lug about Personally I would never bring loads of heavy, stinking groiundbait ingredients sea fishing with me and wish to spoil the light and breezy short session effortless-ness of it Enough bait is needed anyway to keep rods fishing amongst bait robbing crabs, and it would be a pain to stop groundbait washing away in the changing tide and keep hookbaits in the right place all the time

Need to rest the swim, try a different area for a bit And then go in with different bait - try liquidised corn with different colours and flavours of groundbait, chilli hemp etc. You don't have to buy groundbait, I rate Paxo Golden breadcrumbs it has paprika in it There is no limit to groundbait try tinned fish in there, I prefer the brine ones you don't want an oily mess in the water. Plenty of old books have fantastic tips, look out for Ivan Marks writings