Beach Casting Help / Rod Advice for partly Disabled Angler

[Lucky-Ediie]

Hi All,

 

Well I have had another session with Malcolm, using another bunch of rods and this time different reels.

 

The School had kindly marked out 200mtrs for the up and coming sports day, so with the aid of bank sticks with plastic milk bottles stuck over them I had a chance to see the distance as apposed to counting turns, pacing out or estimating.

 

12' Pike rod, 3.5lb TC 3oz lead.. several styles of cast got an average 75yrds (a few 90+)

14.6 Ugly Stick, 3, 4 & 5oz lead, + multipier (all over the place) but an average of 85yrds.

12' Anyfish Anywhere + multiplier 75 - 100yrds

15' Fladen Charter + Fix Spool and Multiplier best 120yrds, worst 90yrds.

14'Dawia Sandstorm, multiplier 80-90yrds.

 

We did go over the previous set of rods and reels, but I didn't do any better with them than last time.

 

I used my TFG 13' Big Pit setup and got best 135yrds but mostly 100-110yrds? And Malcolm is baffled why I am not hitting the same or better with the beach rods? I am getting a bit cheesed off.....

 

Any other advice guys??

 

Cheers Eddie

[PeterNE1]

Use your TFG 13' Big Pit setup: it's apparently giving you more like the distance you seem to feel is necessary, and cut down on the number of feathers if you need to, after all, how many mackeral do you need to take each session ? ... you talk of struggling (and being dissatisfied) with taking ten in a session of just a couple of hours, even with your current under - par (to you) performance.

 

Putting aside the issue of how many fish you may be able to take, I'd hazard a guess and say that the repeated casting with a rod with which you can actually handle is far more likely to benefit your shoulder, too, no?

[Renrag39]

I've got no additional advice but I can explain why you're beating the BC rod with your BP setup.

 

It's all to do with loading the rod. With the BP rod, you can load the rod through to the butt, being somewhat 'softer' than traditional BC's. You therefore get more power transferred to the lead and send it further. If you were in peak physical shape, you'd no doubt be able to fully load a BC but as you're in recovery, stick with your BP rod until you build yourself up again. It'll take time, possibly a year or more before you can fully load a BC and until you can, they will just put undue strain on your injury and p!ss you off with mediocre performance.

 

Thought of a few things that might/could help:-

Obviously reducing the amount of feathers will help. Try swapping your lead for a 2-3oz dexter wedge so you don't feel you're selling yourself short.

Also, not using a shock leader can help. I use 60lb Braid, straight through when casting these sort of weights on lure set-ups (up to 3oz). The finer diameter of the braid reduces ring friction, combined with low stretch, meaning you will transfer more of the power to the lead rather than having it absorbed by 'boingy' mono. Plus the lack of a knot I've found, can give you another 5-10yds on a good day.

 

Another thought- You could go the 'purist' route if you're fishing for fun, rather than worried about quantity. Get a light/medium bass rod, 10-11', a 4-5000 size fs reel loaded with 30lb powerpro braid and start chucking 1-2oz wedges. You WONT get the distance of the other set-ups but I doubt it'll be far off in good conditions (80-90yds at a guess) and when you hook a reasonable mackie, you'll really know about it!

Edited June 11, 2012 by Renrag39

[dant]

Hello Eddie, sounds like you've got a good mate there who's helping you out. I think Ken's suggestion is a sound one but if you're really struggling I think the longer beach caster might have the edge on out and out distance.

I cast one one of the cheaper Shakespeare K2 rods earlier this year and was surprised at what it could do, a simple overhead thump sent a plain lead flying out. I think it was the 16ft plus model.

Team that up with a lighter mainline maybe 15lb or even 12 and you're away.

Also might be worth checking how much leader you've got on your reel about 8 turns of the handle on the spool with the lead up in the air as it would be if you rod was in a tripod is just about right, too much leader will knock yards off.

The thing with chucking those long rods is to try not to cast them too quickly or too hard as you might with say a 12ft rod. Slow your cast down and push the power on right at the end if that makes any sense. This way you'll compress the rod more fully and get increased distance. It took me a few casts with the K2 to get the hang of taking the speed off and smooth the cast right out, it probably put another 30 to 40 yards on to the cast from when I was trying to really whack it.

I would hang back from using a 6oz lead for feathering, chucking that all day is knackering. If you lose the strength in your arms from casting a heavy lead all day that too will knock yards off your cast.

If you continue to struggle it might be worth looking up a local casting instructor who'll be able to spot where you might be going wrong from just about your first cast.

It's really worthwhile, I thought I might be a bit above taking casting lessons but a day or two out in a field with a casting mate of mine has ironed out a couple of big glitches in my technique that I've probably been doing for the last 25 years and put maybe 50 yards on my cast.

Have a look at the casting section of the World Sea Fishing website as you should get plenty of good specialist advice from some of the guys on there..

Good luck..

[poledark]

And don't forget that you will also have to wind in the 16footer. A few dozen casts with one will soon make your arms and back ache a bit. As for the distances, well 90% of the guys I see fishing are quite happy to hit 85 yards, very very few are getting anywhere near 100+

 

I do sympathise with you, having been a really good pendulum caster, ( I invented it )and being able to "flick" a 6oz lead over 150yds I also am frustrated at old age and bad back and all round general stiffness. When I started back on the beach after a near 40 year layoff I was dissapointed that I could only cast about 80yds. So I took advice and bought a couple of 15ft "soft" rods, for overhead thumping, and went to the beach several times each week, Distance went up to the occasional 100, but I began to find the 15ft a bit of an effort, so I cut them down to 13ft, and went for John Holdens "Easy cast". I can hit 140 with a following wind, put a 3 hook flapper out 95/105 all day, and clipped up about 115/120. Winding in, especially with a load of weed and a fish is quite comfortable as well.

 

I still get the occasional feeling of regret that I cant cast 190+ but I am matching almost everone on the beach, and catching, so am fairly content, and if it is any help at all, I have found that the more I fish and stagger up and down the steep shingle, the less it seems to hurt

 

Den

Edited June 12, 2012 by poledark

[dant]

And don't forget that you will also have to wind in the 16footer.

 

That is a really good point. It's quite a tricky conundrum you've got really once you add feathering into the mix as the repetitive casting and winding in all day can really take it out of you.

If it was just standard beach casting where you lump it out and then the rod spends the rest of it's time on a tripod it would'nt be so bad.

I've only just seen your post at the top of this page stating your distances and to be honest considering you got a dodgy shoulder I don't think you're doing too badly at all. Unless you've got an absolutely perfect technique I would say you're not actually too far off the average limit of the OHT.

I recently upgraded my rods to a pair of Anyfish Anywhere Big Beach rods and really struggled for the first 6 months as they're absolute beasts. 6oz's is the minimum lead to use on them any less and the tip recovers too quickly.

I basically had to go back to square one with my casting to learn how to load and compress the rod and in the end found that adding 6 inches to the butt to 'soften' the rods a bit was the only way to get my distances back up.

All things considered I also think you may be better off using say 3 feathers and a 3oz lead, seems to make the most sense.

Or possibly have a chat to a decent tackle shop and ask if you can try a few chucks with a rod before you buy and have a look at a decent quality bass rod.

Another rod in the higher end of the price ranges would be something like a Century Tip Tornado Lite or any of Centurys new range of Tip Tornados in the the 3-5oz range. I've recently cast their new TT Supermatch LD and it's an absolute beauty but it's nowhere near cheap..

It can be a tricky problem getting a rod right for beach casting so I can understand your frustrations.

Personally if I'm really straining to get the distance for Mackerel feathering I tend not to bother it can a lot of work for a few fish that might well be 20 yards out on the next tide.....

Edited June 12, 2012 by dant

[Lucky-Ediie]

Hi All,

 

I have now sort of sorted the issues I was having. After having several sessions out with Malcolm and trying loads of different rods and reels combos, and hours of practise, I am now hitting 100yrds 8 out of 10 times on the beach and hope to improve on that over the summer.

 

It's true what you can do on a playing field isn't the same as what you can do on a beach, but the practise is invaluable. I try to get out to practise a couple of times a week as well as putting it into practise on the beach actually fishing when I can.

 

Anyway, I have opted for a Dawia Emcast Surf 15ft Fixed Spool Beach Rod. Its (I'm told) a faily stiff rod but with my "safe" style of OHT, I don't suffer too much the next day after a couple of hours casting and even in the down pour the other day came home from Chesil with 20 mackie after only 2 hours . That was on a 3 feather rig with a 5oz lead (just over half the rods lead capacity), casting about a 5' drop, slightly to the side - OTH (without the need for a "Henry Gilbey stomp" lol).

 

Best news of it all was, the S/h rod, matching s/h Dawia reel fitted with new 15lb line and a roll of 60lb tappered shockleaders cost me just £70quid bargain, and being 3pcs it fits in the car without to much hassle

 

I am now after a second setup the same so I can go after some other (bigger) fish on a fixed or pully pennel whilst I'm bashing the Mackie Rather than using the BP rod and reel I have as I am doing now.

 

On a different note, I met a chap (Terry) down Portland the other day who was using lures with a very whippy 10' telescopic rod. He let me have a couple of goes with it, and I was amazed how far you could flick a lure only weighing about 20 - 30gms. Watching out of the corner of my eye, I saw he had a couple of really nice Bass .

 

Thanks again to everyone for all your advice, I hope that this post may help others that have had similar probs as I have faced

 

Good Fishing all

Eddie