Compiled by : Colin Albert colin@nospam-labrax.force9.co.uk (Delete "nospam-" to e-mail.)

7.1 Shore Tackle

7.1.1 What sort of rod do I need for shore fishing?

There is no single rod that covers every aspect of shore fishing in the U.K. Below are listed typical rods, and their uses, decide which suit your fishing needs.

a) Standard Beachcasting.

This is the most common beach rod. Overall length of 11 - 13 feet, in two sections. These sections may be equal, or are a longer tip of about 8 feet and a shorter butt. Rods with more than two sections are not usually recommended. Most modern rods are of a fast or very fast taper, this means that the butt of the rod is stiff, with the tip more flexible. The majority of beach rods are designed to cast 5 ounces. Rods that claim to cast 8 ounces are rarely happy with that amount of weight. Handles consist of either a fixed reel seat, or lightweight coaster clips. Coasters have the advantage that the reel can be positioned at the ideal position for casting, not at the point chosen by the rods designer. The rods may be ringed for either multiplier or fixed spool use.

b) Bass Rod

A beach rod designed to cast 1-3 or 2-4 ounces is usually described as a bass rod. This description belies the versatility of such a rod. The length is usually 11-12 feet, and these rods are almost always of two equal sections with a fixed reel seat. A bass rod is ideal for estuary fishing for flatfish, can be used for float fishing, and makes an excellent heavy spinning rod.

c) Spinning Rod

These are rarely advertised by tackle shops in sea angling magazines, but can be used for great fun with light tackle. Most spinning rods suitable for sea use are 8-10 feet long and cast 1 - 1.5 ounces. But do not discount smaller, lighter rods. As well as spinning, these rods make ideal light boat rods for fish such as black bream (but not always on a crowded charter boat) Most spinning rods in the U.K. are designed for use with fixed spool reels.

d) Other rods.

Depending on the areas you fish, you may find a need for a heavy beachcaster for fishing rough ground; a coarse angler's rod for mullet fishing; or other specialist rods.

7.1.2 What sort of reel do you use for shore fishing?

Small multipliers such as the ABU 6000 series and Daiwa 7HT are the most popular reels for shore fishing in the U.K. The reels are usually loaded with about 250-300 yards of 15lb line. Fixed spool reels are not popular amongst serious anglers, although good modern reels are now being made by Shimano and Daiwa. For fishing rough ground 7000 or 9000 size reels are used with lines of 25-35 lb breaking strain.

7.1.3 Why do some rods have a long tip and a shorter butt?

Most rods which come in two equal sections have the position of the joint decided without any reference to the rod's action. Modern beachcasters have an action which can be thought of as three separate zones.

The tip, zone 1, is mainly concerned with bite detection, and has little role to play in casting apart from smoothing the turn-over of the lead. This is usually the top 18 inches of the rod.

The middle, or zone 2, is where the power of a cast is stored and then released. This extends from the end of zone 1 to about 6-18 inches above the upper hand grip.

The butt, or zone 3, is usually a very stiff, parallel sided, carbon tube. The aim of the butt is to transfer the power generated by your arms and body into stored energy in zone 2 during the cast. A rod joined in two equal sections would have the spigot somewhere in the middle of zone 2. This is not ideal since any joint disturbs the natural action of the blank. A long tip, short butt rod is designed with the joint at the junction of zones 2 and 3. Since the butt is very stiff anyway, the extra thickness of the rod at the joint does not alter the action of the rod.

7.2 Boat Tackle

7.2.1 What sort of rod do I need for boat fishing?

As stated above for shore fishing, no single rod can cover every aspect of boat fishing. Below are listed the main types of rods used.

a) Conventional Boat Rods.

These are also known as downtide rods. They are usually 6.5 - 7.5 feet long and are often in two pieces - a short butt and long tip joined at the reel seat. Most rods are known by their IGFA rating - this states the recommended line strength to use with the rod. The most common IGFA rations used are 20lb, 30lb and 50lb class.

NOTE - The IGFA rating used on UK rods may be considerably different to an American rod of the same class. (UK rods are lighter.)

The most common rod is a 30lb class. It is best to check the rods yourself as there is no standard for the line class labels. One manufacturer's 30lb class rod may be stiffer than another's 50lb!!

Older rods were made with wooden butts, though these are becomming less common. Carbon or glass-fibre is usually used nowadays.

Some rods have roller rings / roller tip rings, these are not necessary unless you are using wire line. The best rollers are AFTCO, but they are expensive. It is much better to have good quality lined rings than cheap rollers.

b) Uptide rods.

These are much longer than the conventional rods. Uptiders are 9.5 to 10.5 feet long. They are designed to cast a lead away from the boat and so have longer handles, for better casting. Again these rods most often come in two unequal sections, a six foot tip and separate butt. The rods are classified according to their casting weight, with 4-6oz and 6-8oz being most common.

c) Specialist Rods.

I will include very light tackle, very heavy tackle, and spinning gear under this category. Depending on the area you fish, you may have a need for very light tackle - 12lb, 6lb class gear; heavy gear - 80lb class. There is not much call for 130lb class around the U.K. Other specialist gear includes wire line tackle - often used around the Needles on the Isle of Wight.

The best way to decide which of these rods suit your needs most is to ask anglers and charter skippers in the areas you wish to fish.

7.2.2 What sort of reel do you use for boat fishing?

The majority of reels used in boat fishing are multipliers. Fixed spool reels are only used for very light tackle fishing. Centre pin reels are still used by some anglers in the north east, but are very basic and cannot be seriously recommended.

The size of reel is decided by the type and class of rod you are using. For uptiding the reel must be capable of casting without overruning. ABU 7000 size reels are the most popular uptide reels. It is possible to use smaller reels, such as the 6000's and the Daiwa 7HT for uptiding, but the gears are not as tough as the larger reels such as 7000's and Daiwa SL20 & SL30. Also there is a danger of bursting the spool on the smaller reels due to the increased pressure that a large fish may put on the line when being wound onto the spool. Uptide reels need to hold about 250-300 yards of line.

General boat reels will need to hold about 300 yards of line matched to the class of the rod. It is possible to use a heavier line than the rod is rated, but beware of overloading the gears. Most multipliers have a clutch controlled by a star wheel. There will also be a separate lever to disengage the gears completely. Avoid reels with plastic spools for boat fishing.

Small lever drag reels are becomming more popular with most manufacturers producing a range of models. As with most things you get what you pay for! There is no lever to disengage the gears on a lever drag reel, you simply back the drag right off to release line. Lever drag reels are not suitable for casting as the gears cannot be fully disengaged.

For heavy duty work, such as wrecking, shark or common skate fishing, strong reels such as Penn Senators, Daiwa Sealines are recommended. These reels are mainly used is sizes 6/0 for 50lb class and 9/0 for 80lb class, though some anglers use these reels with 30 and 50 pound line respectivly for increased capacity. These reels have very strong gears and with care will easily last a lifetime.

There is only a limited market for big-game reels such as Everols, Fin-Nor or Penn Internationals in the U.K.

7.3 General Tackle

7.3.1 How do the numbers for hook sizes work?

Hooks are numbered from 32 to 1, with size 32 being the smallest, and 1 the largest. Then the numbering goes from 1/O upwards, the greater the number before the "O" the larger the hook. The "/O" stands for ocean. Most sea fishing uses hooks between 10 for mullet to 12/O for sharks. A 6/O hook is pronounced as a "six Oh"

Different manufacturers use the same number scale, but a 2/0 of the same pattern from different manufacturers may differ in size. Most notably for U.K. anglers Hooks made by Partridge and Cox & Rawle are about two sizes smaller than the equivalent size Mustad hook.

7.3.2 There are many hook patterns available, which do you recommend?

Basically all hooks are designed to do the same thing, but variations in shank length, wire gauge, bend and offset have lead to a enormous number of hook patterns. All these variations can be simplified into three basic categories: light, medium and heavy.

      Suggested patterns
        Light Hooks - Usually used in sizes up to 3/0
          Mustad Aberdeen 3282       Long shank, round bend, straight
          Mustad Nordic Bend 4446B   Long shank, limerick bend, kirbed
          Kamasan B940 Aberdeen      Long shank, high carbon, black

        Medium Hooks - Usually used in sizes 1/0 to 6/0
          Mustad Aberdeen 3261 BLN  Stronger than 3282 Aberdeen
          Mustad Nordic Bend 4447B  Forged, heavier wire than 4446B
          Mustad Viking 79510       Forged, round bend, turned down eye
          Mustad Viking 79515       Forged, round bend, straight eye

        Heavy Hooks - Usually used in sizes 4/0 upwards
          Mustad O'Shaughnessy 3406    Heavy gauge, forged, bronzed
          Mustad O'Shaughnessy 3407    Heavy gauge, forged, duratin
          Mustad O'Shaughnessy 34007   Heavy gauge, forged, stainless
          Mustad Seamaster 7699D       Very Heavy, forged, kirbed, shark hook
          Mustad Seademon  7731D       Very Heavy, forged, straight, shark hook

7.3.3 Flourescent lines are very popular, does line colour matter?

Personally I prefer to use clear line, but there are times when coloured lines are useful. If you fish an area with very coloured water, like the Bristol Channel, then line colour makes little difference, since the visibility is about 12 inches.

If the water you fish is crystal clear then the line colour can make a great difference to catches. When fishing in clear water, I would not recommend using flourescent line as it is so visible. At least I would ensure that all hook traces and leaders are clear.

Some beach anglers prefer the bright lines as they can see the line easily, especially when night fishing. If you want to use these lines, then use a clear shock leader, so the line near the bait is not visible.

The problem of visibility does not only affect the bright lines. Some charter skippers I know will only use mackerel feathers tied on clear line as they get poorer catches if the line is coloured.

One occasion where brightly coloured lines are very useful is when practice casting over grass. If a flourescent yellow or orange shock leader is used, it is very easy to find any crack-offs.

Another factor is the fact that any colour is a dye added to the nylon monofilament and as such must alter the specification of the line slightly. This means that the performance of the same brand of line in different colours may vary slightly.

7.4 U.K. Tackle Manufacturers & Spare Parts Suppliers

7.5 U.K. Tackle Shops On-Line

I have received many request from overseas anglers about where to obtain some of the specialist UK tackle items. Below is a list of some tackle shops which now have e-mail or www facilities. This is not meant to be a complete list of tackle shops, but just a representative selection who can supply a good range of tackle from rods & reels to hooks and small accessories.

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