FOR BEACH/SURF FISHING I HAVE TWO QUITE DIFFERENT SET UPS
PATENOSTER BEACH / SURF RIG.
My preferred beach/surf rods are Shimano Maikuro II 1062 rods suited to a 4lb to 7lb line weight and 28 to 75lb lure weight.
RUNNING SINKER BEACH / SURF RIG
This second rig is set up on the same rod and is a running sinker rig.
Connect 9.6 foot of of 9.5lb Riverge grand max. leader with an allbright knot..
Tie in a dropper of 9.5lb Riverge grandax to the leader desccribed in step
tie to 20droppers 9nt that leader via a small swivel and a second swivel is attached at the business end of the leader.
Between the two swivels ere two evenly spaced 30cm droppers each rigged up with a baited hooks.
At the business end I have a 20cm dropper with a loop at the business end. I carry a Fastach weights in 3 different weights that depending on the water movements due to tide or wind etc can be easily attached or removed to the loop at the business end of the loop allowing the two baited hooks to be presented high in the target water.
There is a size 1 Mustard Fastach clip at the business end that takes different interchangeable finesse weights so that I have easily interchangeable control over how my sinker weight influences how baits are presented.
RUNNING SINKER RIG
PATENOSTER RIG
Roughly once a month I attend estuary or river fishing competitions with other WRFC members.
BREAM
My bream combo is a Miller – 6’6″ rod with a line weight of 2.4kg or 5.29lb. I can remember buying this rod probably 40 years ago at the Sydney Boat Show. It’s set up with a Samurai 2.5kg spin reel with 10-20 l b Suffix 832 braid backing.
Best hooks for bream are size 3-4 red suicide hooks and the best bait is mullet fillet.
WHITING
Best hooks for whiting are size 4 Shinto long Shank hooks and the best bait is sand worms.
My whiting combo is a Jervis Walker – 6’6″ rod that I have had for a long time and is comfortable with a similar backing and leader to the Miller rod above.
BEACH FISHING
FLATHEAD
Best hooks/bait for Flathead as are size 4 ………. hooks carrying a ZMAN prawnZ soft plastics in motor oil sexy penny or Jelly prawn colours with nail polish red head and white eyes.
My flathead soft plastic rod is also 6′-6″ long with a similar backing and leader setup to the the two rods above except for the weight being limited to the prawn Z softies being set up on hooks ranging from 1/6 oz to 2 oz
LEADER SET UP
In each of the combos above there is a swivel that fits trough the top guide on the rod that is connected with a 4 turn Uni knot.
Connected to that is one of my finesse leaders as described below
The leader is made of 2 meters of 9.5 2mm diameter Reverge Grand max. Just 60cm down from the swivel there is a dropper.
A further 1.2 meters below that is further dropper.
At the business end of the leader there is a size 1 Mustard Fastach clip for a finesse weight to connect to.
The finesse weight is a round “hollow” lead weight in a range of sizes with a passage. Through that passage I have added a length of doubled over 50lb fluorocarbon with a loop at one end of the passage and a couple of loose ends at the other end. The fluorocarbon is locked in with multi grips leaving a loop at one end that can attach to the fastach clip and the loose ends are melted away with a gas cake burner.
By using a different interchangeable finesse weights I have easily interchangeable control over at what weight the baits will be presented.