Watching your Fishing rod tip

Further to my post on how to detect bites I thought I could explain a few of the most common night time bite detectors for sea fishing. As I said before learning how to detect bites will come with practice and using the primary and secondary factors I described last time will help you to hone your skills, to a fine art.

Before I go any further its worth mentioning that Bass are very sensitive to light in places they don’t expect it. So in when you are Bass fishing in an unlit area you need to keep light of the water. Shrouds can be placed around base lights and red filters can be used on head lamps.

Anyway I digress. There are 5 detection systems for night time fishing,

• Holding the rod and line

• Battery tip light

• Chemical tip light

• Tip bells

• Reflective tape

Holding the rod and line

If you are fishing multiple rods like most sea anglers do, ie Two long range beach casters and a short range spinning / Bass rod then you are going to have problems using this technique on all your rods! If you are using just one rod then hold it and don’t use the rod rest. Holding the rod will give you great detection and feel for that out of character movement on the rod or line.

Battery tip light

For the sea angler who is going to the beach most weekends to fish in the dark a battery powered tip light is the best solution. Modern ultra bright led technology allows long burn times from small batteries. The most typical devices are plastic formed with a foot. You attach a shoe onto your rod tip and just clip the light in place when you are ready to fish (a bit like bike lights on their mounts). The initial out lay is expensive compared to the other options, but if your are on the beach most of the time they will quickly pay for themselves.

Chemical tip light

A small plastic tube filled with magic that once snapped and shaken causes a chemical reaction that glows for hours on end. You have probably seen similar art street festivals and carnivals - glowing necklaces around children’s necks. They attach with tape or a rubber tube that attaches to your rod tip and you push the chemical light into this tube. Cost wise if you were to use one every fishing trip then it could become very expensive, but for the odd trip they are very good and you should always have one in your tackle box. To buy some chemical lights click here

Tip bells

If you want to drive yourself mad and clear the beach then a good quality tip bell will do the trick! I guess if you happen to not be looking at your rod then the jingle might warn you of that bite, but they are of little use unless its calm enough to allow your rod tip to be still.

Reflective Tape

Many rods now come with a reflective section on the tip. If not you can by the tape and give your rod tip 3 to 4 coils. You need background light of some type to seem the tape, a head lamp works well but a base light set in front of your rods shrouded on the water side to prevent light spill will work well for all the rods in your rest. This is the method I use, its not perfect but works for me.

If I have overlooked another method you use, or if you have any feedback then please comment on this post.