Sea Fishing Rigs Archives - Sea fishing for Beginners

Anti Crab Fishing Rigs, The Guide.

August 5, 2012 by Jamie Hibbert 2 Comments

Sea Fishing Stop Crabs — image haemenige

I was recently asked by a Fishing Blog Facebook follower, “how do I prevent crabs from stealing my fishing bait”. He is looking for Anti Crab fishing rigs.

It is a very valid question as crabs can easily spoil a fishing sessions, cleaning your hooks of bait in a matter of minutes, rendering that cast useless and massively reducing your chance of hooking a fish. Flounder fishing often is spoilt by crabs cleaning hooks!

You will have to find a balance and you cannot completely stop this from happening, but you can reduce the chance, increasing your chances of catching a fish greatly.

The most simple method is to keep your bait just off the bottom, using anti Crab fishing rigs. Many crabs can swim fomr the bottom and get your bait but the chance is reduced of them finding an easy meal. A small polystyrene float added on to the snoods ( line from the main rig to the hook ) will help your bait to stay off the bottom, current will reduce its effectiveness, pushing it up and down. Rigs like this can be home made or purchased ready tied. A piece of cork can be used for a rough and ready anti crab rig – thread the cork onto the line using the hook as a needle, a few slices of cork are better than one thick chunk.

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Another other option is to keep moving your bait, lift the rod tip and wind in the slack line this creates. Moving your bait might seem counter productive, in practice I have found the opposite! I think the fish become interested in the sand and silt being disturbed, just like prawns and worms do when feeding or digging holes. It also creates vibration which most fish use to hunt, feeling the vibration on their lateral lines and other sensory organs over their body.

Why not try soft plastics on a spinning or light Bass/Carp rod. These lures fished correctly can prove lethal. LRF techniques or Texas rigging to prevent weed and rock snags are rapidly becoming more and more popular. I must admit I rarely use bait these days. I have more luck with lures, over friends fishing with bait and who are using more traditional techniques. To learn a little about LRF have a look here at my LRF beginners guide.

There is no guaranted way to prevent crabs from stealing your bait. In many ways it proves you have got your bait in the right place where predators are hunting. Take it as a positive but employ these ideas to increase your chances of catching a fish, not fishing for ages with baitless hooks!

If you have any questions on this post please comment below and I will do all I can to help you further, let’s keep the crabs at bay!!

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Cascade Rigs for Beginners

March 15, 2012 by Jamie Hibbert

This Article is about the genius distance rig known as the cascade rig and is a guide on how effective it is with regards to presentation and distance. Most beginners ( take a look at our sea fishing for beginners guide) will look at more seasoned Anglers who may be using the cascade and think 1. How do they cast so far? and 2. How do they catch so many fish? and today after i have shown you how to make this rig you too will have more success in both of these area’s. I have seen fisherman and asked the same question and in turn questioned my own ability to catch fish so when i heard they were using cascade rigs i immediately took the time to find out how to make them and now i want to share this knowledge to help you catch more. The name cascade is because that is exactly what this rig does after being clipped up then cast it hits the water and each snood is released in a cascading motion one after the other. The rig is made up of either a gemini splashdown clip or a splashdown lead, 2 or 3 snoods, tension springs, crimps and cascade swivels and I will talk you through each of these.

You can buy similar rigs here – 2 Hook Cascade Clip Down Rig With Impact Shield

TENSION SPRINGS

The spring kits i use personally and find are the best quality are made by Fox. The kits come complete with 10 springs crimps and soft stoppers and although you may not want to use those particular crimps it is still a nice touch that they come with the springs. The springs are used on the second and third snoods to keep them nice and tight and when released spring the snood out of the way of the others leaving it tangle free. You place a crimp then a bead then a spring then your cascade swivel with the snood attached then another bead and crimp and follow that process on the 3rd snood if you are using one.

CASCADE SWIVELS

Cascade swivels are as much an essential part of the cascade rig as the tension springs. Cascade swivels are similiar to normal swivels but have a clip protruding from them to hold a hook in place keeping the rig neat and aero dynamic. Clipping down your snoods not only allows for better distance on casts but also keeps your bait looking superb by the time it hits the sea bed.

GEMINI SPLASHDOWN CLIPS

I am so impressed with these clips that i no longer buy splashdown leads. These little clips fit any standard lead and lock the hook into place with a special clip device stopping it from releasing early. To use them you simply clip the eye of the lead into the clip on the gemini splashdown and hey presto you have the ultimate splashdown lead then pop your hook into the recess and pull down to lock into place.

MAKING THE RIG

The best advice when making a cascade rig is do not tighten the crimps without making sure you have the right tension coming from the hook clip and to do this i attach the lead first then clip the first snood in the hook hold and slide the swivel up until you have tension then crimp into place. When securing the second and third snoods that have the tension springs attached always makes sure the spring compresses slightly from the tension of being clipped on the cascade swivel from the previous snood before crimping into place and always allow room for the spring to decompress once released i.e leave room from swivel to crimp to allow the spring to move back.

THE RIG

The easiest way to show anybody wanting to try and make this rig is to put a picture below which is what i have done and you can follow it from that and the information above to make yourself one of the best rigs around that will get you to the fish then present your bait perfectly resulting in more bites and ultimately more fish. Good luck and tight lines

THANKS

NB Please click the image for a larger version.

The Dandy Blogger

Available here – 2 Hook Cascade Clip Down Rig With Impact Shield

Simple Sea Fishing Rigs, Flapper | Pulley Rigs Beginners Guide

March 7, 2012 by Jamie Hibbert 7 Comments

Sea Fishing Rigs

Most people when starting out learning how to start sea fishing they consider that the rod and reel are the most important piece of kit in the fishermans arsenal, and to an extent that is true. But it is sea fishing rigs that are the most vital part in any fishermans kit and once you get the rig right most other things just fall into place.

Ready tied 10x Sea fishing Rigs PULLEY RIG 2 Hooks size 1/0

Here are some great starter kits for making sea fishing rigs – Fishing rig components
You could have the most dazzling expensive setup in the history of sea fishing but if your end tackle isn’t right you are not going to catch anything on the day. For a beginner to sea fishing learning the ropes of beachcasting there are 3 basic rigs they should learn and always carry with them, the first being a simple ‘Flapper Rig’. The ‘Flapper Rig’ comes in two varieties the 2 hook and the 3 hook, the flapper rig is simply designed to flap the bait around in the current therefore looking very attractive to any passing fish. To tie a flapper rig is simple and easy to follow just look at the diagram I have added and you will be tying them up with your eyes closed after a few attempts.

IMAGE: Greys Tackle

Pulley Rigs

The second of the sea fishing rigs I am going to talk you through is another simple but very effective design and is called the ‘PULLEY RIG’ and this is designed for rough ground fishing, the reason it is best on rough ground is because it stops snags and breakoffs and the reason for that is simple. When a fish takes the bait on a pulley rig the lead does not drag across the sea bed but lifts in the air due to it being a semi running rig. All will become clear when you look at the diagram below also you will be surprised how easy it is to tie but how deadly it is when used.

Last but by no means least is the ‘ 2 BOOM RIG’ which can be deadly for whiting and also flatfish. It looks a little more daunting than the first two rigs I have featured but only because it requires booms but don’t let this put you off. The 2 boom rig stops all the nasty tangles associated with multiple snood rigs and can also be good for scratching from a boat so please take the time to learn this excellent but simple rig and all the above too. I hope this is helpful to all beginners starting their sea fishing career and I hope to post more tips and tactics in the future.

Thankyou
Andy the flattie basher

Ready tied 10x Sea fishing Rigs PULLEY RIG 2 Hooks size 1/0

Flounder rig and beads and sequins

August 1, 2007 by Jamie Hibbert 1 Comment

“How many beads do I need to use when I tie a flounder fishing rig?”

The question really comes down to personal trial and error for your local flounder fishing mark. I would start by alternating 2 colours of bead, say red and black to a total of 5 beads. Then try rigs with different colours until you find what works in your area.

You can do this with using two rods both with different flounder rigs, or two hook systems with different bead patterns.

Don’t just limit your self to beads, try sequins and discs, you can find a whole lot of stuff in your local craft / fabric shop that can be added to a rig and entice the flounder. Consider how what you add may also create vibration which will attract flounder, also how the current will effect your rig. For more information have a look at this post on Flounder fishing.

Here is an example of a 2 hook Flounder rig. For more details look here Flattie Rigs you can also search that site after following the link for great deals on beads, spoons and other fishing tackle or look here – Beads and Sequins

Let us know by commenting on this post if you have a successful bead system for Flounder fishing in your area.

Guide for Surf fishing rigs and other beach casting rigs

July 6, 2007 by Jamie Hibbert 2 Comments

I am in the process I creating tutorials to show you the basics on how to make some great surf and beach casting fishing rigs.

I am currently working out the best way to create the images to allow you to easily see the components and materials used in rig building.

Please bare with me on this one and if there is a particular rig you would like to see, then let the fishing blog know by commenting on this post.