beach fishing

[james rose]

HI all,

My uncle just gave me his old surf rod.

Must admit I've never used one of these but gave it a go in Chelsea yesterday, hooked onto something good which snapped my line clean off after a head shake and a good run.

Wondering if this was dumb luck (was my third cast) or if people have had success beach fishing in the area?

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Wolly Bugger]

HI all,

My uncle just gave me his old surf rod.

Must admit I've never used one of these but gave it a go in Chelsea yesterday, hooked onto something good which snapped my line clean off after a head shake and a good run.

Wondering if this was dumb luck (was my third cast) or if people have had success beach fishing in the area?

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Cheers

It was possibly a stingray or maybe a toothy.

[james rose]

Whats a toothy?

Any tips for fishing around that area, I live literally a walk from the beach so keen to give it a go. I'm thinking flathead and smaller pinkies might be an option but I'm not sure.

[james rose]

And thanks mate forgot my manners there for a second...

Pretty sure it wasn't a stingray though as I've hooked one of them before- very different experience haha.

[Wolly Bugger]

A toothy is a shark, maybe a 7 gilla.

Options for fish off the beach include, flathead, salmon, pinkies, mullet, gars, flounder, stingrays, and more sting rays, banjos.

I have seen whiting literally in about a foot of water.

Obtain a copy of the land base guide for Port phillip and corio bays. Fishing from the beach is perhaps an untapped resource as most people head to the piers.

There was another member who did really well on the whiting fishing off the beach.

[Fish-Hunter]

It could be a Snapper, Gummy, you mention headshakes & line being taken, in shallow water Snapper fight very hard, when compared to deep water caught fish, its hard to say exactly "you will never actually know"..

[james rose]

Yeah had a snapper snatcher on, never tried beach fishing but had one handy and thought why not.

The line on the rod was only 4kg mono though and I stupidly tried to wind whilst it was running so I think thats where I went wrong.

Whiting head as bait.

Thanks for the advice guys, do you think I should upgrade the line on the reel to something stronger?

[BIG GAV]

What sized reel? 8lb mono will b fine for smaller species but you'd really be pressing it for a gummy or snapper. 15lb is a comfy all rounder

[dezza68]

Given that beach its very likely a banjo. In that shallow water they actually fight reasonably well, lived a bit further down on the beach and caught loads of banjos, didnt see any sharks and we did try a fair bit at night.

[james rose]

Thanks Gav, I'd have to check the reel but as it looks a cheap one I may just replace the reel all together.

Banjo's could be a bit of fun but hopefully it was something a bit more exciting for my future endeavors.