There’s nothing quite like the crunch of clean sand underfoot or the thump of ocean swells breaking on an empty beach to soothe your mind and ease a weary body… But carrying a fishing rod gives extra purpose to any stroll by the sea! In this informative piece, Starlo offers some valuable advice on how to dramatically improve both the pleasure and effectiveness of your surf fishing.

Beach or surf fishing is one of the most popular forms of land-based angling in Australia, and it’s not hard to see why. Our island home is blessed with a multitude of surf beaches, both long and short, and many remain largely empty of people for much of the year. These glorious strands stretch all the way from Broome, in the far north west, right around the southern half of the continent (including Tasmania) to well beyond Fraser Island in the east… And they all have fish swimming within casting range of their wave-washed edges.

For me, one of the greatest attractions of beach fishing or surf casting is its inherent simplicity. You don’t need a mountain of expensive equipment. Nor is long term planning essential. In fact, if you live close to the coast, beach fishing lends itself beautifully to spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment forays. Yesterday was a case in point for me. I looked up from the computer screen mid-morning to see that the tree tops beyond my office window were still against a clear, blue sky. A walk on the local beach suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. A quick consultation of the tide chart indicated that high water was less than an hour away, so I made the last minute decision to carry a light surf rod with me on my stroll. Fortuitously, the outfit propped in the corner of the shed was already rigged with a metal casting lure. I didn’t even bother taking a spare!

That 40-minute walk proved to be a great tonic and completely revitalized me for an afternoon’s work… And the half-kilo tailor I landed on about my tenth cast made for a delicious lunch. It really doesn’t get much better than that in my book!

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Of course, for consistent results in the surf, a little extra preparation and a tad more gear than one lure doesn’t go astray, but you can still carry everything you need for a longer session in a shoulder bag or a day pack, with a plastic bucket in hand to transport the bait to your chosen spot and (hopefully!) bring the catch home.

However, in my experience, choosing and using the right tackle makes a huge difference to both your chances of success and your overall enjoyment of the process.

Practical surf rods are generally quite long: anything from three to four metres (9 to 13 feet on the old scale). This length helps with casting and also keeps your line up above any annoying surge and drag from the shore break. Yes, you can get by with shorter rods, especially on calm days, but a bit of length is really handy much of the time.

But the most important thing to remember is that longer rods don’t necessarily need to be heavier rods, especially in this era of space-age materials like graphite composites. There’s a great deal to be said for tripping the light fantastic and applying a little finesse to your beach fishing.

LIGHTEN UP!

The single biggest mistake I see surf casters making right around the country is burdening themselves with ridiculously heavy gear. Let’s face it, the vast majority of fish encountered in the surf weigh less than two kilos… often considerably less! 

The most common target species on our southern beaches are fish such as whiting, bream, dart, tarwhine, tailor, Australian salmon, tommy rough (herring), flathead, mullet and trevally. These all typically run from a few hundred grams apiece to maybe a couple of kilos. Sure, we all live in hope of pinning a man-sized mulloway or a metre-plus gummy shark to really test our tackle. But in reality, these prizes are few and far between, and mostly fall to specialist anglers fishing big baits after dark, or prospecting along more remote stretches of coastline.

If you’re seriously targeting the big stuff, by all means beef up your gear accordingly. But if you’re primarily chasing the “bread and butter” species that dominate our surf breaks, for goodness sake, lighten up! If you do, I absolutely guarantee that you’ll catch more fish, and have a heap more fun while doing it. And if your number comes up for the jackpot and you happen to hook that fish of a lifetime, you’re still very much in the running to land it, especially given some time, patience and a cool head.

TOSS THE CABER!

If I had to describe the typical surf-casting outfit I see in the hands of most beach fishing hopefuls, I’d immediately reach for terms like “telephone pole”, or images of burly Scotsmen in a kilts puffing and panting as they toss the caber at a highland tournament!

All too often, the casual surf caster’s weapon of choice is a four-metre fibreglass beast of a rod with a 6000 to 10,000 size spinning reel or big sidecast hanging off it. This over-sized reel will usually be spooled with springy, 10 to 20 kilo breaking strain monofilament line. In order to cast their rigs any meaningful distance off such unwieldy bazookas, the hapless anglers who choose this inefficient gear are forced to opt for massive star or helmet sinkers weighing almost as much as the majority of the fish they’re likely to catch!

Because this overweight tackle is so incredibly cumbersome, those using it will very often heave their baits as far as out as possible, then stagger up the beach to their rod holder and drop the outfit into it before flopping down on the sand to sit and expectantly watch the white-painted tip of their towering telephone pole for any faint signals of a bite. Sadly, what they mostly end up catching is sand crabs, stingrays and clumps of drifting kelp.

THE FINESSE APPROACH

I take a completely different approach to my surf fishing by choosing the lightest, most sensitive three to four metre rod I can find (usually one with a fair proportion of graphite in its blank) and matching this stick up with a 2500 to 4000 size spinning reel or a light, shallow-spooled sidecast.

My main line is most often four or five kilo breaking strain (typically braid, although I sometimes revert to mono on a sidecast, as it’s easier on the hands and fingers). To this, I’ll add a rod-length leader of six or eight kilo nylon or fluorocarbon.

If I’m lure casting, my metal slice, baitfish profile or jig-rigged soft plastic goes directly onto the end of this leader. When I’m bait fishing, a modest ball or bean sinker (usually just 15 to 30 grams in weight) runs freely on the long leader, separated from a small swivel by a plastic bead to prevent knot damage when casting.

Below the swivel I can attach a half-metre hook link of fluorocarbon suited to the task at hand. If I’m using beach worms, prawns or pipis (cockles) strung onto smaller hooks to target whiting, bream, dart and mullet, I might run a three kilo hook link. When throwing half or whole pilchards for salmon, tailor and school jewfish (I always live in hope!), I’ll beef this hook link up to eight or 10 kilo fluorocarbon.

Because my outfit is so light, I don’t drop it in a holder and wait for bites. Instead, I keep the gear in my hands, walking along the sand with the drift if necessary in order to keep a relatively straight line and stay in touch with my moving bait. Bites are transmitted readily via the lighter gear (especially when I’m running low-stretch braided line) and a lot more fish are hooked as a result. When they are, they provide a great account of themselves on the finer tackle, especially when they’re not dragging half a house brick of sinker behind them!

Most fish need to be deftly played on this light gear, and they can’t be simply hauled or dragged up the sand against a powerful backwash. Doing so will usually tear out hooks or even snap leader knots. Instead, you’ll need to learn to make use of the breaking surf to wash your catch ashore, gaining line as a wave surges up and quickly yielding it as the water retreats. It keeps you on your toes and, in the process, makes you a much better angler!

FINDING FISH

After lightening up, finding the best spot to cast your bait or lure into the surf is the next big trick. Remember that classic line from the band America’s song “Horse With No Name”? “The ocean is a desert with its life underground”? Well, they were right! Beaches are not unlike deserts — there’s plenty of life out there, but it’s thinly spread and often well concealed. The majority of this marine life is concentrated around isolated “oases” represented by gutters, channels, holes or small outcrops of reef and rock. Focus firstly on those key areas. Climb to the highest point behind the beach and use polarized sunglasses to help locate these important features.

Deeper water is darker, and unbroken areas in the foamy surf line indicate gutters or holes and their accompanying rips or currents. Waves suddenly standing up and breaking signpost shallower bars and banks. It’s often easiest to identify all of these prime patches of piscatorial real estate on the low tide. (See the fact box accompanying this article entitled “Reading A Beach”.)

But whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you always need to find the deepest hole or most scoured-out gutter to catch fish on the beach. Many species — especially foragers like bream, whiting, dart and mullet — regularly make use of the shallower flats and sloping edges of these deeper formations to grub for worms, cockles, small crabs and other invertebrates uncovered by wave and current action. Explore these edges first, then try the deeper holes.

Tides can be important on the beach, too. A rising or making tide tends to bring feeding fish closer in to the beach, but low tide can also concentrate life in the holes and improve the “fish-to-water” ratio. Often, you’ll only need a short cast to reach the feeding zone, especially at low tide. Don’t make the mistake of always trying to punch holes in the horizon with your sinker and bait. It’s easy to cast over the best fish, which may well be swimming literally at your feet, particularly on more steeply sloping beaches and at the “change of light” periods (dawn and dusk).

SAND BETWEEN YOUR TOES

One last but very important tip: modern, sophisticated reels with gears and other moving parts don’t like sand. If you’re one of those folks who insists on lying your rod and reel in the grit, stick to a sidecast. They’re great surf reels, anyway, and a quick rinse in the briny will keep them turning. But if you opt for more high tech’ equipment, never hit the beach without carrying a metre-long section of PVC pipe. Push this deep into the sand and stand your rod and reel in it every time you bait up, re-rig or need to put the outfit down. Trust me, your reels will last many years longer as a result.

While it’s becoming a tad colder in many areas of the country right now, you can catch fish in the surf at any time of the year. As a bonus, there are fewer and fewer other people sharing our beaches as the weeks march on through autumn and slide into winter. It’s a wonderful time to be alive! You may need to rug up a little, or even consider full-length waders down south, but the rewards can be well worth it.

Remember also that nothing lasts forever. The cold will eventually lose its frosty grip and spring will sneak back out of the chilly shadows. Before you know, it’ll be time for shorts, bare legs, clean sand crunching between your toes and the tang of salt in your nostrils as you belt a bait or lure out over the break… Catching a fish at such a time is almost a bonus… almost!