Beachcaster rig

[Ric Elwin]

I do very little Carping these days. When I do though it's surface fishing on warm days (like now!)

First of all it amazes me to see anglers with 2 bottom baits out when all the Carp are on top but forget this, I'll get to the point:

I usually use the beachacaster rig when using floaters. I very rarely see anyone else using it. I'm wondering why?? It has so many advantages. First you catch more, lots more. Also it stays put in the wind, ideal you're even slightly lazy. Also, if a water bird approaches, you can scare it off by lifting the rod, showing it the line.

I know it's a bit tricky to set up properly and easier to use in shallow water but it's not impossible in deep water, I've caught using it over 18 foot depths.

I it just unfashionable or something?

 

[Christian Tyroll]

I havent heard of it, how does work?

 

[gilesy]

go on ric give us a proper run down of this rig,seem to remember a video with des taylor about twenty years ago but cant remember much more

 

[Budgie Burgess]

Still a very effective rig when used properly.I think it might have fell out of so much use because so many places have banned it!

 

[paul williams 2]

I was just about to say the same as Budgie.....but is it oldhat enough to have been missed out of the bans on some waters and become a forgotten method?

 

[Ric Elwin]

I'm not brilliant at describing rigs so bear with me, I'll have a go.

Right, the main advantage of this rig is that it presents a floater to the fish with NO line on the surface. It's the line that makes Carp wary of our baits, not the hook.

You need the following:

3 oz plus lead

Swivel

2 beads including one rubber one
Hook of your choice. I use size 8 for mixers

Very long rod rest or sea fishing tripod.

And the important bit: a large float. And I mean large! The biggest sea/ pike floats are ideal. The float needs to have an extended stem either at the top or bottom. You need to offset this, so the float 'locks' under tension. You can buy them like this or bend your own having soaked it in hot water (be careful!)

OK this is how you set it up:

Tie your swivel to some 12lb (or similar) nylon. Tie your hook to the other end. This needs to be 2/3 inches long, no more.

Thread a bead on the line, followed by your prepared hooklength.

Thread the float on, followed by the rubber bead.

Tie your lead to the end of the line. Be very careful with this knot, as it will carry the load of a hooked fish.

Finally, tie a stop knot on your mainline. This should be at least 3 times the depth of the water away from your lead. More if you like, it doesn't matter.

That's it!

To fish this, cast out as usual. If you are fishing fairly close in, it pays to cast higher in the air than usual. The hooklength will then end up pushing the bead back to the stop knot on your line, while the lead flies out followed by the float.

When everything hits the water tighten up. The float will have bobbed to the surface but because the stem is offset it will lock under the tension.

Now, put your rod in the rest/ tripod. As you lift the rod tip it lifts the line between the rod and the float.

Then it's a case of adjusting the rod tip/ line tension via the baitrunner so the biscuit is on the surface with just the tiniest amout of slack. Not enough slack so the line lies on the surface, just enough for the biscuit to lie in the water like ones that dont have a hook in.

Not every interested Carp will be hooked on this rig. Because the line is fairly tight they sometimes nose them around a bit without getting it in their mouths. They don't spook from it though.

The only downside of this rig is it's tricky in a strong wind.

Try it, it's devastating.

 

[Ric Elwin]

Budgie/ Paul what was the reasoning for it being banned. Was it because it was so successful, or was it seen to be dangerous to the fish in any way?

 

[Andrew Turton]

I think its banned by a lot of clubs because if you snap up the fish tows around the rig and weight.

 

[paul williams 2]

As Budgie said "used properly"....like all rigs?

 

[Ric Elwin]

No Andrew it's completely safe, it's a free running rig.

 

[Budgie Burgess]

Trouble was many people fished it poorly.

Here is a link to a very good description of a safe way to use it even in very deep water-

www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=62494&st=20

If any of you are unsure about what the rig looks like,reasons for and against it the rest of the thread might fill you in a bit.

 

[Bryan Baron 2]

I do it slightly different to Ric in that my hook length is usually about 12 inch's and i use to stop knots about 6 inch apart. Cutting the tag ends of that face down to the lead and upto the rod this allows the swivel o slide over on the cast and it is then locked in place by the tag ends of the stop knots.

Excellent rig that i have not used for a few seasons now. Must give it a go soon.

 

[Fred Blake]

Whilst the beachcaster rig became prominent in the 1980's it was not a new idea. If you take a look in Drop Me A Line (Walker & Ingham, 1953) you'll see **** Walker's sketch of a rig he proposed to deal with the problems associated with long-range surface fishing.

He wasn't sure how legal it was even then, although for an entirely different reason - if the lead were to be cast onto the far bank (or an island) it could constitute a crossline.

 

[Bully]

My issue is "cosmetic"...... it just looks dreadful seeing this being done by many anglers on a lake.

Also, while being an "effective" method in terms of bait presentation, I think it is very limited in its overall use/effectiveness. I may be wrong, but my best surface sessions have always been based on getting the fish feeding confidently in an area, and when I saw the beachcasting method I thought immediately that you could not do this effectively.

Additionally, while I have had fish feeding at distance (drifting baits down wind for example), I have had most success fishing close in.

 

[Fred Blake]

Years ago I regularly fished a small weedy pond which contained some of the most difficult carp I have ever encountered. Besides myself, there were about half a dozen of us (all local kids) who fished there. On average, we caught about three carp per season - despite having modest successes on other waters.

The pond was no more than fifty yards across, more or less square, with a high wall along one side. It was on common land and for the most part the other three banks were open and grassy, save a weeping willow on one corner and a couple of crack willows on the southern bank. Most summers it would become almost solid with Canadian pondweed, so that our first actions each June would be to get in and clear a few spaces; we could then keep these fairly clear throughout the summer.

The pond held about two dozen carp from about four pounds up to maybe ten, which could be counted most days as they would bask on the surface among holes in the middle of the thick weed. It also held tench, roach, crucians, perch, pike, chub and even a few catfish!

One year - I forget now which year it was but it must have been in the late 1980's or early 90's - I was getting increasingly frustrated with my complete lack of success. Only one carp had I caught, on opening night, in a very unsatisfactory manner. It took a large piece of freelined bread in the middle of the night and somehow avoided setting off the old Heron alarm; it was only when I noticed the rod shaking that I checked and found the spool nearly empty. To cut a long story short that fish was eventually landed with barely a struggle, buried in the middle of half a hundredweight of weed. It weighed five pounds.

A month or so into the season I arrived in the early afternoon to find the fish, as usual, basking in the weeds, at least twenty yards from the bank. Now, I knew from experience that they would take almost any bait you cared to offer them when they were doing this, as long as you could introduce it without disturbing them. After some thought I came up with the following solution.

Three swan shot were pinched on the end of the line. Six feet above these I tied in another short length of line - about a foot long - and tied a hook to the end. This was baited with a small piece of crust and the whole lot cast out well beyond the nearest carp.

After waiting a moment with the rod held high to ensure I hadn't scared the fish, I slowly drew the shot across the top of the weed until they were resting on the far edge of the hole in which the carp lay. I then gently lowered the crust onto the surface. It couldn't have been more than a minute before the fish inched forward and took the bait with every confidence.

To be continued...

 

[Fred Blake]

I struck, there was a big swirl and splash, and the fish dived down among the weed, working himself solidly in. I tried pulling from both sides, then stood on a nearby bench and tried lifting, but to no avail. Eventually I retrieved a bare hook.

Later that afternoon I managed to get another fish to take and this time, mindful of the previous disaster, I pulled and walked backwards at the same time. I had this one coming over the top of the weed nicely when, within five yards of the bank, I carelessly allowed the carp a bit of slack; he dived and became solid again. However, I knew that the water at this point was no more than three feet with a hard bottom, so in I went. Five minutes later I was back on the bank, soaking wet and surrounded by the other half hundredweight of weed, admiring a nice common of about four pounds.

The rig was subsequently modified with a bubble float in place of the shot, as this wouldn't sink into the weed. A few more fish were landed that summer(and some lost in the weed) up to about five pounds. The next year the weed was completely absent and we were back to square one, trying unsuccessfully to outwit the fish in open water.

A few years later Drop Me a Line was reprinted and I got a copy. Imagine my suprise when I found that the very same rig that I had thought my own invention was in fact an old idea. I can honestly say that, at the time, I had no knowledge of the Beachcaster Rig either, as I didn't read any contemporary magazines or books.

Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that there are times where a set up of this kind can be not only successful, but the only way to present a bait to the fish; as such it is a shame when clubs or fishery managements ban it, although I can often see why they do. After all, it is easier and cheaper than banning the idiots who misuse it!

I'd much rather catch carp on a freelined bait if it was at all possible, but I am not so stupid as to think that there are no occasions where something a bit more complicated might confer definite advantages.

 

[Frothey]

nah, i woulda just dumped in 30kg partiblend and hemp, a few kg's of boilies and let the fish rip the weed apart. stick a 2" stiff rig out with a 5oz lead and job jobbed.

 

[Frothey]

the way you've described the rig, ric, it isnt a free running rig - theres a bead and stop knot between the hooklength and rod (if that makes sense). if the mainline goes between the stop knot and rod then it's potentially a tether rig, which is why many lakes banned it.
unlikely, but it could (and did) happen