Sea Fishing from the bank

Not sure weither I`ve missed something here, I`m not a Sea Angler but I was having a walk around the ferry port at Knott end, if indeed Ferry port is the right word, anyway i got talking to a number of anglers, they were all using very heavy rods, large reels and heavy lines but when i ask what size fish they expected to catch, one said flatties, I`ve had them upto 2lb here? Why the heavy tackle?

It could be for various reasons. If long range fishing it needed for chucking 5 or 6oz leads 150 metres. This then creates a lot of tide pull on the line which can collapse the rod tip. Heavy lines are needed to pull the brakeaways out of the sand.

If i am targeting Flatties i will normally use my Tip Tornadeo ultralite this will cast 2oz or 3oz 150 yards and use a plain lead to move around in the tide as flatties are ambush hunters. Waiting just under the sand for a juicy morsal.

With regards to the diffrent species the Flounder is usually found in very shallow water just past the surf line 30 yard cast is all thats needed. Dabs on the other hand are usually at range. a tip i was taught while cod fishing was that if you were catching dabs you were in the right area if you were catching flounder you need to fish further out.

Hope this helps Monk

Also forgot to mention a lot of sea anglers are were coarse anglers were 15/20 years ago 1 rod for all situations.

cheers Bryan

thing is bryan, if they used thinner mainline (especially braid) they wouldnt need as much lead to hold bottom.....

my dad seems to have the nack with big cod whilst boat fishing, the only thing we can come up with is that he fishes way lighter than everyone else....totally up front about it, the skipper tells everyone about it, but everyone else knows better!

We also use braid. Fireline with no problems casting with mulipliers from the beach. Shows up the bites from even small fish at distance. I have found though in winter when we get the first bad storms and there is loads of weed around due to the lack of stetch in the line the rods get pulled over or the lead beaks free more often.