Spinning for seatrout

Can anyone recommend some good winter reading for someone who aims to spend a lot of the summer spinning for Sea Trout?

Thanks

Bill

Why not try fly fishing. You'll catch more and bigger fish.

Sea Trout Fishing by Hugh Falkus is the standard work in my opinion.

Agree with Ron about fly fishing. You also want to read Successful Sea Trout Fishing by Graham Harris and Moc Morgan. A superb book that builds on Falkus and gives you some more to think about in terms of tactics and understanding running/taking behaviour.

Thanks Ron and Tom
I've got hold of the Falkus book and think it's a lovely read apart from anything else and I'll see if I can get of the Harris and Morgan book as well. I'm a bit nervous about flyfishing as its not something I've done and the stocked trout fisheries around here are bit out of my price range (and it's a bit artificial for my personal tastes too but that's just me). I guess I could start to learn by nymphing for the brownies on the upper sussex ouse and trying for some coarse fish on local stillwaters during the week when theres nobody about to get myself ready for the migrants.

The main thing Bill is to learn to cast.

For the sort of fishing you are going to do get a 9 foot rod that will chuck a 6 weight line with a nice middle to tip action. Avoid all the latest hype about casting a tight loop. It's a total load of bollox for most UK fishing. You needn't spend a fortune on your rod, yet don't buy a cheap and nasty either. Say about ?75 to ?100.

A lowcost lightweight reel will do at this stage of the game. Get a forward taper floating line - Mullarkies do some excellent mill ends which cost nothing. Load up your reel with the backing and attach a knotless tapered leader to the the front

Tie a piece of wool to the front of the line and get out and do some practicing.

First rule of all to learn to cast a fly:

"YOU ARE NOT CASTING THE FLY, YOU ARE CASTING THE LINE! THE FLY GOES ALONG FOR THE RIDE!!

Many anglers pick up fly casting quite quickly when they get those 18 words of wisdom hammered into their skulls.

Hi Bill,
Agree with what Ron says about casting.
Wise words.

One important point though. If you are near the Sussex Ouse then your local sea trout fishing is a bit different from most.

Have a look for The Ouse preservation Society on the internet. As you may already know their water at Barcombe Mills produces some nice fish.

What is also important to know is that the lower end of the Sussex rivers are often too coloured for night time fly fishing. So fishing streamers or other attractors during daylight hours is the tactic adopted by some anglers.

all the best
Tom

Thanks once again

Yes the Ouse and the Adur as well are the rivers that I will be focussing on. There is a possibility that I may be working in the back end of Hove and very close to the lower sections of the Adur, so there may be a chance of getting quite a few sessions in during the evenings and on the Ouse at weekends, although I don't think the Adur has as large a head of fish as the Ouse. Hugh Falkus writes quite a lot about fishing estuaries, although as you mentioned Tom, our rivers down here are very different to the ones that he is writing about. So I wondered, is it worth fishing right down on the river estuary or should I concentrate a little further up where the river starts to be controlled by weirs as I can see how by concentrating on those areas it might be easier to locate the fish?

Ron, thanks for your advice about casting. as sooon as I have recovered from the forthcoming festive financial nightmare, I shall indeed invest in some appropriate equipment and get down the park, although I can imagine the local kids finding it hilarious - it was bad enough, putting my tent up in the summer to check it out.

Thanks once again

Bill

Maybe a few more words on casting to get you doing it without having to spend money on professional lessons.

By the way, if your rod has a plastic sheet on the cork handle get rid of it.

Stand with what is known as an open stance with your left foot slightly in front of your right. This will enable you to watch your backcast. I am assuming you are right handed by the way.

Grip the handle in such a way that all four fingers are around the handle. Put your thumb at the top of the handle or slightly to the side, whatever is more comfortable. Get out on a smooth bit of grass and take about 10 yards of fly line and the leader and lay it out in front of you. Hold the rod in your hand and take hold of the line in your left. Keep the line held in your left hand DOWN BY YOUR SIDE.

Point the rod down the line and hold it parallel or pointed slightly down towards the ground.

Now lift the rod and SLOWLY accelerate the line into the air ending with a back flick which will send the line into the air. Your hand should end up close to your earhole.

Watch the line and when it straightens out in the air behind you, flick the line forward. If you do it right you will feel the weight of the line actually pull at the rod tip. As the line shoots forward, follow through smoothly.

Remember, all the power you put into casting the line is done by two short power flicks, one backwards and one forwards, beween about 11 o'clock and 1 o' clock.

False casting is done by extending line into the air between the power flicks. Shooting line comes easy once your timing is right. You will actually feel the line wanting to travel further.

REMEMBER THIS.

The most important part of casting a fly is the back cast. You cannot execute a good forward cast without a good back cast. Casting forward is dead easy. Casting backwards exercises certain muscles in your arm that you don't use all that often, so have a rest when you feel your arm aching. In time you will develop those back casting muscles.

Finally safety, and here I am being VERY serious.

If you wear a baseball cap - burn it! Get a wide brimmed hat that will not only protect you from wayward flies but also the sun. Also wear a long sleeved shirt, even on a hot day. I have on several occasions had to dig out flies that have been embedded in peoples necks and forearms. Many were wearing shortsleeve shirts and baseball caps.

And ALWAYS wear spectacles.

Good luck

Hi Bill,
Estuaries for sea trout is hard stuff normally. There are exceptions like the Moy, but it is normally seriously hard pioneering stuff, unless you can befriend a netsman who knows the running patterns.

The advantage though is if you find them they are normally much readier takers - well at least in my limited experience on the Moy.

One place to look is deeper pools on the lower tidal water where there is always a residue of salt water, these can sometimes be good holding spots especially if the river proper is running low in summer and the water is very warm. The sea trout will give themselves away by sloshing about.

sacriidge though it might be IMHO low flows and a bit of colour in a tidal stretch are best dealt with by employing the running worm if it is allowed - even stret pegging!!!

Tom

p.s. the best book with Spinning stuff in is probably Clive Gammon's. Sorry can't remeber the title.