struggling to catch fish

hello all i was wondering if you cud advise me on how more fish. i have been of about 30 times this year and have only caught about 5 fish. im really struggling to catch fish plz advise me on wot to do.

Where are you fishing mate? Give us a rundown of how you set up etc.

James, depending on where you are this time of year is normally vey slow for sea fish, its part of the reason most charter boats come out of the water, not much worth catching out there.

its around now the winter fish are sodding off and the summer fish are due to arrive.

as EC says where are you fishing, and what bait, rigs etc are you using, at what state of the tide and what times ie morning/day/evening/night.

hello thanks for the replies. i normally fish in between redcar and whitby but are willing to travel further afield. i normally use pennal rigs. as for bait i use rag worm/lug,mussel and squid. i either fish in between 3 and 6 oclock or after 9 at night. plz advise me on where im going wrong

Why not try a straight forward 2 hook flapper mate, smallish hooks say size 1 and 2 to a 15lb snood, worm or mackerel on the hook, and fish for bites.

Pennel rigs are often used for bigger baits and bigger fish which is great when you want to be selective but possibly not the best when all you want is a few bites.

Best advice though: Get into your local shop and ask a few questions, also, walk along where you intend to go fishing watch and speak to other anglers in your area, good luck and let us know how you get on.

ok thanks for the advice

James having had a look at pictures of saltburn, have you tried fishing the peir?

try a heavyish line(25-30lb) and 15-20lb hooklengths, size 2 hooks baited with ragworm and small slices of mackeral.

basic running rig, ie feed your mainline through the loop of you weight, tie a swivel on your mainline to stop the weight falling off, and then tie you hooklength (about 18inches long) to the other end of the swivel.

use a small weight, just big enough to reach the bottom but not big enough to hold, probably 3-4ozs.

on the end of the peir stand on the uptide side and drop, dont cast, your rig over the side. let the tide pull it slowly under the peir, but hold on tight to your rod. when the line goes to far under reel in and and start again. you will lose tackle, but if there are any fish about they will be there waiting for food to come to them.

you could find bass, whiting, pollock, wrasse, rockling, bullheads, pout, mackeral, garfish and eels there depending on the time of year.

the other place i would be tempted to try would be the entrance to the river, ragworm for bass and flatties, and maybe bread on a float for mullett.

other the that you have the cliffs to look at, or as its a shallow beach go for a walk at low tide to see if you can spot any worm beds, if you do, try casting to them when the tide comes in.