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The Beginners Guide to Shore Fishing P2
By Simon Day.
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The Bait
There are a number of choices for bait, these include:
- Mackerel Strips
- Rag Worm
- Lug Worm
- Peeler Crab
- Sand Eels
- Live Prawns
- Squid
The bait will depend on the type of fishing you'll be doing and the season. Most can be used on either float or on the bottom. If you're just starting out I would suggest getting some mackerel and float fish on mackerel strips to catch mackerel. You then have spare bait in the freezer so if you fancy going out one night and everywhere is closed. I always try and keep half a dozen mackerel frozen for those "all the tackle shops are closed" moments.
For float fishing the most common baits are mackerel strips, rag worm, sand eels and squid. For the bottom the most common are rag worm, peeler crabs and squid.
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Setting up a mackerel
Need help on how to catch mackerel?
Visit our How to catch mackerel guide
Once you've caught your mackerel you need to kill it and set it up for bait. What is really cruel is leaving a fish to die in a bag or beside you. It takes a long time and makes them really suffer. A more humane way is by using the following method:
(Click to enlarge)
Place your thumb behind the head and place your index finger inside the mouth. The teeth cannot hurt you so you are safe doing this. You now pull the head back towards its body. You will snap its neck which in almost all cases will instantly kill it. You will notice a few nerves twitching every now and then but that's normal.
here is how to set it up for bait.
(Click to enlarge)
You start off by cutting down into the mackerel just behind the fin (marked with black crosses). Lift the fin up with your knife and then gently cut down until you feel the bone. At this point you turn the knife 90degrees and cut all the way along towards the tail keeping above the bone until your knife comes out just above the tail. It should look like this:
The reason you use the patterned part of the mackerel to place your hook is because that is where the strip is the toughest.
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Setting up Peeler Crab
We are now reaching a bait which a lot of people won't use because of the time involved adding it to a hook. The rewards are well worth the extra effort and cost (around 70p per crab). Peeler crab are loved by many of the more rarer fish and if you're fed up catching mackerel, garfish etc and want to try for bigger and better fish then peeler crab really is a bait worth all the extra hassle. A lot of people like me use combo's which in include peeler in the mix.
First off you remove the legs, claws and shell so it looks something like this:
Now you hook into it and then hook into it again. You'll notice this bait is very soft and feels like it will come off when you cast. It will so what you need is some elastic string which is available at all tackle shops (see pic below)
You now tightly wrap the elastic string around the crab half a dozen to a dozen times BUT make sure the hook is not obstructed in anyway! If you can't see the hook then the fish won't get hooked! Your final bait should look something like this:
It's best to use this bite when it's live. You can tell the crab is ready when the shell is very loose or already off. If the shell is still firmly attached then you'll need to tap it with the butt of your knife or something similar so it cracks. you then peel the pieces off.
The lungs (orangey yellow colour inside the crab) are poisonous and a lot of people remove the lungs before they attach it to their hooks. It's up to you if you want to do this or not. I've been told if you freeze crab the lungs tend to turn black so this is why people remove them before freezing. I've personally not noticed any difference leaving the lungs on or off when fishing.
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Setting up RagWorm
Ragworm are a great bait and most fish love them.
Worms have 2 pincers so you need to be a little careful when preparing them. If you're a lightweight :) you can cut off the head which does then give a better blood trail but it may not be as secure on the hook.
You have a few options on how to prepare the bait. The best advice I can give is don't be stingy with the bait. I will often feed 2 to 4 rag through the hook and up the line to give a much greater scent and visual trail for the fish.
*top tip*
Before you cast your hook full of rag worm dip them in sea water. Rag worm can come off the line easily and by dipping them in some water just before you cast reduces the loss.
You can feed through half the worm and leave the rest trailing and if you do this you will need to hook into the worm again so it's more secure on the hook. You need to watch when you cast carefully because if you cast too hard there is a good chance the rag will fly off the hook (another reason why having more than one on a hook is a good idea. What I tend to do is once the rag(s) on are the hook I finish off with a small piece of mackerel or squid to limit the chances of the worm flying off the hook.
Now the downside to worms are that the really small fish also love them and they can always seem to find a way of removing the worm without hooking itself. It is not uncommon to start having bites on worm milliseconds after it hits the water. The problem is the fish attacking them are so small they can't hook onto the smallest of hooks. Best advice if you're finding the worm being eaten instantly with no hookups is to cast a little further out or add more than one rag and hope you cast past the small stuff or the larger fish take the larger bait first.
Another good idea is to use a mix. Feed a worm or two through the hook and up the line and then finish with a piece of mackerel or squid for example. This does help to preserve your bait a little longer.
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Sand eel top tip!
Like using sand eel but don't like it breaking off all the time?
Like squid because you catch a lot from them?
Top tip then. Combine the two!
Take the head off the squid and use that as other bait. Cut the tail piece off and also use that as another bait.
Now slice from top to bottom of the squid so you have a square, flat piece of squid. Now cut that length ways so you have 2 even pieces of squid to wrap around a sandeel.
Now all you do is cover the sandeel with the piece of squid and use some elastic to secure the squid to the eel. What I normally do is leave a piece of squid at the bottom free so it can flap about in the water.
You'll find that this bait will go nowhere and will last ages. Crabs can't desimate it and best of all I've found the fish love it!
I've been meaning to post this for ages but only remembered to take the photo today while I was out fishing (and yes, I out fished everyone there today woot!)
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