missing bites

hey

I have been see fishing for year and I still have the problem of tell a bite from a fish in heavy seas when fishing for flaties.I fish with a 13ft sandstorm and abu7 reel .

any hints please ?

i know who to ask.

he know's alot and is willing to help.

yep i'm talking about you josh.

fw.

Thanks, fishywishy and welcome to the forums, fraserthefisherboy - i'm glad that someone else has joined the site who is into sea fishing!

Fisrt of all - as you probley already know - you need to think at the depths the fish will be at - and use tackle to suit that depth.
So for example - those flaties your looking for - you would need to ledger with quite a heavy weight and bait.

Then - think about the bait - flatties tend to go for crabs, sardine, mackerel and sand-eel as actual baits.

If you would prefer to go for artificial baits - they shold quite easily take things such as spoons, spinners, dexter wedges and artificial sand-eel.

Just let me know if i can be of any more help to you.

hey

the problem is i am not seeing cant tell my bites from the waves so when i reel in i have a flatty on bt havin seen it bit and i feel i ma be missing a lot of fish this way.

i usally use ragworm tip with mackeral as my bait and am useing heavy weight to help with the heavy seas.

It can be quite tricky to tell from bites to waves.

Waves will be more of a small jerk.

Full bites will be a sharp jerk of the rod.

If the rod is jerking in a small way - but quite abit - it might be the waves or a flattie having a nibble - but not actully fully biting the bait.

Don't reel it in until you get a full jerk - as you may loose the fish.
Try to strike the rod first. Really sharply before reeling it in.

Remember not to get to exited - you'll loose the fish. Keep your clam when reeling it in and leave the celebration until the fish is on land.
Reel it in calmly - quicly but not too quickly. Keep your cool.

[codlingsback]

I use a small red tip light at the end of my rod at night coz i don't trust my eyes