Kit 03 of 03 · The right kit for rock and pier
One light rod for rock, pier and clean-ground lure work: bass, mackerel and pollack. Pick a part to see why it is in the kit.
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01Rod. A saltwater lure and predator rod, long enough for distance work off rock and pier, with the backbone for bigger summer bass and mackerel. 24T carbon, fast action. Choose the 3.0 m, 20 to 80 g size at checkout.PENN Squadron IV Travel Spin, 3.0m
View on Amazon.ieBuilt for rock, pier and clean-ground lure work: summer bass, mackerel and pollack, not a bait rod on a beach tripod. The reel is a size 3000 spinning reel, far lighter than the beachcaster’s.
A saltwater lure and predator rod, long enough for distance work off rock and pier, with the backbone for bigger summer bass and mackerel. 24T carbon, fast action. Choose the 3.0 m, 20 to 80 g size at checkout.
Fishing this kit
This is a lighter, more active outfit for rock, pier and clean ground. You fish it moving, not sitting behind a rod rest, and the technique matters more than with a bait rod.
Lure fishing is usually done on braid because it casts further and transmits every touch of the lure, but braid is highly visible and has no stretch or abrasion resistance. A length of fluorocarbon leader between the braid and the lure solves both. The join between them is the weak point of the whole outfit, so learn one reliable braid-to-leader knot properly before your first session, and retie it whenever it looks worn.
Surface lures and poppers are for calm water at dawn and dusk, when bass push bait up to the top. Soft sandeels work through the whole water column and are the most forgiving choice when you do not know what is feeding. Feathers are for mackerel when a shoal is in and nothing else. Start with the soft sandeel, fish it slowly, and change only when you have a reason to.
Cover water. Make a few casts in a fan from one spot, then move along the rock or the wall rather than waiting for the fish to come to you. Vary the retrieve: steady, then with pauses, then with lifts of the rod tip. A strike on a lure is usually unmistakable. Keep the rod up and the line tight, let the drag do the work on a good fish, and never try to lift one up a wall on the line alone.
Lure fishing takes you to the ground with the most consequence: wet rock, deep water and swell. Wear a proper flotation aid on rock and pier ends, check that any auto-inflating aid is armed and complete before you trust it, and treat swell rather than wind as the deciding forecast. Never fish a rock platform alone.
The other two
12 items on the list. The leads are fixed-wire Sputniks: they hold well on the clean sand and shingle this kit is written for, but over rough ground a fixed wire stays dug in and you lose the rig, so buy breakaway grip leads from a tackle shop for that. This is the kit for open east-coast beaches, Kilcoole, the Murrough, Brittas, where you need to put 5 or 6 oz out past the first bank and hold bottom in a run. It is not a tournament outfit and it is not a lure kit.
Combo, rigs, bait gear. Find out if you like 6am in November.
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