Fishing Gear - Some Basic Facts about Fishing Gear

It is very important to the success of a fisherman that he starts fishing with the proper equipment. He may purchase the most expensive and the finest equipment money can buy, but when it is assembled and put into use, it can prove to be a very decided handicap.

To guard against this, it is important that the individual items of tackle be properly balanced with each other. Unbalanced equipment has been responsible for more difficulties and failures of beginners than any other single factor.

Fishing Rod

To fish with a good fishing rod is to really enjoy fishing. It is much easier to learn with a good quality rod than with one of inferior quality. This is no commercial plug to encourage the sale of expensive rods, but just a word of warning to prevent any possible or unnecessary discouragement because of using a rod that would be decided handicap to a competent caster.

Fishing Lines

This item of fishing gear must be selected with some careful considerations if anglers are expecting to enjoy fishing or casting.

This is because the size and weight of fishing lines made by various manufacturers are not entirely uniform. That is to say, the diameter of the line by one manufacturer may be slightly larger or smaller than a line by another manufacturer even though both bear the same size marking.

The Leader

The leader is also a very important item, and unless it is selected with care and consideration in comparison with the size of the line, the caster will have trouble in making it extend straight out from the line when casting.

The chief function of the leader is to serve as an invisible connection between the line and the lure.

Fishing Flies or Lures

The flies may range in size, from the tiniest used, which might be number 18 or 20, up to flies tied on number-2 hooks or larger. The heavier flies or lures create; more wind is needed. It also requires the use of heavier equipment or more power on the part of the caster during the back cast and forward cast.

Reels

The reel may be automatic or single action, but in any event, it should be larger enough to hold the usual 30 yards of fishing line without crowding it on the reel spool.

The reel should weigh from 1 ¼ to 1 ½ as much as the bare rod. The reel itself is of no specific use in casting or fishing except as a storage place for the line.

Consequently, the entire equipment should always be in good condition. Other wise, achieving success in fishing is impossible.

So get geared up with the right fishing gear! Go get ‘em..!!

Buying Quality Fishing Tackle

The more you move around diverse fishing circles, and think about buying quality fishing tackle the more you’ll hear about something the professionals call balanced or matched fishing tackle. This means nothing more than fitting the fishing line to the reel and the reel to the rod. Anyone can walk into a fishing tackle shop, and walk out with a rod. But is it a good rod? They will probably never know until they have several years of fishing under their belt and become an old hand at the sport. Then they will see the advantage of owning quality fishing tackle.

Most fishing tackle manufacturers have several rods made to go with each of it’s reels. Which rod you want to purchase is dependent on the kind of fishing you want to do. When shopping to buy good quality fishing tackle, steer your way to a quality rod that’s matched to the reel of your choice. This will guarantee better handling, better action, better casting, better retrieving . . . better fishing. Of course, you can also match your reel to made by manufacturers that do not produce their own fishing reels.

It is best to stick to the reputable brands and if you are a novice here are some of the things to look for:

Ferrule

The joint where the tapering end of the rod meets with the butt end. One part of this joint should fit snugly and firmly into the other. It should call for a little bit of muscle, with the emphasis on little, to take them apart. There should even be an audible pop as the nearly airtight fit is broken.

Handle

Hardwood is good material for a handle but the best and most comfortable is made of cork, good cork. “Specie” cork is the best. The less costly cork is “mustard” The kind of cork and the price of the rod can be a key to the craftsmanship that’s gone into the rest of the rod. The specie grain runs parallel to the rod, the mustard grain is perpendicular. A lot of holes in the cork indicates mustard cork, fewer holes mean specie cork. If the holes are round and deep it’s safe to say it’s mustard cork. If, on the contrary, the holes are oval and shallow, it’s specie cork.

Material

The tackle industry has tried, tested and experimented with every possible kind of material to find the one best suited for spin fishing in salt water. The unanimous finding was hollow glass. Split bamboo is expensive and is subject to breaks, it bends and and suffers with wear. Solid glass is stiff, less helpful in casting and weaker than hollow glass because it will break before it will give. Hollow glass needs no protective coating against the elements and it won’t soak up water, and it bend out of shape if left standing in the cellar. It is Umber and every inch of the rod works for you when casting. A hollow glass rod can last a lifetime.

Reel Seat

The reel seat can consist of sliding rings, or the entire seat can slide. Still a third device, the best for attaching the spinning reel to the rod so it will stay firmly in place, is the fixed reel seat. A screw-locking mechanism provides the anchor that keeps the reel where it belongs while you’re reeling your catch in. The seat will be in your hand every second of the time you hold the rod; make sure it’s properly rounded for comfort and make sure the seat fits your reel before you buy.

Tiptop and Guides

Tiptop and guides are the rings through which the line passes. The one on the very end is called the tiptop. The largest ring, the one closest to the handle, is called the gathering guide because it gathers the loops of line as they uncoil from the reel and reduces their size before passing them on to the succeeding guides. The tiptop and gathering guide take the greatest beating. Therefore they should be made of the toughest, most non-corrosive material possible. Good materials are stainless steel and tungsten carbide.

Now about the action? That word “action” means different things to different men. It’s probably best to use the words “stiff” or “limber.” A limber rod is more flexible, its tip moves faster with less effort. Speed of tip movement puts whip in the rod and the better the whip the better the cast.
Fortunately for the beginner, the limber fishing rod is easier to control and therefore easiest to master.

A Beginners Guide to Fishing Tackle

The first thing you must do to get started in carp fishing is to go out and buy a pickup truck. Full size is best but a small pickup will be ok too. The reason you need a truck, is to carry all the kit and bait needed to fish. What about fishing tackle? Actually the trucks main function isn’t for the safety of your rods but instead it’s to haul all your new fishing tackle. Where do you get all this fishing tackle? First thing to do is get a big tackle catalogue from England and order everything in it. This saves you lots of time trying to figure out what tackle you need to fish, you will eventually need it all even if you won’t ever know what it’s for. Buying everything in one big order also allows you to save lots of money on shipping things from England to Spain.

Maybe we should talk a little about some of the things you need to fish the modern way. For example carp fishermen need a hair rig. It’s a hook with some extra line coming off the shank of the hook with a little loop on it. I know it looks strange you will need some until you can learn to tie the no-knot knot. That’s right, you will eventually have to learn to tie the no-knot knot, more on that later, but for now just get some pre made hair rigs. Second thing you will need are some sinkers, but first you have to decide if your carp are going to be close to the bank or far away. If you learn to bait up you can bring them close to shore but sometimes they want the bait delivered out in the middle of the lake, and so you might have to cast far anyway. Better to get a big box with 1-4 oz weights, since you are a beginner it doesn’t matter what shape they are. Get some fishing line, any type will do to start with because until you learn how to handle big carp they will just take it all anyway so might as well start off with a store brand and then work your way up to braid or quality line. You won’t need swivels just yet as your pre-made rigs will already have some attached, but you will need to learn to tie a good clinch knot, we aren’t fishing for little bleak so your knots need to be good, practice tying you knots!

Reels, there is only one kind of you need to get. It’s called a baitrunner; it has a little lever that lets the carp take out line during a screaming run so he doesn’t pull your new reel into the water. The little baitrunner lever is guaranteed to work every time you remember to engage it, if you forget just once you get to buy a new rod and reel. It also holds a lot of line so you can fish all day and only have to refill it once since it’s almost impossible for even a big carp to take all the line off a baitrunner on just one run.

Now we need some long rods to cast with. Those long rods just look so cool, but actually they are a pain in the arse to deal with, but you need them anyway. If you really want to impress people buy the most expensive rods which are very pretty and cast out further. If you learn to bait up you can catch most of your carp at a range of 50 yards fish. You will also need a spod rod.

A spod is a neat little cup with string attached to it that you fill with bait and cast out. If you release the cast too soon the bait showers down upon your head, this is much worse than even a flock of seagulls flying over. If you release too late you get to make the biggest splash, you have ever made whilst learning to cast. Most spods are made with little forethought right on the bank from plastic bottles and some spare fishing line. These are known as temporary spods; some spods can cost more than 20 Euros and referred to as a specialist spod.
Now you have your rod, a hair rig fitted and some nice new line. What do you do now? You start fishing of course!

If you want to fish, the first thing you must learn is how to choose a fishing rod. Choosing the right fishing rod depends a great deal on the type of fishing you want to do, and how experienced you are at the sport. It is a great sport, and a wonderful social activity, but like any other the exponent needs the tools appropriate to the form of the sport being pursued.

For example, a fisherman angling for salmon or trout will use a totally different type of rod to a sea fisherman trying to land a massive marlin or tuna. These are extremes, but demonstrate that fishing tackle is not just fishing tackle. There is a very wide range of possible designs of fishing rod specifically intended for the required application. Coarse or white fish such as carp are fished in a different way to other white coarse fish such as pike, and an individual fish can be caught using ground bait, a leger or by fly fishing. They all use different types of rod.

Rods are generally built for certain types of fishing, and within each type, rods are even built for certain species of fish. There can be a degree of crossover, but you can’t use a float rod for leger fishing unless you have it fitted with some detection device such as a quivertip. If you are new to fishing, therefore, choose a simple fishing rod that feels comfortable when you hold it. Beginners are best to restrict themselves to catching smaller fish until they become more adept and understand the fish better.

Your rod should also be flexible, and if you are not sure exactly what you should have then buy a second hand rod to learn with. The same is true of seasoned fishermen that are trying out a new type of fishing. If you have never fly-fished before, then try it with a cheaper rod first till you understand exactly the properties you need in a fly rod specifically for you. There is little point in spending lots of money on a rod if you are not sure what you are looking for.

Let’s look at one or two different types of rod that might help you determine your personal needs. When you set out to purchase a rod, you should have an idea of the main type of fishing you intend to use it for. Is it for salmon and trout in a clear Scottish mountain stream, or for carp in your local lake. Are you fishing for shark off California or for sea bass around the Florida Keys? In fact, you can use the same rod for sea bass and for spinning in your local river, although many bass anglers prefer baitcasting lines to the fine lines that are used on spinning rods.

What you have to keep in mind with your tackle, is that sea fishing is generally better done with traditional round reels with heavy lines, while the smaller fish are better caught using a fine, light invisible line that allows greater sensitivity in tempting the fish with the bait. If you are fishing carp to a marker float you want a set-up that allows you to cast to the same spot accurately all day.

So start with a simple rod that feels comfortable in your grip. Once you have become more experienced with the different types of fish, the baits and different lures, then you can start to look at more advanced specialist rods. A marker float has just been mentioned in relation to carp fishing, so that’s as good a rod to start with as any. There are specific things to look for in a good float rod.

First the material of construction. You can get fiber glass or carbon, but the good rods are generally made from carbon. Carbon fiber is very strong in relation to its thickness, and a carbon fiber rod can be very strong and also thin and light. You will appreciate the lightness when are fighting a large fish that simply refuses to come to the bank. The length depends a lot on where you are fishing. Abound 12 to 13 feet is a good average length, although you might want something longer if you are fishing deep rivers. However, unless you are an expert stick to about 13 feet for now.

Your rings are best made from chrome, but they can wear quickly and a good compromise between slip and wear is ceramic, and you should have at least 13 rings on your rod. The tip of your rod can be hollow or spliced. Which you choose depends on the type of fish you are trying to catch. The spliced tips have a length of solid carbon spliced into the tip, and was originally designed for fishing rivers and quick acting fish where you need a fast response and strike. These rods tend to have deeper rings so that line can be fed downstream without sticking to the rod.

The other type, the hollow tip rod, has a slower and softer action and is more suitable for the slower moving fish such as carp and chub. However, modern production techniques have enabled hollow tips to emulate the speed of strike of the spliced tip rods, and so spliced tips are generally no longer needed by anybody but the top professionals.

If you are legering, that is fishing without a float, you need a stronger reel, and a rod with either a quivertip or a swingtip to provide a detection system. The former is the more common and they come in a range of sensitivities. It is generally wise to have a least two of different sensitivities, and if you have only the one rod then make sure that the tips are interchangeable. Different fish and waters need different sensitivities of tip. The swingtip rods are more suitable for still waters.

The casting power of your rod comes from the butt and middle sections of the rod, and you should test the cast of a rod before you purchase it. However, if you take all of the above factors into account when buying your rod you should be able purchase a piece of equipment that will satisfy your needs for years to come. The secret is not purchase an expensive rod until you know exactly what you need, and what options are available.