Surf Fishing Series 3: Rigs

How much difference can a simple beach rig make? Why not just use the one rig for all beach fishing? These are good questions and ones I hear often from anglers who believe we are making a simple matter much too complicated.

The truth is, in most of my own beach fishing, I do use the simple running sinker rig. However, there are situations when a change in rig will make a huge difference to the quality and/or quantity of fish you catch, even if it does not necessarily mean the difference between fish and no fish.

A good example is the ganged hook rig, which is deadly on tailor but useless on jewies. Another example is the bomb-sinker rig, one that can easily cast a pilchard into the deep water without the angler having to catapult the rig so hard that the bait goes one way and the rig goes the other.