Fishing Gear

Fishing gear starts off extremely cheap, and then like anything, can become very expensive. Fishing equipment is similar, but is specifically designed for different purposes. For example, you don’t use a boat road on the beach, and a 14 foot beach rod on a boat, because its inconvenient and doesn’t fulfill the purpose very well. Fishing Gear ranges from salt water to freshwater, but again can be switched in between.

The most common gear used is a rod, line, sinkers, lures, hooks, bait, floats, burley buckets, knives, measuring sticker and cutting board. Rods range from just 24 inches right through to over 20 foot, for big beach fishing. They are usually made of fiberglass, and have a reel attached to one end, to allow for winding in the fishing line. There are many different types of reels, and this is probably the most expensive part if you get really serious into fishing.

The fishing line used on a reel is either braid or mono line. Mono line tends to have more stretch, but is much cheaper. Braid is thin, has little stretch and is much more expensive. It is also more responsive when fishing. Fishing line ranges from 2 pound, right through to 300 pound. Usually a fisherman has multiple rods and reels, set up for various types of fishing. This means that the fishing gear does not have to be alternated on each trip.

Sinkers are simply lead weights of different sizes and shapes which are attached on the end of a ‘rig’. This is where your hook and bait sits, at the end of the line. Sinkers are designed to make the line sink, along with the hook and bait. Sinkers are not usually used in conjunction with lures. Sinkers are great for fishing on sanding bottoms, but can be annoying when fishing in reef, because it will constantly get tangled underneath the water, in rocks and coral.

Hooks range from the size of a babies finger, right through to ones bigger than your hand, for shark fishing. Hooks are usually chemically sharpened, and have a barb on them to stop the fish from moving off the hook. Hooks should be baited with worms, prawns, octopus, live fish, dead fish and anything else that fish bite on.

Floats are simply pieces of timber or plastic, which are attached to the end of the line, and make the line float. This is particularly useful when fishing for top level fish, or in reef. Floats can often be packed with burley, which attracts the fish. It is basically a mixture of oils, vegetables and meat that attracts fish to where you are fishing. This is a very important part of fishing gear – sometimes you won’t need it, but a lot of the time you will.

A good knife and cutting board is needed for cutting up bait, and cleaning the fish. Fish should be filleted properly, and needs to be done on a clean board. Cutting boards provide something solid to cut on – trying to cut up fish on the beach sand isn’t very successful.

A moderate sized rod will allow you to go fishing in the boat, and off the beach. Fishing gear tends to be fairly versatile, and its very cheap for a few basic items. It has potential to entertain for hours on end, and even provide some food at the end of the day. I would highly recommend starting off with some cheap fishing gear, and then working your way up as you enjoy it more.