GIVE IT A REST!
We take our rod rests for granted and figure they are all much the same. Wrong! Rod rests need to be versatile, functional and above all stable.

If you're fishing only shingle or flat sand marks and are a mainly fair weather angler, then a 6ft tripod with extendable front legs and a solid non-adjustable back leg is okay. If you're like me and fish a wide variety of marks including rock ledges, and tackle full on gales and wild surf, then you need to consider a more versatile approach.

A rod rest with all three legs being adjustable gives a much greater degree of stability on very uneven rock marks as obviously each leg can be lengthened or shortened to fit the terrain and get rod angle and T bar height correct.

Get a good rest

Tripods with three adjustable legs also give greater height options. This is important when used in conjunction with adjustable butt cups. Extend the legs to maximum height, slide the butt cup bar as high as it will go, and your rod tips can be as much as 17ft or more off the sand. This has the advantage of keeping your line further out in the breaking surf and away from typical close in weed during and after storms.

This also works when fishing the rest whilst wading out in the surf and in windy weather. The greater the height the legs will adjust to the wider the legs can be angled apart to give maximum stability. At full stretch, my rest is still over 6ft high and maybe more than that between the two front legs. Rarely does it pull over, even in high winds with two rods locked in to the tide.

This wide range of adjustment also has its advantages in calm weather. By leaving the rear leg long, but reducing the front legs to their shortest height and turning the rest parallel to the sea, you can position your rod tips low to the ground and have the line at a right angle and low in the water which increases visual bite detection on the rod tips.

We're quick to spend big bucks on rods and reels, yet the rod rest contributes just as much to the fish count if it's made to work for you.

TIPS AND TRICKS
My old mum came up with a neat tip the other day for well used fishing flasks that give coffee and tea that inevitable stale taste after a while. Fill the flask with warm water, add four heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda and leave it stand for a few hours, then wash out. Repeat this every month and the flask and drinks taste fresh. It takes the smell out of bait containers and cool boxes too.

PIER TACTICS

Fishing piers for different species

Have you noticed that most pier anglers headed straight for the seaward end and cast as far as they can? Others, worried about losing tackle, choose to fish the downtide side and still belt leads a good distance away.

You have to remember that the pier structure itself will hold plenty of food to attract and hold passing fish. As the tide passes through the pier supports it will dig out deeper gutters and expose rocks and shingle. The rocks hide crabs, mussels will cling to the pier supports and there will be shrimp and sandeels in the sand and shingle patches.

The best places to fish on a pier are in the middle sections tight in under the pier supports during the flooding tide when fish will be moving through the gutter to feed. Bass, flatfish and codling are suckers for this.

You may lose more tackle, but deliberately fish the uptide side. As the tide comes towards the pier it carries loose food in the tidal current and drops it in the gutter. If you fish the uptide side, the scent from your bait washes in to the gutter and attracts fish. Better still if you let the bait roll in to the gutter and hold it there. You've just put bait exactly where the fish expect to find it.