RIG IT RIGHT!
I'm getting e-mails asking how you choose the right rig at the start of a fishing session. A good question and the honest answer is that you more than likely don't start with the right rig. It's a process of elimination to find out what works best on the night.

Take a typical beach situation fishing on to sand during a flooding tide. I'd tend to start fishing with a tried and tested three-hook rig at close to medium range. This spreads the baits giving a wide scent trail, presents each hook slightly differently, the top hook trace having more movement than the trace nearest the lead, plus it allows different types of baits to be used on each hook. I'd fish this rig to both a tight and slack line.

If you get the odd small bottom feeder like poor cod and pouting, but only on the bottom hook, then shorten your hook traces down to just 8-inches, fish the rod at a low angle with the rod rest parallel with the beach and also with the line slightly slack. This keeps the baits right on the seabed and within the pout and poor cods feeding zone. You'll more than likely get three fish at once.

If few bites occur, then I'd switch to a two-hook clipped up rig and cast further. If I picked up a whiting, which is a shoal fish often packed in very tight together, then I'd change to a wishbone rig to put two baited hooks very close together side by side on the seabed and more than likely pick up two whiting at once.

If I got whiting but also wanted a dab, then I'd go for a three hook rig, but with the bottom hook tight behind the lead and clipped up, with the top two hooks spaced well away and clipped down. This gives the two top hooks a little more movement to attract the whiting, but the bottom hook is more static and therefore more likely to find that dab feeding hard on the seabed.

If that initial three hook rig started to get flounder bites, then go for a two-hook rig with longer 18 to 24-inch hook snoods, the lowest one again tight behind the lead, switch to a unwired lighter lead and let the tide wash the rig around in the shallow surf tables. This rig also works well for coalfish in surf conditions.

The worst thing you can do is to fish the same rig all night. Change if bites aren't forthcoming. Try different rigs and hook lengths, but judge that change against the species available and the species you actually want to catch.

TIPS AND TRICKS
You'll have noticed how dirt and salt building up on the lens of your headlight eventually scratches and dulls the lens resulting in a partial reduction in the light output.

You can reduce this by first washing the lens in slightly warm soapy water to remove all the dirt and then fully dry. Pop in to your local automotive shop and buy any brand of windscreen water repellent, I use Rainex. Simply apply a couple of coats as per the instructions to the outside of the lens and you'll find that minimal salt and dirt adheres to the lens, plus in wet weather beads of rain that normally stick to the dirt and salt just runs straight off.

TACTICS FOR EARLY SEASON PEELER CRAB
The first crab peel of the year is just starting in the Southwest and Wales, and having a few peelers to fish with now during this generally lean time can be the make or break point of the trip.

The first peelers show on the low tide water line. It's too early and too cold for them to be found in the weed just yet, unless the weather is exceptionally mild. The peel will also be retarded by cold floodwater coming down the estuary. Try to pick during the bigger spring tides after dry weather for the best opportunities.

Look for sheltered areas inside estuaries away from the cold winds. Ideally you need big slabs of slate or stone that sit on mud. This makes for ideal burrowing conditions for the crab. They dig out holes under the stones and use the mud as an insulator from the still cold night air during the low tide period. Other good places to check are inside the rim of an old tyre which may have settled in the mud and even old paint tins.

Crabs also burrow in to holes in the sides of estuary creeks. These holes fill with water and draw a little heat from the surrounding mud. This keeps the retained water in the holes at a higher temperature than that of the outside. Crabs use these holes for both protection and to help induce the peeling process.

You'll also find that these early peelers tend to keep longer in the fridge than summer collected crab do. This seems to be due to these early season crab retaining their slower winter metabolism.