FISHING THE TIDAL RACE! PI

Part One - Lines

In a tidal race like the one to the left there is no room for errors regarding basics like knots, line, rods and reels.

Bass (like the one below) and pollack fighting in the fast moving tide will test gear to its phyical limits

MAIN LINE : Your choice of line is very important from a BS point of view, the amount you will need and the type required in order to fish successfully. I tend to fish with the same size reel but I have 3 spools loaded with different breaking strains of braid for different applications. All the spools are fully loaded with braid straight through, in other words I dont use backing behind 100 metres of braid. The breaking strains I use are 8 kgs, 12kgs, and 16kgs.

TIPPET/LEADER MATERIAL: Tying a short length of tippet or leader material to you main line can be helpful from a number of different aspects. Lets dicuss the joining of the two materials first. My preferred knot is the reverse allbright, not only very simple to tie, it posseses a slim profile, is protective of the braid plus I dont think that in all of my fishing time have I ever had this knot open or deteriorate.

Your material choice be it fluoro or mono and its BS will influence the formation of the knot. The 'harder' fluoro material will need a few more turns for the knot to 'grip' the leader. Mono been slightly softer is gripped better by the braid and thens to bed in somewhat easier.





Be careful when 'tightening in' the knot and ensure that the
twists do not overlap. Take your time pulling the knot down
and ease the loops into position if needed.










The last connection is the leader or tippet to a conector of some kind. When I'm fishing from the shore I dont normally use a connector or link of any kind and simply tie on my lure using the rapala knot. Out here on the boat when we often need to change lures very quickly a good connector is essential. The strength of the connector is vital. Use a uni knot to tie the leader to the connector.

The link that has consistantly worked for me over the past years has been the illex hyper 8. Its almost a fail safe locking mechanism and is a definite must for this type of fishing. It is better to keep things very simple and I have found that over complicating things with swivels or traces does nothing to improve your experiences or chances of fish, in fact they may not work at all.

Recommended super lines: Daiwa Tournament, Stren Super braid, Nacrylan Evolution, Power Pro, Xorus Monster.

Recommended leader material: Gamma, Rio Fluoroflex, Seagaur, Variva, Frog Hair-Blue.

Keep it simple, strong, and yet balanced!