Fishing for adult beginners - in the sea

Actually Catching Something.
Advice for Parents of Young Anglers

Fish Suppers for Sailors
A guide to fishing for yachtsmen.

Why not beachcasting?

All the magazine journalists write about little else.

Long range beachcasting is a specialist technique that you only need to consider if you have very flat, featureless beaches and the fish swim at extreme range. It so happens that there are a few venues like this near London and home counties journalists naturally write about the conditions they experience. Most anglers in the rest of Britain - with a few exceptions in Lancashire/Cumbria - could fish successfully for a lifetime without even owning a conventional beachcaster. OK, most do use one sometimes when fishing is slow or the whiting are running.

Beachcasting rods are heavy and tiring to hold for long periods. They encourage a lazy style of fishing where the rod is propped in a rest for most of the time and most fish must hook themselves. They are only suitable for fishing on the bottom and in most places are really a match fishing tool.

Instead learn to floatfish and to use a lure. Use just one light rod - a second hand 'carp' rod is ideal. Travel light, be prepared to move to follow fish and keep your eyes open. For most of the year you will catch more.