Reading a beach

[HSV]

Hey guys ..Im trying to learn how to locate gutters at the beach :idiot: :idiot: :idiot: and the best spots to throw in a line ...its just a random pic of a beach...not usre were the gutters are any help would be good,
Cheers


http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q110/mickg76/beach.jpg

[neilm]

Generally you can't tell where the gutters are from a still picture, gutters move all of the time, so when this pic was taken, they could be in a completely different spot now.

The best thing to do is to go down to the beach and watch the waves. If the waves are breaking a little way out, creating some white water and then reforming to break again on the sand, then it is likely that there is a gutter between where the waves are breaking further out (probably on a sand bar)and the shore. You will quite often get a sand bar that runs parallel to the sand for a while, and then a rip that allows the water to return to the ocean proper via a rip. These gutters will have a current that also runs parallel to the shore for a way until it finds this gap in the sand bank. You will be able to see the rips by either the current (sometimes containing sand) or perhaps the incoming waves are not breaking at all until they reach the sand.

The depth of the gutter isn't always easy to figure out - but what you do need to remember is that you don't need to cast out a million miles when you have a gutter close in particularly at dawn or dusk.

In the above I've tried to describe the simplest scenario, through practice and observation you pick it up. To help you start off, watch the surfers - the more experienced will go straight for the rip to get them out the back as easily as possible (frustrating when you're fishing the only rip or gutter on the beach - but ithe beach is for everyone).
PS there is also a book by Geoff Wilson (I think) which has some info on beach fishing techniques. They may have it in your local library.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Neil

[HSV]

hey thanks mate for that i realise the gutters move all the time . I only placed a pic just to see as a rough guide at what i was looking for....im sorting of understanding what you mean . i supose its hard to explain if your not at the beach ...

[storms72]

Mich as neilm said look for areas where the waves arent breaking also keep an eye out for more turbulent areas where the waves dont brake as ofter these are where rips are and can be handy for getting your baits out to the gutters or just getting the bait into deeper water....Rips carry the food for bigger fish out usually from the gutter.

In the pic you put up see how there's darker and lighter areas near the shore-the darker areas are deeper water and the lighter areas are shallow water....you want the deeper areas.

Will show you when we get down to windang!

Cheers
Jason

[HSV]

Mich as neilm said look for areas where the waves arent breaking also keep an eye out for more turbulent areas where the waves dont brake as ofter these are where rips are and can be handy for getting your baits out to the gutters or just getting the bait into deeper water....Rips carry the food for bigger fish out usually from the gutter.

In the pic you put up see how there's darker and lighter areas near the shore-the darker areas are deeper water and the lighter areas are shallow water....you want the deeper areas.

Will show you when we get down to windang!

Cheers
Jason

Thanks jason i think that will be better..

[neilm]

Lads, what's at Windang? Is it a notable spot? It looks like Lake Illawarra empties into the ocean there - good potential - does it get crowded?
Cheers,
Neil

[HSV]

Lads, what's at Windang? Is it a notable spot? It looks like Lake Illawarra empties into the ocean there - good potential - does it get crowded?
Cheers,
Neil

Hey mate windang is pretty good the island holds promises and the two break walll are good too for tailors and salmon ...just do search on windang ...the picture og google earth is an old picture so it does not show you the break wall...
Cheers michael

[imnotafish]

Hey HSV as everyone has said, the gutters horizontal to the beach and are the darker areas, where the deep channels move water to the rips which run all the excess water back out to sea. See pic below for some examples circled
In big seas there may be several gutters between sandbars and in small seas there may hardly be any.
The gutters and holes closer in are often the best areas to start in with a high tide just on dusk, especially if they r deep enough.
The easy way to tell is the waves will only break over the sand bars and that not where you wanna be fishin!!
As others have said another good method is to feed your bait with an open spool out through the rip till it gets out the back a bit where the big predators are waiting...

[fishinf]

thats a nice part of australia. just a few tips without going over the same stuff the others did when reading the beach get as high as posible and you will see the areas were the waves dont break
if the sea is coming from the north fish the south side of the gutter and vice versa and when i used to beach fish i would drop pillchards one every five or ten minutes and grind them in to the sand with my feet on the shore line i hope this helps

[storms72]

Tuesday mate, we will hit it for sure.......hey Stef you keen for a beach fish at windang on tuesday night? would be good to have some fishing knowledge on board to give us a top chance of getting some records on the board.

Cheers
Jason

[HSV]

Hey HSV as everyone has said, the gutters horizontal to the beach and are the darker areas, where the deep channels move water to the rips which run all the excess water back out to sea. See pic below for some examples circled
In big seas there may be several gutters between sandbars and in small seas there may hardly be any.
The gutters and holes closer in are often the best areas to start in with a high tide just on dusk, especially if they r deep enough.
The easy way to tell is the waves will only break over the sand bars and that not where you wanna be fishin!!
As others have said another good method is to feed your bait with an open spool out through the rip till it gets out the back a bit where the big predators are waiting...

hey stef thanks for that buddy it just makes it a little easier to understand what to start looking for..i suppose getting out there and looking at the beach for my self. should come with me a jason on tuesday night...ill bring the food just ask jason about that.....

cheers buddy.

[HSV]

Tuesday mate, we will hit it for sure.......hey Stef you keen for a beach fish at windang on tuesday night? would be good to have some fishing knowledge on board to give us a top chance of getting some records on the board.

Cheers
Jason

jason just checked the weather forcast for tuesday and couldn not believe it ...:hellyeah:
http://www.fineandsunny.com/images/weathericons/a.gifhttp://www.fineandsunny.com/images/clear.gifTue 28th Aug 12° - 24° Fine.
Fullmoon : Tue 28th Aug

High tide 9:06 pm 1.8meters

jason it's looking like my curse on no fish will finally be broken :1yikes:

[HSV]

thats a nice part of australia. just a few tips without going over the same stuff the others did when reading the beach get as high as posible and you will see the areas were the waves dont break
if the sea is coming from the north fish the south side of the gutter and vice versa and when i used to beach fish i would drop pillchards one every five or ten minutes and grind them in to the sand with my feet on the shore line i hope this helps


Thanks mate. do you drop the the pilchards into to sand so it's sort of slow release burley....

[sydfish]

Another tip for the beach is to bury burley in the sand at low tide at the head of a nice gutter, bury it only 10cm down then as the tide comes in it is released. This has worked for me since I was a nipper. Good Luck

[HSV]

Another tip for the beach is to bury burley in the sand at low tide at the head of a nice gutter, bury it only 10cm down then as the tide comes in it is released. This has worked for me since I was a nipper. Good Luck

hey kris yeah i thought that would of been the reason for putting the pilchard in the sand ...
cheers buddy

[fishinf]

Thanks mate. do you drop the the pilchards into to sand so it's sort of slow release burley....

yep thats the idea every time i do it i bring home a desent fish
cant be a coinsedence

[storms72]

Will have to try that out mate...I'v got heaps of bread and we can mix some mulched pillies in.....

[rehab]

The below link to Fraser Island has a fairly good example of a gutter running the whole length of the beach.

This is not a particularly good gutter because there are no exit / entry points for the fish to come and go, I did scroll up and down a couple of kilometres but couldnt see much in the way of entry or exit points.

This is a fairly typical QLD gutter you see after very strong seas have smashed the sand banks, and you get this massive gutter running along entire lengths of beach, which look good, but fish cant get in our out.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fraser+island&sll=-33.684907,151.31547&sspn=0.011606,0.019956&ie=UTF8&ll=-25.272573,153.238753&spn=0.006306,0.009978&t=k&z=17&om=1