The Palomar Knot:
The Palomar knot is a great quick and strong knot that is good for all fishing line whether mono, flouro or braided line and good for tying terminal tackle or tying lures it's probably one of the most used knots due to its knot strength and ease of tying quickly, the Palomar knot is when tied correctly one of the strongest and most reliable knots out there today.
HOW TO TIE:
Double 6 to 8 inches of line and then pass the end of the loop through the eye of the hook. Alternately, for small hook eyes, pass end of line through hook eye once, then double back and pass end of line through hook eye again from opposite direction, leaving about 6-8 inches of doubled line outside the hook eye.
1. Tie a loose overhand knot with the hook hanging from the bottom.
2. Holding the overhand knot between thumb & forefinger pass the loop of the line over the hook then slide the loop above the eye of the hook.
3. Moisten the line and then pull on both the main line and tag end to tighten knot down onto the eye then just clip tag end close.
Beach Craft:
With the tech we have available to us these days I’ve noticed that people can be very lazy and just ask online and "chase" large catches instead of putting in some homework and finding it themselves, so your skills then are limited to the skill of others for finding fish and this way won't always work out and takes the art and satisfaction and for me the excitement too out of your accomplishments when you get these catches and your work has come together and pays off.
So today I figured we would go over reading a beach or beach craft as I call it, so that you don't have to rely on other people’s information and chances are you may get better catches by knowing what to look for as no beach really stays the same all year around and information is king with angling. On beaches the first things you want to be sure to do is look at it in low tide and take notes, distances, photographs etc. Take notes of the beach at High tide too are you going to be cut off by the rising waters? Safety is paramount first and foremost! Be looking for features a small gulley, ridge or depressions along a beach will produce fish as food will be trapped with the tide on the ebb and will be churned by the tide on the flood. Does your beach have groins? Or concrete / rock structures? River outlets? Rise or falls? Any features that might give shelter or a potential food stuff ?
These nearly always harbour some fish especially predatory fish if it's structures these are perfect for Congers or Bass as they present perfect ambush points for them whilst saving energy out of the current that will carry them your bait or a fish to prey on. Look for these rock features or places that gather seaweed as plenty of species hang around the safety of rocks and weed and others hunt them bringing the best of both.
What marine life is around on your beach? Match your baits to the venues it certainly helps, although hungry fish may take bait regardless there are those that may be wary so a naturally presented bait like a rag worm over a rag bed may be taken over a foreign bait.
Some fish come to grounds expecting to get a certain food stuff. Get out there get rooting around it will enrich your skills and knowledge and your fishing results, especially when fishing new beaches... not all good anglers give away their spots and will say they have caught something elsewhere. Tight lines all