Competition set-up for dusk
It was on the beach at Toulon that surfcasting specialists and competitors introduced me to this setup. It's at dusk and dawn that we have the best chance of finding biting fish in the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean. So it's an ideal rig at dusk and at night.
Two stacks for two different baits
This is a 2-stack assembly on which centipede worms are eschewed. Our specialists suggest, for example, a "hard" at the bottom and a "soft" at the top. The low stack is for bottom fish, while the high stack, sometimes raised by a floating pearl, is for fish that have lifted off the bottom. The latter are often burrowing fish that stir up the bottom in search of worms or shellfish. It's therefore a good idea to offer them a familiar bait naturally found on the spot they're fishing. The high stack shows a bait that has just been stirred up from the bottom by a current, a wave or the movement of another fish.
A highly diversified menu
To find the right menu for the fish you're after, don't hesitate to use a variety of baits: trawl worms, dura, chickweed, cordelle, bibi, American, rag, green crab, and even arenicolas harvested in the north of France! It's a wide-ranging menu for fastidious specialists. If you have to choose just two, go for the hard ones, commercial millipedes known as Korean hard ones, as well as chickweeds.
Long throw on gently sloping beaches
Once night falls, it's often necessary to aim far. This is all the more true the closer you get to the Spanish border. Indeed, between Marseille and the Spanish border, you need to aim for casting distances of over 150 m to reach a minimum depth, whereas on the Nice side and at the Italian border, there's almost 15 m of depth when casting 15 m from the edge.
Surfcasting installation in detail
- 1 - floating pearl
- 2 - micro stop-float
- 3 - loop knot + sheath
- 4 - perforated pearl
- 5 - small beads glued to cyanolyte
- 6 - quick-release buckle
- No. 10 to 6 hooks with short shank, eye and inverted point
- Lead :
- single lead 110 to 150 g
- quick-release buckle
- Bait: worm (centipede or other)
