Dig a hole by kicking in the sand, piling it up around the perimeter. leave a space on the leyside for easy access. This also gives you a higher and more comfortable chair when sitting on your tackle box.

Having trouble making the cone on your fixed spool reel that all the books preach. load up as normal and make a sketch of the outline. Then pad out the centre in reverse as shown, when the line is wound back on it should be level. A properly loaded reel dramatically increases the distance cast, and saves on the amount of line required. If you have 2 spools (and you should) load one with 12-15lb line and use this one for long distance casting. Load the other with 25-30lb line for short distance rock fishing or where a fish may have to be lifted a long way out of the water (e.g. piers,harbours etc).

To save time tie a hoop in the end of your traces when tieing hooks at home using a figure of eight knot. Then when fishing make a quick plasternoster by attaching them to a hoop in your leader line (made by tieing a blood loop). Three way swivels are better but this is cheap and quick and can be easily attached in the dark when your hands are cold and wet

• Cheap, low quality tablespoons are best for making flounder spoons as they are easier to drill.
• Low diameter line encourages more bites, but thicker line discourages the tiddlers.
• Keep a diary of the days fishing. include the exact location fished, times, weather conditions (mainly wind direction and strength) sea state and exact time of any catch. this will help you build up a local knowledge of where and when to fish.
• Hole in your waders? A waterproof elastoplast will hold for a while, put one both sides of the hole until a proper repair can be done.
• Waterproof matches by dripping a little wax over the head.
• Local divers often know of hidden gullies, holes etc, check local diving websites particularly personal pages.
• Keep your hands as dry as possible when winter fishing, a small towel is essential.
• When being photographed with a fish hold it out in front of you to make it look bigger.
• Extreme low water spring tides occur twice a year in the UK, use them to learn your beach.
• Don't wade out further than knee depth or your casting distance will be reduced.
• When loose weed is a problem wind in the slack as quickly as possible and hold the rod as high and as close to the water as you can. A partner willing to wade out and pick off bits of seaweed is useful
• Spinning at night is best with a full moon and clear water. Dark colours often working the best
• Need peeler crabs? take your kids fishing and send them off crab hunting, children love looking in rock pools. To encourage them say something like "I know your freezing cold but we can't go home until you find at least 10 crabs".
• Light weights roll around more seeking out gullies and come to the surface quicker.
• Frozen sandeels give off little scent. Soak bits of sponge or felt in pilchard oil and push down throat .
• Those little lights for rod tips can be attached to dog collars so you can see them easier at night. I have a black dog that likes to play on the beach while I'm fishing and this helps me find him when it's time to pack up
• Need to leave your rod unattended for a few minutes. Fold a piece of card and hang over the line so any movement will cause it to fall off.
• Never feed pet fish spare fishing bait or any small fish you may have caught as this is a sure fire way of introducing disease to your aquarium.
• Eels can be hypnotised by turning upside down and stroking from the headto the tail a few times. This allows you to take photos or to scare the shit out of someone.
• Fishing lures make interesting keyrings but remove hook first
• Use a fixed spool reel where retrival speed is important and a multiplier where brute strength is required. Distance only comes into play when you cast properly, a multiplier will not turn you into a tournament caster over night.

• Freeze soft baits on the hook and keep in freezer until needed then store in a thermal flask when fishing. They will defrost very quickly once they hit salt water.
• Tie your hooks at home before you go fishing and store in those coin bags you get from banks. Write the length of the snood on the bag. Mackerel feather traces are best stored this way.
• Frozen mussel, lancefish, krill, cockles etc can be purchased in pet shops
• To work out the weight of a fish in pounds use the equation
• length X girth²
  800
  all measurements must be in inches.
• Listen to the locals. They know all the best marks and when to fish them. Home pages on the internet are another good source.
• Watch and map how the tide covers the rocks on the flood. Paying attention to time taken. This Will give you extra fishing time.
• Humping a heavy tackle box over miles of soft wet sand
  while wearing waders may be good exercise (who says anglings not a real sport) but it is best to travel light.
• stick your tackle in the shower to rinse off any salt water.
• Carry an alarm clock when rock fishing to prevent being cut off by the incoming tide.
• Use top quality leader line where distance is needed but cheap rubbish off rockmarks on heavy ground.
• Red food dye is often added to food to tempt pet fish which have lost their appetite to eat and makes a good bait additive.
• Practise Knot tieing until you can do it in the dark. Knots reduce the strength of the line so the less the better.
• Wrap a litte refective tape around a cane and push into the sand when entering a beach at night. When its time to pack up it will reflect the light from your torch making it easy to find your way back. This is particularly good on sand dunes where everything looks the same.
• WD40 helps keep metal terminal tackle free from rust, some people claim it's a good bait additive (sharks are attracted to diesel from sinking ships).
• Throw back all fish that are too small to make a decent meal, about 2lb is the minimum size I use.
• To remove a difficult hook from a fish cut it with wirecutters. Hooks are cheap and don't last long anyway and this does less damage to the fish than yanking it out.
• Go to the toilet before you put you waders on. Endless cups of coffee and all that water tests the strongest bladder.
• Those plastic lemons you get lemon juice in make good floats, just fill with water to add casting weight.
• Tide tables are not 100% accurate (some claim they have a margin of error of about 15 minutes) siltation and weather can effect the actual times so when advised to add 23 minutes or whatever simply round off to 20 minutes. There is little tidal movement around this time anyway.
• Carry a mobile phone. That way if the fishings good and you want to stay longer than planned you can phone home, or ring work and pull a sickie. Friends fishing elsewhere can also inform you if the fish are at their mark
• Beachs during the hot summer months are full of bathers, these give a good guide to water depth as most will not wade out further than nipple depth.
• When walking over rocks test the depth of weed covered pools with your rod rest.
• When fishing piers or harbours secure young children using an extending dog lead. This gives them the freedom to play whilst giving you peace of mind.(older children may find this embarrassing)