by John Spane
Saltwater fishing requires many types of fishing tackle due to the amount of fish there are to be caught. For offshore fishing you will need heavier tackle than if you were inshore fishing in almost every case. Here I will briefly go over what kinds of saltwater fishing tackle there are.
When you are saltwater fishing inshore, you will need a fairly light fishing rod and reel set up with fishing line in the 10 pound test area. Spinning rod and reel set ups will work great for this. For offshore fishing you will need a bait casting reel and rod, equipped with heavy duty fishing line and terminal tackle.
There are two popular types of saltwater fishing lines that are commonly used by anglers, there are braided and monofilament. Monofilament line is much cheaper than the braided line, and will catch fish and has been used for a long time, it will not hold up as good as braided line though.
Braided line is more expensive to buy then the other kinds of fishing line out there, but it is with good cause. Braided line is very strong and is thinner than other fishing lines out there. It is also easier to cast and reel in, and you will have less chance of getting tangled up at the reel when fishing with braided line.
When saltwater fishing you will also need a leader line to absorb the initial strike from a fish. The leader line is another line attached at the end, usually 1-3 foot long when inshore fishing and up to 4 times stronger then the fishing line that is on the reel. The leader line will get a lot longer if you are deep sea fishing.
Some of the things you might have on a leader line would be weights and sinkers. The leader line is connected the fishing line by a swivel and clip, or by tying a blood knot. The last thing on a common leader rig is the fishing hook or a fishing lure.
Hooks are sized by number, 1 being the smallest for inshore fishing. For inshore fishing you will be using sizes 1 through 10, 10 being big enough to catch a medium sized shark. If you are deep sea fishing you will need to use much larger hooks if you are going for big game fish that are 50 pounds and up.
Fishing lures are another name for artificial bait, and they are made to trick the fish into thinking that the lure is a live bait fish. Lures are commonly used for offshore and inshore fishing, they come in many sizes, shapes and colors to trigger certain species of fish to attack them.
The most important thing to have whether you are fishing deep sea or on the flats inshore, is a tackle box. These are completely necessary to keep all of your sinkers, line, hooks, lures, rigs and other terminal tackle neatly organized. They are made in every size imaginable and most fishermen have several of them.
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Now that you know a little about saltwater fishing gear, here is a good resource for you to purchase some fishing tackle at discount prices.
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