BE LIGHT AND ORGANISED
One of the reasons many anglers won’t walk is because they carry too much kit. I’ve been guilty of this too. Recently, I’ve emptied both my beach box and my rock fishing rucksack and have gone through every item of tackle. If you’re ruthless but sensible, you can save a surprising amount of weight. Ask yourself, apart from rough ground fishing, when was the last time you lost more than four weights in a single session? I carry four weights for clean beach fishing and six when fishing mixed rough. I’ve ditched my rig wallet for walkabout trips and carry just four of each rig I favour for that specific mark. I take a small box containing a few spare hooks, swivels and links, one spool of leader and a spool of 20lb fluorocarbon, and, if I’m over rough ground with bigger fish to target, perhaps one of 40lb. Chuck in a headlight, scissors, a bottle of water or a small flask and you’re nearly there. A single snack bar should last you for the session, and being close to home, you’re unlikely to starve while out for just a few hours.
BAIT
For short sessions, I don’t take a cool box for bait, preferring instead the lightweight, insulated and zipped deep wallets that fit neatly into either a normal seat box or a bigger rucksack. One of these swallows one or two mackerel, two rolls of black or blow lug, maybe a half dozen razorfish, or a few mussels if I’m fishing rough ground. Live crabs go in a small sealed plastic tub. If you fish three hours, then 10 crabs is about right. Initially, ground features will tell you what baits you’ll need such as worms over sand, crabs or mussels over rough ground, plus fish baits if there are congers or huss available, and worms for cod. If you’re organised and logical you can minimise it without compromising your catches.
RODS
I rarely compromise regards fishing two rods though. A pair of rods allows you to cast varying distances to first find the fish, but also allows smaller baits to be fished alongside a bigger bait while you’re checking out the ground to see what’s there. The exception would be when fishing heavy rough say for cod, huss or congers, or when there is a fast tide run. Then I might drop to one rod to both reduce weight if walking a long way, but also to allow me to concentrate solely on the one rod, which can often pay dividends over this more demanding terrain when targeting bigger fish. The aim is to have all your tackle and bait in the seat box or rucksack, two rods in one hand strapped together, preferably in rod bags (not a holdall or quiver which again adds extra weight) and your rod rest or sand spike in the other. That’s all you need really. Be as mobile as possible. That’s a strategy then, to get you away from the masses, stay as safe as you can be in these difficult times, and catching fish that many others don’t even realise are there. If they do know, it’s likely they’re not saying and are keeping it to themselves.