When the fish have reached a certain size, the small fry of the low coastal water are too small. They require bigger prey, and the sea trout can most easily find this by moving out to deeper waters, where they chase shoals of sand eels, herrings or sprats, nourishing food, which will make the trout grow explosively. A long cast with a large coastal wobbler is a good method if the angler is aiming directly at the big fish. And, other things being equal, open coasts will give bigger but also fewer fish than the closed fjords.

On the open coast

If you are concentrating on big sea trout on the open coast, use casting rods of 9-10 feet plus a multi or fixed-spool reel wound with a strong 0.25-0.30mm line, and large coastal wobblers of 20-30 grams in natural colour combinations. In cold winter water, fluorescent orange and red may be a better choice. Among the most successful coastal wobblers are Gladsax, Sandgrævlingen and Kongetobisen and others in indestructible plastic.

A lot of spinners have gone in the opposite direction. They swear by the so-called “UL” tackle – long, flexible spinning rods of 9-10 feet that can cast light bait of 2-12 grams a great distance at the end of a thin 0.15-0.20 line. When the sea trout are bustling about in the low water – with their aim directed at gobies and sticklebacks – the UL tackle is in a league of its own, unless you are very puritanical about fly-fishing. The long UL spinning rods are a joy to use in a battle with even small fish!

Local favourties

Small Mepps and Vibrax spinners in sizes 1-3 work well when there is no need for long casting. Otherwise the interest is concentrated around small jigs like Toby and Æbelø. As for local favourites, the best choice may be to visit the local tackle shop and get the owner’s view of the best bait. At the same time you may also get valuable tips about which are currently the best fishing grounds.

If you find that the fish are only interested in very small fry, you can change over to the fly completely. As a casting weight, the so-called “bubble float” is used. This float is more or less filled with water. The water makes up the casting weight, which will send the float and fly far from the coast. Today the so-called “flow-through float”, which may be transparent or made in strong signal colours, is most common. This float is oblong and, like the classic bubble, filled with water before fishing. If it is only partly filled, it will float. If it is filled completely, it will sink slowly. In this way, it is possible to adjust both the casting weight and the depth of fishing.

This is the way to do it…

The line is led through a hole running lengthwise through the float, and at the end a spring ring or swivel is fixed. The 2-4 metre long snood out to the fly is fixed to this. The obvious advantage of using the flow-through principle is that there is now direct contact with the fly. This makes it easier to feel careful nibbling at the bait. And the fish will not feel any resistance from the float when it rises to the fly. The fly must be reeled in extremely slowly – much more slowly than most people imagine.

How to fish effectively straight away

You cast the fly and then stop the float and fly with your forefinger immediately before the float is about to land. The effect is that the snood and fly stretch out so that you are fishing effectively straight away. Allow the fly to sink a little and then start the winding in. Turn the reel half a turn and then wait a little before taking another half turn. Continue like this until completion, which will take several minutes. In principle, the flies for this type of fishing are the same as mentioned above under the section 'fly-fishing'.

When you fish with a spinner from the coast, it is important to vary the winding-in speed. This will provide the jig with a vivid and natural movement that is much better for luring the fish to rise to the bait than a monotonous winding-in. Often the fish will rise the very second you speed up the jig after a pause. The fish will have been observing you carefully, but only when the jig seems to be escaping is the reflex to rise to it triggered.

”Followers”

Nevertheless you will from time to time come across “followers” which simply cannot decide whether to rise or not. Even a varied winding-in movement cannot prompt them to rise. If the bottom permits, it may be an advantage to let the jig – preferably a sand eel jig – flutter to the bottom. Often the sea trout will pick it up immediately – as if it were a real sand eel that was trying to dig itself into the bottom. Or the sea trout will rise as you start the winding-in again.