How do I catch some fish if they don't bite?

I love fishing with a handline at the beach, but how do I catch some fish if they don't bite? I love fishing with a handline at the beach, but how do I catch some fish if they don't bite? Lol, that's a question that has been asked for a hundred years at least. Never heard of using a handline from a beach. But there's lots of methods I e never heard of, I'm sure. I was taught a method back in the 60’s that I still use today. As with you, no rod and reel is involved. Use either a soda can or a gallon plastic jug. Only works from a fishing pier for the most part. Could work from a bridge, with a little modifications. Going back to your question though. It is possible. It's called a reaction strike. Even if they aren't hungry or currently feeding. Basically what you do is irritate the hell out of the fish. If you know they are there. Harder to do from the surf, but I believe it can be done. Keeping your bait, wether live, or artificial. Keeping it as close to your target as possible. Move it as irratically ( sp ) as possible. It just irritates them enough that they hit it just from frustration. The main problem you are going to run into is 99.9% of fish you will find in the surf, are moving. Looking for food that is being tossed around by the surf. So you would definitely have to make it look like it was fleeing for it's life. Just from my personal experience, can I suggest that you video your technique?? People have ( I would imagine) never thought of using your method in the surf. I'm sure your video would get lots of hits. Without sitting out at the there with you and observing how you fish, it’s really hard to tell why you’re not catching fish. There’s lots of different reasons why you aren’t getting any bites. Are there fish there? Every angler is guilty of spending too much time at a spot where there just isn’t any fish. It could be a spot that they don’t normally swim up to for various reasons, like no natural food source. No food, no need to go over there. Or it could be a man-made pond that they just don’t stock with fish. Or are there other factors that could be scaring the fish away?? Definitely do your research and ask around to make sure there are fish in the spot that you’re going to. Ex: One evening my husband and I went out to one of our standard catfishing spots. We sat there for a couple of hours and didn’t even get a crawfish to nibble on our worms. We decided to move to a different spot down the bank because there was a muskrat that kept swimming around us and splashing in the water. As soon as we moved down the bank away from the rat, we started catching catfish again!! The darn muskrat was scaring away all our fish!! Be patient. We are all guilty of being a little impatient while fishing. I know there have been days where I have sat at a place I knew there were fish, and didn’t get a single bite all day. It happens. It’s part of fishing. Just be patient… I have seen anglers toss a worm in the water, then reel it in every 5 minutes to check on it. Sometimes you have to wait for the fish to find your bait…. Check your bait. Aside from the obvious, checking your hook to make sure there’s still bait on it….. Some days they will hit worms, other days they will hit power bait. I have been to lakes where normally they hit one kind of bait… then all of a sudden the fish won’t touch it and they will only hit another kind of bait. Sometimes it changes from day to day… and even hour to hour. Pay attention to what other anglers are using. Don’t be afraid to ask what they’re catching fish on. Sometimes we go out there using bait to catch one species of fish, but all the others are hungry… So don’t be afraid to switch up your bait. You just may find a new species that you like to catch!! Pay attention. This is probably the most important part of fishing. And probably one of the most brutal parts about it. Not only do you need to pay attention to your fishing pole… but also pay attention to everything else going on around you. What is the weather doing? What are the other animals doing? What time of day is it? What is the water doing? Pay attention to all the little details going on around you. Not only will those details help lead you to the fish, but sometimes… they also provide a source of entertainment when the fish just ain’t biting! Don’t give up. Last, and most important… don’t give up. Sometimes it’s going to take switching up where you are fishing… and sometimes it will take changing out the tackle you’re using…. but don’t give up. Fishing can be extremely rewarding, as well as relaxing. When I was about 5 years old my Uncle Bill - a very rough lumberjack - took me out fishing early one day. I thought it was odd because we didn’t have fishing poles. We stopped on this low bridge over a sea estuary river and he was fiddling with something… Next he yelled “Run for your life kid…” and I didn’t look back but I took off fast. There was a really HUGE BOOM and he yelled at me “Get the sack and get as many fish as you can. Hurry the Police will be here soon and we have to be gone…” I waded into the water and grabbed up several dozen of the biggest floating, stunned fishes and we jumped into his truck and headed home - and THAT was were I learned to fish with explosives… How can I easily catch fish? 20 Secrets to Help You Catch Fish All Summer Long 1. Catch Smallies With Salty Flies 2. Crappies: Float-Shoot a Jig to Slabs 3. Trout: Deliver a Wounded Dry Fly 4. Landlocked Stripers: Feed Cows Sushi 5. Trick Pickerel on the Surface 6. Dupe Crappies in Gnarly Cover 7. Bass: Land Hogs in a Strip-Mine Lake 8. Trap a Load of Blue Crabs 9. Trout: Drown a Grasshopper Fly 10. Crappies: Score Slabs With Swimbaits 12. Find a White Bass Blitz 13. How to Skip a Bass Bait 14. Beach a Summer Flounder 15. Hook Big Catfish at Night 16. Make Glow-in-the-Dark Flies 17. Trout: Catch Holdover Stockies 18. Bass: Fish the Lunker Flats 19. Toast Your Catch 20. How To Fire the Curve Cast