My recommendations would.be to reccy the ground and make sure your skill set matches the shooting areas, shooting below the waterline is an art on its own and with that comes an element of risk completely different from any other shooting discipline
If your shooting below the watermark, arrange with your club for a mentor to take you out, for a season or two to learn the ropes, soft mud and wind change on a tide changes everything. Good safety policy to be out on the mud with a buddy
You will need a fowling dog out on the mud you’ll be surprised how fast a dead duck moves in the Smallest of tide flow and you can then talk through what happened when you miss
Kit wise a decent weatherproof coat with a tail on it to keep you off the wet ground when your laying in a gutter and some warm gear ,thigh waders i find are the best, you can get them off if you get stuck a lot easier than chest waders ,it can get really cold if you are sitting a tide out and have 4 more hours to go before you can get back across a flooded gutter, I always go out light and get the warm gear on straight away - mud and salt get everywhere
A decent strong wading pole with a Y on top to keep your shotgun of the mud, a decent waterproof hold-all, I use a roe sack with a plastic liner keeps everything dry and mud free and outside pockets for cartridges
Don’t forget your very essentials like tide table, torch, map compass, spare batteries, whistle, phone my 3 words and a couple of small flares, drink and food, small set of binos
Gun care there is always dry cloth and oil spray wipe in my bag give it a wipe over and when I get back to the truck another wipe over and a new dry salt free slip to take it home, salt will devour your gun if neglected big time
Decoys half a dozen teal will suffice to start, on leads so you can put them out on the mud but get them back when flooded, different ways of tethering but find the way that suits you.
Inland, lakes and sea wall flighting very different kettle of fish you don’t have to be so precise on timing on tides for safety only when the birds are going to be pushed off the mud or going back out, but keep to the gear in your sack, you may or may not need decoys
Overall take every trip out as a learning curve, taking note of where you have been and seen flight lines, wind, weather tide,
notes where the ducks / geese are moving to and from, keep checking on the food sources and how they get to them in different winds, getting the flight line right is really crucial 10 yds off is no shot
Get out pre season watching and building on your knowledge
Write it all down, slowly let it all sink in and enjoy the journey and make sure you know your species
I’ve been wildfowling since I was 20 and now at nigh on 70 I still love being out there learning and every now and then get it right, been through a few shotguns in that time, gun wise - now my fowling gun a browning A5 and the 2 previous as well, you can strip em down in a field clean em and put them back together in 2 minutes. Perfic
Good luck, be careful and enjoy the ride
