Surf fishing-- worthwhile?

[annihilation-time]

Saw some guys surf fishing while down at Myrtle this past week. They didn't catch sh*t, seems like a waste of time to me, id rather fish from a boat or at least a pier.

If you don't have a kayak to drop baits, that's about what you can expect.

 

[annihilation-time]

Its all about expectations.

If you want to sit on the beach all day and watch the world go by, drink beer and dodge the mother in law that manages to show up at all family beach vacations, surf fishing is one of the greatest things in the world!

If you want to catch fish, expect nothing and be happy when a few croaker or spot and the occasional striper/bluefish is nice enough to take your bait.

I'm no surf fishing expert in spite of my countless hours partaking in the sport.

Well said.

 

[henn5849]

Had horrible luck on beach. Fished in the sound and caught blues, ribbon fish, pin fish, croaker, lizard fish Carolina mullet,and sea bass. Awesome fishing at Atlantic Beach area.



NRA Member
MD Hunter Safety Instructor
RSO

 

[davsco]

enjoying this thread. used to spend a lot of time down in OBX/hatteras mostly pier fishing. live bait during day for king mack and cobia. entertained by spanish and blues between the big ones. big tuna heads rowed out at nite using sea kayaks a few hundred yards for sharks. sometimes jetskied out, balloon or kite depending on wind and current.

one day i caught a small bluefish and put a hook in him and freelined him back out a few hundred yards. had something on for four hours, never saw it but it took and gave line from time to time. guess it was a monster ray.

basically the wife got tired of me spending all day (and nite) on the pier, so we had to change our vacation venue to the mountains... man i have to make some time to go down there again!

 

[annihilation-time]

enjoying this thread. used to spend a lot of time down in OBX/hatteras mostly pier fishing. live bait during day for king mack and cobia. entertained by spanish and blues between the big ones. big tuna heads rowed out at nite using sea kayaks a few hundred yards for sharks. sometimes jetskied out, balloon or kite depending on wind and current.

one day i caught a small bluefish and put a hook in him and freelined him back out a few hundred yards. had something on for four hours, never saw it but it took and gave line from time to time. guess it was a monster ray.

basically the wife got tired of me spending all day (and nite) on the pier, so we had to change our vacation venue to the mountains... man i have to make some time to go down there again!

My wife and kids love the beach, so Land-based Shark Fishing works out great. After we deploy our baits, it's a waiting game. I get to spend time on the beach with the family, and maybe I'll get to catch a shark. It's the best of both worlds. Everyone's happy; everyone wins.

 

[rgramjet]

I would LOVE to catch a shark. What's a good rig/bait?

 

[Overboost44]

I would LOVE to catch a shark. What's a good rig/bait?

You want to try live bait if possible, but you will have to catch that. Start with some small bait and small hook and hopefully you get a croaker or kingfish. Kingfish have very small mouths. Just use bloodworms or something for them. Then you have to rig the baitfish so that you don't kill them by running the hooks through them properly. Check the web. One hook up front and one near the tail. These should be bigger hooks that are strong and on a heavy leader or better yet, steel. Put a sinker up the line about 3 feet or so. Cast away, sip a beer and wait patiently.

 

[annihilation-time]

I would LOVE to catch a shark. What's a good rig/bait?

That depends on your reel/rod combo.

 

[snavematt]

I would LOVE to catch a shark. What's a good rig/bait?

we use whole tuna heads, its my friends gear, but all i know its a big ass reel, heavy line, steel leader and a harness is a must

 

[davsco]

I would LOVE to catch a shark. What's a good rig/bait?

yeah we used tuna and dolphin heads from the local marina. big azz hook in them, rowed them out a few hundred yards with 1-2# weights so they wouldn't wash back in. 10' braided steel leader. reels were penn 9-0 to 12-0 either senators or internationals with 50# test on up. I caught two 200# sharks doing this, but frankly the various 30-40# kings and cobias I caught put up more of a fight. sure different species fight differently, but it was more just hauling them in than a back and forth fight. you wanna see the dead come to life, when everyone's sleeping and the drag goes off, holy heck!

 

[outrider58]

Only thing I ever caught surf fishing was lots of shit from surfers.

 

[Lou45]

Only thing I ever caught surf fishing was lots of shit from surfers.

I thought there was a law that surfers couldn't shit in the water while they were surfin'.

 

[yellowfin]

How do I get a kite to fly from the shore out to sea into/against or perpendicular to the wind? Is there a particular method to steering it properly with the rod or is there a type that's better at directional control? I got everything to work on mine today except the direction being wrong. Figured out the rigging for the kite rod and the one with the line and bait, got the clip where I wanted it, right height and weight balance...but 90 degrees in the wrong direction down the beach instead of straight out.

 

[outrider58]

I thought there was a law that surfers couldn't shit in the water while they were surfin'.

Zat's a gute von!

 

[SRD]

How do I get a kite to fly from the shore out to sea into/against or perpendicular to the wind? Is there a particular method to steering it properly with the rod or is there a type that's better at directional control? I got everything to work on mine today except the direction being wrong. Figured out the rigging for the kite rod and the one with the line and bait, got the clip where I wanted it, right height and weight balance...but 90 degrees in the wrong direction down the beach instead of straight out.

Almost anything you would want to know;
http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/