# Gulf Shores in June. What do I need?



## TNguy

Hey guys, I am going to be down in Gulf Shores in June and want to fish the surf. What kind of basic set up do I need? Rod, reel, line, leader, hooks, bait? And what can I expect to catch?

I will probably fish offshore 2-3 days but want to catch something off the beach. Any help or links would be great!


----------



## Pier#r

Just bring pretty much whatever tackle you have and want to try.
The water is warm enough then to wade fish and there will be jacks, blues & mackerel within reach of the beach just by getting your feet wet.

Bring some jigs, plugs, spoons a little spool of heavy clear mono (like 30# clear), needle nosed pliers and PLENTY of sunscreen!

There should also be whiting and other pan fish available close in by soaking dead shrimp on bottom.


----------



## GrayMan

Bring or get ahold of a basic and acceptable rig to use for a surf combo, i.e. 8ft or plus rod and matching size spin reel with 20# mono for surf fishing and whatever style spin or baitcast setup you are comfortable fishing with for slinging jigs, spoons and topwaters....the gulf, little lagoon and mobile bay will be in full swing in june. You'll have plenty of options of places to go and fish to chase. I live in gulf shores and fish from fort morgan to perdido key, manage to fish most days of the week. Feel free to shoot me pm as you lead up to your trip and I'll be more than happy to let ya know whats gettin hit where and how.


----------



## TNguy

When you say jig I assume you mean like a bucktail jig?


----------



## GrayMan

Yeah, jigs as far as bucktail pompano jigs, hard to go wrong with pink and white. As well as Gotcha jigs, everybodys got a preference but white/red and chrome/red are pretty hard to beat. The third in the jig form would be 1/4oz and 3/8oz jigheads with Berkley Gulp! products fished on them. I wade and kayak fish little lagoon a lot and won't go without the Gulp 3" new penny shrimp, Gulp chartreuse swim mullet, and a handfull of red bass assassin 1/4 oz jigheads..


----------



## TNguy

And if I want to use live bait what kind of set up do I need?


----------



## GrayMan

If you're referring to using natural bait, as in frozen, dead or live shrimp or baitfish, depends on where you're fishing...
If you're gonna wade the lagoon or something like that with live shrimp or bull minnows, your lighter weight rod and reel combos are still the ticket. Either suspend the bait under a popping cork with a flurocarbon leader, or fish on the bottom with a light carolina rig...Just to give you an idea, I fish for flounder in the lagoon a lot with live finger mullet or bull minnows on a carolina rig with a 1/4oz egg sinker, a few feet of 20lb flouro leader and #1-1/0 hook, and drag it veeeeeeery slowly across the bottom. 
Surf fishing on the gulf side is where the surf rod combo comes in...I don't worry about using live-live bait so much in the surf. I do however try to use bait that is as fresh as possible, as in hasn't been hard frozen. Probably the most reliable and easiest multi-purpose surf fishing rig I've found is to tie a 3 way swivel to your main line. Off one of the two remaining eyes, tie about a 12-18" length of 20-30lb mono, and attach a pyramid sinker to the end. From the 3rd eye, tie a 2-3 foot length of 30lb flourocarbon leader, and attach your hook to that. Everybody has there own right and wrong ways of tying rigs, but I've had real consistent great luck with this one and it's easily tailored to match conditions. For bait, fresh shrimp and cut mullet are a great starting point, and get the call for surf bait probably 90% of the time around here. While your surf rig is waiting to get bit, your lighter rigs again can get the call for slinging spoons, gotchas and bucktails for spanish mackerel, skipjacks (ladyfish) and bluefish, along with whatever else might feel inclined to crash the party. Usually a good idea to add either a light steel or heavy mono leader to the jigs in the surf, as above named critters got some teeth in em that shred through light mono! Hope this helps!


----------



## TNguy

I'm looking at surf rods. What length would you go with?


----------



## firstshot

I'd suggest waiting until you get down here. One of the local tackle shops, like J&M Tackle, or Sams Tackle, in Orange Beach can set you up with good quality tackle that is exactly what you need, for a better price than you will get at BPS or wherever.


----------



## TNguy

firstshot said:


> I'd suggest waiting until you get down here. One of the local tackle shops, like J&M Tackle, or Sams Tackle, in Orange Beach can set you up with good quality tackle that is exactly what you need, for a better price than you will get at BPS or wherever.


The thing is I can buy all my tackle for wholesale prices through where I work. I work at a gun store and one of our distributors is also a huge marine distributor so that's where I get the cheaper prices.

I will get my baits from a place in OB or GS, but want to go ahead and get my rod and reel before I get down there.


----------



## Charlie2

*Surf Rods*

Fo rmost surf fishing conditions, I use a 11 foot 1-3 oz rod. It's furnished with Lowrider guides and is relatively inexpensive, but of good quality.

If you will PM me, I'll tell you where you can get one. AFAIK; you can't advertise on this board.

I could build one for you, but I did say inexpensive.

I use a chicken, or two dropper rig with fresh cut shrimp for Pompano, but I catch a lot of other fish with it. You could use sand fleas but I don't like to dig for them.

Another rig, as the poster suggests, is a Fish Finder rig. That, and the Chicken Rig, are all that you need.

Some circle or Kahle hooks and either pyramid or egg(for the FF) sinkers complete the rig(s). 

Come on down! JMHO C2


----------



## Razzorduck

Be sure to have a 7' spinning rod with 10lb test, 30 florocarbon leader, small spoons and or white jigs for the fun stuff. Early in the morning the small jacks (hardtails), ladyfish and spanish should be crashing the baitfish schools. Try a topwater also. Catch a small hardtail (6-8") rigged alive throw it out as far as possible under a float and you might get a king or a shark.


----------



## augiford

Good info. My family and and I are coming in from Tampa in Mid-July and will be staying in one of the cabins on Lake Shelby. I do plan on doing some surf fishing,for this area, is it better there to fish on incoming or outgouting tides and/or at sunrise/sundown and if I am around the Gulf pier, east or west side(which may depend on the tide).
Also how is the fishing on Lake Shelby. From what I have read, it seems to be a brackish lake with typical freshwater fish, redfish and trout.
The tackle I will be using are 6 1/2'-7' rods with 4000 spool reels. Typical setup I usually have is 10-14lb mono line with 20lb flouro leaders, but I can beef that up a little if needed. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## Pier#r

Augiford, you might want to check the weir where the road wraps around the west side of the lake :thumbsup:

Also I'd suggest surf fishing the 'point' well east (over 1/4 mile) of the pier,
or the bar 100 yards west of the pier.

And (of course) check out the pier even if you just walk out and observe the fish and fishermen.
You are bound to pick up some tips :thumbup:


----------

