# Crazy Surf fishing catches lost or landed



## SurfFishingMeister (Aug 18, 2015)

I always rig a big fish rod and take a paddle board out as far as I can (wave size permitting)and cast it out to catch something big. My best memory is using and live finger mullet rigged Carolina style with 80lb mono and a 2 oz egg weight. My leader was about four feet long but not long enough to land a 6 foot tarpon. It took one jump on Johnson Beach and broke my line. 

Does anyone else have a crazy surf fishing catches or loses you would love to share?

Please share where you fished, what you used, and what you lost or caught


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

Hooked a big Jack Crevalle from Navarre beach on 12 pound test once, he took a dead shrimp ... knowing he was something big & I was on light tackle I played him ever so carefully for 10 minutes or so .... got him right up to the beach when some goober beachgoer (_"helping"_ me) ran up & yanked on the leader & broke the line. 

_(not that I wanted to keep him ... I did want a picture though)







_


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## g40 (Apr 27, 2014)

Mitchell 302 with a speed handle and custom rod I tied myself.....LOST.

I did have a "beachgoer" save another Mitchell 302 from taking that same southbound trip. He grabbed it in the surf and then handed it to me and I paused for a second and handed it back to him and let him land the 31" redfish.
Cheers.


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## SurfFishingMeister (Aug 18, 2015)

Awesome stories!!!! Lol. Man I want to hear more from others. Surely someone hook a cobia, or king from the surf.


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## a (Oct 2, 2007)

One cobia season I was walking the beach with a fly rod, very close to Chickenbone beach. As I stood there looking for fish, here comes a nice one, within a few feet of shore. I put the fly in his face several times as I slowly followed him west. No interest! Eventually we come to a man standing in the calm water with his pants rolled up, and a sharpened stick in his hand. He proceeded to stab that 12-15LB grouper and throw it on the beach!.....He did the same with the next 2 grouper that came along. All very nice sized fish!!!He then put them in his beer cooler and dragged it off the beach. All in 1/2 an hour. No lie


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## SurfFishingMeister (Aug 18, 2015)

I forgot about chickenbone Beach!!! I didn't think grouper came in that close, great great story. Next time use a spear. Ha


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## Chechem (Mar 20, 2016)

a said:


> One cobia season I was walking the beach with a fly rod, very close to Chickenbone beach. As I stood there looking for fish, here comes a nice one, within a few feet of shore. I put the fly in his face several times as I slowly followed him west. No interest! Eventually we come to a man standing in the calm water with his pants rolled up, and a sharpened stick in his hand. He proceeded to stab that 12-15LB grouper and throw it on the beach!.....He did the same with the next 2 grouper that came along. All very nice sized fish!!!He then put them in his beer cooler and dragged it off the beach. All in 1/2 an hour. No lie


Really?? :thumbup:


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## Sunshine17 (Dec 11, 2009)

I got to chicken bone at about 1800 on a summer Friday night to shark fish. I was very low on bait so I threw out a live pigfish I had on a 2500 Sedona on a 6'6'' light action rod. Hoping to catch a stingray, ladyfish, etc for extra bait. I put it in the handle on my bucket cause my shark rods took up my sand spikes. I look back and the rod is laying next to the bucket. Pick it up reel it tight and the drag starts screaming. I fight the fish for 30 min and have to wade out to my nipples to save what line I had left on the reel. Got down to the mono so I had less than 20 yrds. I finally gain on the fish and it is swimming parallel to the beach to a group of tourists in the water swimming. By this point I had formed a relationship with the fish and wanted to know what it was so naturally I didn't want these tourists messing up my catch. I started yelling "shark, shark, shark" needless to say they got out of the water as quick as can be. It got close enough for me to see color, dark dark dark fish. I figured it was a 3ft shark or so. Then.....low and behold....... it was a cobia. measured 38" to the fork and went right in my cooler. I still shark fished and caught a nice black tip. I ate very well the next night.


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## SurfFishingMeister (Aug 18, 2015)

Sunshine17 said:


> I got to chicken bone at about 1800 on a summer Friday night to shark fish. I was very low on bait so I threw out a live pigfish I had on a 2500 Sedona on a 6'6'' light action rod. Hoping to catch a stingray, ladyfish, etc for extra bait. I put it in the handle on my bucket cause my shark rods took up my sand spikes. I look back and the rod is laying next to the bucket. Pick it up reel it tight and the drag starts screaming. I fight the fish for 30 min and have to wade out to my nipples to save what line I had left on the reel. Got down to the mono so I had less than 20 yrds. I finally gain on the fish and it is swimming parallel to the beach to a group of tourists in the water swimming. By this point I had formed a relationship with the fish and wanted to know what it was so naturally I didn't want these tourists messing up my catch. I started yelling "shark, shark, shark" needless to say they got out of the water as quick as can be. It got close enough for me to see color, dark dark dark fish. I figured it was a 3ft shark or so. Then.....low and behold....... it was a cobia. measured 38" to the fork and went right in my cooler. I still shark fished and caught a nice black tip. I ate very well the next night.


Awesome!

I was waiting to hear a cobia story. I have never had a chance to hook into one from the surf. Thanks for sharing what you used. Incredible story.


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Electric skate


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## Destinartist (Apr 24, 2013)

Girl I was with caught a 2 or 3 foot stingray and a 6 foot dip net and a foot long wood and metal dehooker all tangled up together hanging from its face, next day she reeled in a Bass Pro surf combo I still have.....had to let her go last year


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I'm not sure what my craziest or oddest catch is. I know I was super pumped at my first king mackerel from the beach on a popper. The strike was incredible.


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## a (Oct 2, 2007)

I also once caught a red headed female park ranger at the ft pickens point.....trolling a pompano jig!:yes:


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I think it was the year after Ivan or Dennis I was surf fishing on Navarre Beach.
The waves were kind of rolling in. My rod started jumping so I reared back and started reeling. It was a good one. It would take some line and then I would gain some line back.
Pretty soon a crowd gathered, probably a dozen people or so. After fighting him for 10 minutes or so, I finally reeled in a really nice folding bag chair. Well, it probably was nice at one time.
Another time the water was really clear and a huge school of jack crevalle went thru. Both rods bent double and we pulled in a couple of nice ones.


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## strongman (May 19, 2011)

I was shark fishing g one night with a few other guys. They all got sharks and all night, my line did nothing. I was really bummed, so i finally decided to call it a night and started reeling the lines in. On one of them started to get heavy over the sandbar, so I started to get excited that I actually may get one for the night. When I got it up to the beach, it ended up being a little 4 ft blacktip that didn't have enough weight to pull the drag lol...the kicker is that connected to the leader was a 36 inch redfish that had broken a leader previously and gotten tangled up in my leader! 2 fish for the price of one! Everybody went home happy that night


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## Destinartist (Apr 24, 2013)

*April 20th*

Just dawned on me that this was kinda crazy, she ran into my set line and barely hooked her front flipper right at the arm pit. BritteninDestin grabbed her when I got her in close and held her while I removed the hook. He took the picture and we released her unharmed. Caught no fish that day but this made it all worth it. Thanks BritteninDestin tightlines :hammer2:


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## squirrel (Mar 19, 2012)

Destinartist said:


> Just dawned on me that this was kinda crazy, she ran into my set line and barely hooked her front flipper right at the arm pit. BritteninDestin grabbed her when I got her in close and held her while I removed the hook. He took the picture and we released her unharmed. Caught no fish that day but this made it all worth it. Thanks BritteninDestin tightlines :hammer2:


so cool! Definitely something different!


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## Caleb 850 (Mar 23, 2016)

saw a guy really in a big cobia probably near 50 or 60 pounds almost got it to the sand bar and a huge hammerhead comes from nowhere and snaps the line.I almost cried just seeing it break of and i didn't even catch it :notworthy:


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Off the beach fishing for shark. 50 inches and 41lbs on the Pensacola pier scale.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

a said:


> I also once caught a red headed female park ranger at the ft pickens point.....trolling a pompano jig!:yes:


Okay ... I don't know if that's for real or some kinda double-entendre that went over my head, but I _like_ it! Either way ... we're gonna need to see a pic of the_ "red headed female park ranger"

_This wasn't her, by chance, was it?


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## Mare_Mortis (May 16, 2012)

Chris V said:


> I'm not sure what my craziest or oddest catch is. I know I was super pumped at my first king mackerel from the beach on a popper. The strike was incredible.



Wait...you said your first, how many have you caught, and how many keepers?

And we're your knees still dry or did you actually get in the water for once?


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## SWAngler (Sep 13, 2014)

a said:


> I also once caught a red headed female park ranger at the ft pickens point.....trolling a pompano jig!:yes:


Caught them on a Matrix, but never a pomp jig.


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## Destinartist (Apr 24, 2013)

*Lost one today*

Had the front half of a hard tail out past first sandbar on 12 foot heavy rod/penn battle 8000 with 500 yds of 40 lb braid with 30 lb floro single dropper loop with 6/0 circle hook and 3oz lead,drag set very light. Looked up and the rod tip was pointed due south, ran over and held on. I got 2 good runs out of him before he broke the floro Just got back from Bass Pro with more hooks and better leader material.


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## Chechem (Mar 20, 2016)

Destinartist said:


> Had the front half of a hard tail out past first sandbar on 12 foot heavy rod/penn battle 8000 with 500 yds of 40 lb braid with 30 lb floro single dropper loop with 6/0 circle hook and 3oz lead,drag set very light. Looked up and the rod tip was pointed due south, ran over and held on. I got 2 good runs out of him before he broke the floro Just got back from Bass Pro with more hooks and better leader material.


Cool. Keep us posted on progress.
Those of us working these days enjoy the fishing logs! :notworthy:


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Mare_Mortis said:


> Wait...you said your first, how many have you caught, and how many keepers?
> 
> And we're your knees still dry or did you actually get in the water for once?


I've hooked several, landed four (all keepers) including two in the mid 20lb range. I was in probably knee deep water.


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## kriss444 (Feb 5, 2012)

fall break from UNCC 1990, went to north topsail beach and surf fished just inside the north inlet across from Camp Lejeune... netted finger mullet and put them out on a rig that allows the weight to slide on my line.. I looked near one rig and saw a large tail about 8 inches or so with a dark spot shape on it turn in the water.. I said oh sh..! then the rod went off.. I grabbed it and fought the fish for about ten minutes, going up and down the beach... the current was strong and finally I see the fish about 100 yards out floating and flipping on top. I think great I got a huge red so just reel it in... well now here comes a boat.. oh no.. I am yelling and waving.. the boat guy waves back.. he does not know what I want... he keeps going, crosses my line, cuts it.. I am jumping up and down, yelling and screaming.. my buddy says the boat guy stopped and turned around looking at the fish in the water after he saw it and figured out what I was trying to tell him... boat guy left, fish swam away, I was mad... but about 10 years later I got redemption.


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## redfishking (Jun 20, 2011)

*Biggest Redfish from the surf*

About 9-10 years ago I started learning how to surf fish from the beach. I grew up saltwater fishing around the Big Bend Area but Ive never surfed fish before until I moved up to the Panhandle. I was fishing on my Birthday May 28th about 330ish around Blue Mountain Beach in South Walton County. I was using my Penn 750 which I still use today with a double hook Pompano Rig and fresh peeled shrimp. I wade out for my first cast and set down my pole in the sand spike. Within a minute I turn around and find my pole in the sand with the line peeling off. After grabbing the pole and fighting for about 15-20 minutes I finally land a 40+ inch 30 lb Redfish. Luckily I was able to revive the fish after a couple pictures and give it a healthy release. This was my biggest Red ever and still the biggest to date. Ive been hooked ever since and love to surf fish.


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## SurfFishingMeister (Aug 18, 2015)

GK,

I picked up an electric skate once.....once and I will never do it again. It shocked the heck out of me. However after being electrocuted I was amazed that God would create such a thing as to create voltage and shock prey. It's really amazing when you think about it.


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## Blazerz65 (Mar 22, 2013)

I was live lining lady fish out one day going for sharks. I like to switch things up so I had a fresh lady under a balloon. I got it in a good rip and had it hooked in the lower jaw. So it was perfect and got it out past the sandbar after about 20 min of it free swimming with the balloon. No more than 10 minuites of it hanging out past the bar I saw the ballon disappear like a bobber. I finally thought I laid into a nice blacktip and on the first jump I saw the silver King. My father automatically freaked out and after about 15 min we landed a smaller 70lb tarpon. We had our pen ssv10500 with 80lb braid, so in all reality it was a lame fight. The jumps scared the s*** out of me because I thought it would toss the hook every time. Since then we have landed 2 more 3 total.

I think it's time to get myself a king like Chris has been doing.


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## Chechem (Mar 20, 2016)

Blazerz65 said:


> I was live lining lady fish out one day going for sharks. I like to switch things up so I had a fresh lady under a balloon. I got it in a good rip and had it hooked in the lower jaw. So it was perfect and got it out past the sandbar after about 20 min of it free swimming with the balloon. No more than 10 minuites of it hanging out past the bar I saw the ballon disappear like a bobber. I finally thought I laid into a nice blacktip and on the first jump I saw the silver King. My father automatically freaked out and after about 15 min we landed a smaller 70lb tarpon. We had our pen ssv10500 with 80lb braid, so in all reality it was a lame fight. The jumps scared the s*** out of me because I thought it would toss the hook every time. Since then we have landed 2 more 3 total.
> 
> I think it's time to get myself a king like Chris has been doing.


Good story; thanks! Last year a friend and I were flyfishing in Belize off a pier at night. He hooked a big tarpon, and before we could react it ran for the pier, jumped, and [WHAMMY] knocked itself out under the pier. As he was towing it in, suddenly it came back to life, jumped once and was gone!


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## Bluefish Blues (Jul 13, 2014)

I caught a 4 lb Black Drum and a 3 lb Redfish at the same time on a 2 hook surf rig off Navarre Beach. It was strange reeling it in because the action was not right.


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## billdawg (Nov 8, 2015)

My dad caught a 40 inch cuda while fishing for pinfish we were gonna use as bait with a light mono double dropper rig and a piece of shrimp the size of a thumbnail. No metal or wire leader. Was an awesome fight on extra lite tackle.


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## Brownfisher (May 11, 2015)

Lost a rod off a sand spike. Started wading back and forth, going deeper and deeper parallel with the beach. After 30 minutes, I found the rod in water that was chin deep. I was very happy to get my rod back. As I got back to shallow water I reeled up the slack only to discover the biggest pompano that I have caught to date was still on the line. I got my rod and my fish.

PS. The Grouper and the sharp stick wins the prize for the best fish tale. Not sure about that one. I was born at night, but not last night!


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## stauty trout (Jul 19, 2012)

GROUPERKING said:


> Electric skate


lol did you get the chance to step on it??


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

stauty trout said:


> lol did you get the chance to step on it??


I found on in the surf one night looking for flounder. Felt like a 9v battery at best.


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

I was at Fort Morgan point ,either red fishing or shark fishing I can't remember now. Anyway I had reeled this thing in, and I looked it over for a stinging barb and didn't see one ,so I grabbed it with one hand and had pliers in the other. All of the sudden it was like I had grabbed an electric fence. I was kneeling down when it happened so I lost my balance and landed on my butt. I really didn't know what had happened, I didn't see any thunder clouds around, so I thought that maybe my nerves got pinched and produced some weird shocking sensation. The last thing I expected was that this thing had shocked me, it never entered my mind . Puzzled but recovered I grabbed the skate again and try to take it off. ZAP ! Got me again ! Now I may be slow but I figured it out right there ! I told my buddy that was fishing with me, that this thing shocked the piss out of me. He laughed and said that I was full of $#!/ , so I told him to take it off then. Of course he wouldn't, so we cut the line.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

lowprofile said:


> I found on in the surf one night looking for flounder. Felt like a 9v battery at best.


They can vary. I've had them light me up like Grouperking said and I've had them barely do anything. Had one that would hit me, but when my wife touched it, nothing. Little pisser.


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## stauty trout (Jul 19, 2012)

They can lose their "charge" if they do multiple shocks in row but just not knowing and getting lit up makes it worse lol... There's anothe skittle critter out there that'll do it to you too called a stargazer.... Ugly little bassum... We'd catch me in the shrimp trawl from time to time 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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