# Surf fishing NEWBIE Questions



## babykiller (Jul 19, 2010)

Hey guys, I am an experienced west coast angler. I really love surf fishing and charter boat fishing. Im after a few tidbits of information. Can i get away with light tackle surf fishing? ( 8lb spinning and 15lb casting) I mostly throw carolina rigged plastics and swimbaits. Luckycrafts are deadly over here. What are some good rigs, presentations and lures? Also i only know a few species; pampano, whiting, drum, redfish, and sharks. What else can i expect to catch in the surf?
what about dock fishing?
any legal issues i should be worried about?



thanks
John


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## Den-Bob (Jul 19, 2010)

John, I have surf fished on Hateras Island 2 years and have been down to Perdido Key Fl. fishing the surf 5 other years and am going down again in 2 weeks. I'm no authority on the subject but I do catch enough fish to keep me satisfied. A few other fish that you did not mention, but I've caught at Johnson's Beach and Perdido are Bluefish, Spanish Mackeral, Ladyfish, Rays, flounder, Hardhead cats and Gaftopsail cats, and also weird stuff like inshore lizard fish, puffers, and big head robinfish.

I fish a lot with the regular old fish finder rigs using an ounce or two of lead and cut bait like ladyfish or shrimp. I also like to use 18" of mono with a double eye swivel on the end close to you, run the line through a small sliding barrel sinker with red beads on both sides and your favorite hook on the far end. I toss it right in the suds or wherever and kind of keep a feel for what it is doing, kind of feeling for a pickup. Be prepared to lose a lot of bait to crabs and pesky small fish.

I hope some of the people who read your post respond 'cause they are more experienced and can give you better advice than some Damn Yankee Boy with a down south alias like......Den-Bob


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## jcallaham (Dec 13, 2009)

babykiller said:


> Hey guys, I am an experienced west coast angler. I really love surf fishing and charter boat fishing. Im after a few tidbits of information. Can i get away with light tackle surf fishing? ( 8lb spinning and 15lb casting) I mostly throw carolina rigged plastics and swimbaits. Luckycrafts are deadly over here. What are some good rigs, presentations and lures? Also i only know a few species; pampano, whiting, drum, redfish, and sharks. What else can i expect to catch in the surf?
> what about dock fishing?
> any legal issues i should be worried about?
> 
> ...


you've got the tackle right small hooks and shrimp will catch every thing out there. Whiting are like corbinas , when you find them you can get alot of them. chromage cast as far as you can will catch bluefish,ladyfish , spanish macks and occasionally jack crevelle. I've caught reds with chrome,gulp, and shrimp. I've never done well with pomp jigs but other people swear by them. I like double dropper loops with shrimp or sand fleas (sand crabs) for pomps and that will also catch redfish, black drum, sheepshead and whiting, don't forget the catfish,yuck. Fish the surf for flounder same as halibut in CA just downsize bait legal here is 12" Gulp works great. Iam not a shark fisherman , but there are some really good ones who post on this forum , sharking around here can be really good. you need a liscense and size regs.


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## babykiller (Jul 19, 2010)

den bob, thank you for the specific rigs i will use to start with. im not too concerned with trophies because i will appreciate catching new species. thumbs up!

jcallaham.
since you are familiar with socal corbina...... do pomps prefer softshell sandcrabs?
corbina prefer those 20:1 over hardshells. thank you for giving more confidence in fishing the surf!!


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