# Newbie Question



## JohniusMaximus (Apr 30, 2008)

Hi guys. I've been down in the Pensacola area several times over the years (Home base is in Nashville, TN)but I'm planning a trip soon for the sole purpose of surf fishing. On previous trips I was lucky to get in a few hours of fishing during the day.

My questions is what kind of line do you prefer for surf fishing? I've searched the forum and I gather that somewhere between 12 and 20 pound test is the norm, but my question is which brand would be good? I know just the basics when it comes to saltwater fishing. Would regular 15 pound test Stren line work fairly well? If you've got a better suggestion I'm all ears.

If I'm able to make this an annual trip I'm most likely going to invest in a few surf rods and reels. At the moment the best I have is a 7 foot rod with a spinning reel used for catfish up here and another 7 foot rod with a casting reel used for stripers. I figure with a pyramid weight and the right line I'll be able to make at least semi-decent distance during the cast.

Thanks for the help!


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## Josey Wales (Oct 19, 2007)

I use what is on sale at K-Mart myself, right now 8lb Stren. All I have ever used is 8 to 12lb and have never had a pomp break me off, ok now lets hear from the Hi dollar boys. Pick is from last year.


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## Shiznik (Feb 24, 2008)

I use 12 lb. Pink Ande on all of mine, Florocarbon and two hook drop rigs, and fleas if the good Lord helps me!

Hope you get'em!

Tight Lines!


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## ditchdoctor81 (Oct 3, 2007)

For pomps I use 20 lb power pro & 20 lb flouro leaders with 2 hook homemade rigs.


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

Welcome aboard from a fellow Tennessean! This is a great place to meet new friends and fishing buddies.


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## hntrdave11 (Mar 20, 2008)

While I haven't done much in the Gulf surf (I'm recently relocated from CA and currently landlocked in Memphis...:boo) I did do a fair amount of surf fishing in the Pacific, which I'm going to assume is fairly comparable in general. 



My main "general fish" rod out there was (and still is actually) spooled with 15lb Berkley big game mono (which is probably replaceable with Stren and/or whatever else is cheap) and did just fine, even with the occasional 30-40lb bat ray (which pull like freight trains). I also did fine with largish stripers in the 10 to 20ish pound range and the occasional leopard shark. The little surf perch didn't seem to be spooked by it either, but I generally use fluorocarbon leaders for those guys, so mainline type probably isn't as much of an issue.



My "big game" rod was spooled with 30-40lb mono most of the time (again, generally whatever brand was cheapest) and did fine with repeated use with the bigger rays and sharks. I currently have this spooled with 30lb power pro in anticipation of a Gulf Coast trip this May.



If you've got the budget, you can't go wrong with a nice braid like power pro or ultra-cast, but they're spendy, and if you do end up hooking into something big that spools you, it can hurt. (sometimes literally, I learned that wrapping 30lb power-pro around your finger to help beach a big one is not a good plan!). You'll get a little extra casting distance with the braid and I never really noticed that much of a difference between that and other options out in CA at least. Water clarity differences out here though might change my mind in that regard though. We'll see.



Anyway, there's my West Coast $.02, for whatever it's worth. If any of the locals disagree with me, they're probably right.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I use 20 lb mono on my Penn 6500, 7500 and 8500. Don't remember the brand. Whatever Academy spools them with. Use homemade 20 lb flourocarbon double drop leaders with #1 or #2 circle hooks and 3 or 4 oz pyramid sinkers.


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