How To Set Up A Surf Casting Rod

This is the Ultimate Surf Fishing Guide for beginners. It starts from scratch and breaks downwards every facet of surf fishing with detailed instructions and complete diagrams.

Surf fishing tin become an overwhelming feel if yous aren't prepared. The amount of area to fish is massive, the equipment is much larger than freshwater gear. Non to mention, some saltwater species are very large and intimidating. If you aren't sure how to surf fish—don't worry at all, it's much easier than you think, and can be amid some of the about rewarding experiences yous've ever had. This guide starts from scratch and tells you everything y'all need to know on how to surf fish as a beginner. From picking your rod and reel, bait and rigs; to finding a proficient spot on the beach to fish. This guide will walk you through your equipment setup and fishing strategy to give you the confidence to exit and catch fish.

Trophy Triple Tail caught in the surf on Sanibel Island FL by Tailored Tackle Owner Ed Hitchcock. Watch information technology happen on our Tailored Tackle YouTube channel!

Surf Fishing Rods & Surf Angling Reels

Surf fishing is much more than demanding on your gear than fishing in freshwater. For your surf fishing setup, you will need to use much larger fishing rods and reels to be able to bandage your bait further and handle much larger and stronger fish. Surf fishing rods are near twice as long equally freshwater rods, attached with a reel that can hold hundreds of yards of thick angling line. For beginners, we recommend a surf rod combo between 8ft to 10ft in length attached with a 6000 to 8000 serial reel, spooled with 25lb to 50lb braided fishing line.

Surf Line-fishing Reel

Surf fishing reels come in a variety of shapes and sizes. When choosing a surf fishing reel, one of the easiest and most popular kinds to use is called a "spinning" reel. Manufacturers typically give their surf fishing reels a size rating in increments of 1000, starting at size g. Select a spinning reel in the 6000-8000 size range that can hold a minimum of 500yds of 25lb braid. The most important factor is the corporeality of line that information technology can concur because many saltwater species tin can grow over 3ft in length! Anything that large can easily peel off hundreds of yards of line. If yous think yous'll be fishing mostly for larger fish over 3ft long, such as sharks or rays, get a reel that holds a minimum of 500yds of 25lb braid.

Surf Fishing Rod

Surf line-fishing rods are significantly bigger than other types of fishing rods. Merely, this is what's required to successfully cast heavy baits to fish that are in the surf. Your rod needs plenty height and power to bandage beyond the waves breaking well-nigh the shore. An 8ft surf rod volition work well in areas where the water is calm; otherwise, choose a minimum length of 10ft. Surf rods also take characteristics called "power" and "action". The ability represents the strength of your rod while the action represents how "bendable" information technology is. Select a Medium-Heavy power rating with a Moderate action. This volition be a cracking accommodating rod, assuasive yous to cast heavy sinkers and handle fish over 3ft in length.

Surf Fishing Line

Complect is the preferred line blazon for surf line-fishing. Make sure to have enough to fill your reel with the right amount of line. If your reel can spool 500yds of 25lb braided line, and so make sure y'all spool it with nearly 500yds of 25lb braided line. Adding too little or too much fishing line will crusade problems that tin easily exist avoided. Because braid is so thin and gets slick when wet, your fishing knot has to exist very secure and so it doesn't skid. For this, use the Palomar knot.

Best Surf Fishing Rigs for Frozen Bait

You can never get wrong when you fish with natural bait. The about convenient and accessible way to use natural bait is to buy information technology frozen. While fresh bait is ideal, frozen bait works great too. The most popular and universal frozen baits found across the US are shrimp and squid. Frozen fish such equally bunker, shad, and mullet are also very popular. Depending on which frozen bait you're using, you volition need to choose a fishing "rig". A rig refers to how your claw, weight, and swivel are assembled together. This is important because with the correct fishing rig, you will present your bait to the fish in the best mode to become them to bite. Choose the right rig, and you will accept much ameliorate success.

Larger Cutbait Rigs

Utilize large fish finder rigs for large cut bait to target fish over 3ft such every bit sharks, striped bass, and balderdash sized red drum. A good heavy gear up is the fish finder rig with a 4oz sinker baited with a ii" thick cutting of frozen fish such a mullet, shad, or bunker. If in that location are lesser feeders such as toad fish, sea cats, or crabs that keep eating your bait, add together a 2" foam bladder to your leader a few inches away from the claw, or but change to a float rig. A float rig will lift your bait off the bottom away from many of the crabs and other species that eat your bait earlier the larger fish exercise.

Shrimp & Squid Rigs

Use shrimp and squid to target species such as sea trout, croaker, sheepshead, flounder, rockfish, and all types of perch. Recollect, almost every species eats shrimp and squid, and that's why yous should always take shrimp and squid rigs on-hand. When you want to bandage long distances and need to agree the bottom, utilise a smaller Fish Finder rig with a pyramid sinker. For casting short distances for fish less than 3ft, utilize a ready rig with ane-2oz. Ready rigs aren't as natural as fish finder rigs, simply they are easy to bandage and manage. These are a great option for fishing with family and friends. Nosotros recommend using #4 broad-gap hooks for squid, and two/0 J hooks for shrimp.

Specialty Rigs

Specialty rigs such as the Bottom Rig (Old Dominion Rig) and Pompano Rigs are too very pop for smaller surf species. Every bit you can tell by the name, the Pompano Rig is primarily used for pompano, and other fish of the same relative size like spot, croaker, and perch. Fish this rig very close to shore during high-tide right where the first wave breaks (known as the "lip"). The Bottom Rig however is made primarily of wire, and it'south designed for rocky bottoms and turbulent surf. It's an splendid rig for using around piers, jetties, rocks, bridges, and inlets.

Surf Angling with Lures

Saltwater lures are just artificial imitations of what fish like to eat. Spoons, jigs, and topwater poppers are some of the near popular fishing lures to use. These lures attract fish visually since they do not have any natural scent like frozen bait. Use them when water clarity is high and surf conditions are moderate so fish can come across them better. Unlike natural bait, you will need to cast the lure and requite it life-like activity yourself to entice the fish to seize with teeth. To use the weedless silver spoon, cast the spoon parallel to the shoreline in the trough and steadily call back it back to you. If you lot suspect there are bluefish around, so do a fast retrieve.

The spoon will reverberate lots of light in high clarity water and mimic a baitfish. If nothing bites after 10 minutes, try the grub and jig. Bandage into the trough and permit information technology sink to the bottom. Then begin to call back it past billowy it on the lesser. Make certain to pause oftentimes to allow fish to pick the jig up off the bottom. Jigs work great in moving water along jetties and inlets. If you see baitfish that are active on the surface, then this is a great opportunity to endeavor a topwater popper. Cast out and make it zig-zag on the surface with pauses every and so oftentimes. Fish ofttimes striking on the pause. If you don't see whatsoever active fish, this is however a great lure to brand them curious and see what all the commotion is about.

Surf Fishing Gear

Heading to the beach with the right array of surf fishing gear is disquisitional. You lot'll need to be able to safely handle fish of all sizes, as well as the tools to setup your fishing gear properly. To cut your frozen bait, you volition need a fillet knife between 6 to ix inches. This will too serve equally the aforementioned knife you use to fillet the fish you catch if you want to keep them for eating. You will besides need a pair of good pliers. These are absolutely essential. You will be dealing with fish that have teeth, and fish that have very small mouths that are too small for your fingers. Using pliers to remove a fishhook is the safest and best way to remove it. Nosotros recommend half-dozen" to 12" pliers with a line cutter, crimper, and wire cutter, similar the vi.v" pliers from our Freshwater Kit. These additional features volition help fix and maintain your surf rigs.

You should likewise have a towel to keep things clean and take care of your surf line-fishing equipment. A moisture towel will besides help you lot to get a good grip on fish that you catch, allowing you to handle them safely. Having a pair of bolt cutters on paw is also a must for safe treatment if the claw is swallowed. When dealing with hooks and wire, you might need to cut the hook or a slice of wire off if pliers don't suffice. Accidents do happen, and you may need the commodities cutters to cut the claw in a first aid emergency. For angling with multiple rods, you will need sand spikes. Place them securely in the ground and so they don't move under pressure. These are a must for line-fishing with multiple rods, assistance keeping them secure and off the sand. For other useful tips check out Take Me Fishing's Proficient Surf Tips.

The All-time Time to Surf Fish

Hither is an excerpt from our full-length article on the all-time time to surf fish:

Once you observe an area to fish, the best fourth dimension to surf fish is virtually always when the tide is moving. Movement creates current, and fish rely on electric current to bring them easy meals. To plan this, simply look at a tide chart of your area. It'll tell y'all the predicted times for loftier tide and low tide. Program to have your line in the water about 2–3 hours earlier high tide [emphasis mine]. In general, high tide brings fish in closer to the beach and hopefully to the areas you scouted beforehand. This is frequently the best window of time to fish on the embankment, but the truthful respond is information technology depends. It could exist the outgoing tide that starts putting you on the fish. For example, fish tend to position themselves on the exterior of the inlets of creeks, trophy, and waterways when they empty during the outgoing tide. Some areas produce all-time on the incoming tide, others on the approachable, and some practice well (or poorly) during both.

Surf Fishing Setup and Strategy

We highly recommend surf fishing using two poles per angler. This will allow you to target multiple species without the difficulty of managing many rods. Existence able to stand in between both rods will let you to react speedily when a fish bites, significantly improving your catch rate. Have one pole rigged with a heavier rig for cutting bait and 1 pole sporting a smaller rig for shrimp or squid. Utilize the larger rig to target larger species, and utilise the smaller rig to target smaller species. When it's fourth dimension to cast, walk into the h2o to maximize your casting altitude.

Trophy Carmine Pulsate caught in the surf on Hilton Head Isle SC by Tailored Tackle Possessor Ed Hitchcock

After yous cast your bait, let information technology sink to the bottom. If you lot find that the waves and electric current are too strong and carry your weight back to shore, yous will need to keep calculation weight until it stays on the lesser and doesn't motility. Once it finally hits the lesser and stays, slowly backup with your bail open, gradually releasing line from your fingers only keeping it taut then that the line doesn't catch in the waves. Close the bail and put the rod in your sand fasten, then gradually reel in the line until it is tight and creates a bend in your rod. Then wait. Fish are heavily attracted by the aroma of your allurement, so requite it time for the fish to find it, only be ready because sometimes it can happen very rapidly. Information technology'southward frequently the instance that larger fish volition have longer wait times, while smaller fish take shorter look times.

Finding a Good Angling Spot on the Beach

When y'all get in at the beach, yous will need to observe a spot to bandage your bait. Fortunately, fish have preferences of where they like exist and don't swim around frantically. If you tin can identify these areas where fish like to congregate, and then you volition significantly increase your chances of catching fish. These fishy areas include sandbars, troughs, points, seams, and comprehend. You can start searching for these before you lot fifty-fifty go fishing. Search your beach using programs and apps like our Places to Boat and Fish Maps, Google Maps, Navionics, and Fishbrain. Calling your local fishing store for this information is likewise very useful, as it is their business!

Identifying Sandbars

A sandbar, as well called a shoal, is an underwater ridge ordinarily made up of sand or gravel. The virtually effective method for identifying a sandbar is to stand on the beach at low tide and picket the waves and locate where they break. If a sandbar is present, the waves will break over the bar. Sometimes at depression-tide the meridian of the bar volition be exposed and easily visible. If multiple bars are nowadays, so waves will reform and pause once again when they meet the next bar.

Sandbars on Maps

When using online maps and photographs to locate sandbars, don't rely besides heavily on the information unless it is very contempo. Sandbars are made of sand, so they are constantly shifting. It is not uncommon for a sandbar to exist one year and the next year exist gone or in a different location. Nearly sandbars are found within casting distance of the surf, typically 20-thirty yards out, simply you volition rarely target fish on the sandbar itself. Instead, you will utilise the sandbar as a reference point to locate the deeper channel that forms between the sandbar and shore, called the trough, too whatever channel or drop-off beyond the sandbars.

Beach Fishing the Trough

A trough, also known every bit the slough, is the deeper water that forms between the shoreline and the sandbar, besides as the deeper water that forms between sandbars if at that place are multiple sandbars. If the sandbar is found about 20-30 yards out, and so the trough will be found about 10-20 yards out. The trough is where you volition target your fish. Troughs act equally a highway for all species of fish to swim along the channel looking for their prey. As the tide moves, the sandbar creates lots of turbulence that pushes small-scale baitfish and other bait into the deep trough.

Fish Activity in the Trough

Smaller fish nether 3ft will usually be in the white wash right past where the wave breaks. This is non on the sandbar, but on the slope where it drops down. If a schoolhouse of baitfish is present, and then predator fish will apply the trough to trap and corral the baitfish to feed on them. The best places to fish around a sandbar are virtually the entryways, called a seam or cut, and points. Seams and points are sometimes called "the spot on the spot" because these are the best spots for fish to ambush their prey. They will unremarkably be the near productive spots in the trough and sandbar.

Embankment Seams, Points, and Cover

A seam, also called a cut, is an entryway where water tin can flow in and out of the trough. This is normally marked past the absenteeism of sand on a sandbar. You will notice that while waves suspension over the sandbar, they do non break over the seam. A seam is a nifty spot to fish, as it typically sports the largest number fish anywhere on the embankment. A seam condenses traffic in and out of the trough. Be aware of points every bit well. Points are the shallow expanse of the embankment that jut out (like a betoken).

Points are a Primary Target

They tend to gradually recede as they continue abroad from the beach, as opposed to the residual of the coastline that gets deeper, faster. When there is a point that extends into a trough, this acts as a barrier that fish volition use to their reward. Target the sides of points where deeper pools class, likewise chosen pockets, just do not target the indicate itself as the area is also shallow. Make sure to walk the beach and search online maps for other types of structure as well. Sandbars and troughs are often times the about difficult pieces of structure to find, but structures such equally rocks, jetties, bridges, and piers volition all exist much easier to find.

All the surf fishing rigs, lures and tackle from this guide tin be found in our Surf Angling Kit

How To Set Up A Surf Casting Rod,

Source: https://tailoredtackle.com/surf-fishing-for-beginners-ultimate-guide-on-how-to-surf-fish

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