Surf casting

Go for it :)
Species?
Location?
Tackle?
Bait?
Lures?

Me...

Species

Stripers and bluefish

Little striper released.


Location




I'm a lure guy.
Bucktails, tins and plugs mainly.

The outfits I bring for my week in "mecca" are
10'6" St Croix Mojo 3/4-4oz with a Shimano Spheres 5000 and 30 lb braid
9' Tica Dolphin 1/2-3 oz with a Penn SSV 4500 and 20 lb braid
9' Penn guide stick 1-4 oz with a Abu mag - x 6600 and 30 lb braid
10 wt TFO fly rod with a Lamson Velocity reel and a 10wt Rio OBS (haven't used this set up yet... big wind big waves every year)

So how can I help :D
 
Striper, blue fish, fluke/flounder mostly.

Connecticut shoreline

Fishing off of docks mostly.

I've got a Baitrunner 4000D and that's all

Chunks of bunker mostly
 
Get a Kastmaster spoon in a weight that your rod can throw.
I'm partial to the two ounce spoon.
The model with the single hook and buck tail is great.
Easier to unhook fish too.
It will catch all of the fish mentioned above and cast a country mile.
Add a popper like the Atom Striper Swiper or Yo-Zuri surface cruiser, along with a couple buck tail jigs with a twister tail (white) and you'll have the water column covered.

Remember all God's critters like edges.
So look for your fish there.
Like a channel edge or current edge.
Present your lure so it is coming in with the water flow, not against it. Across the current is OK.

Stripers are usually lower in the water column and blues higher.
Fluke are stuck on the bottom.

Oh and one more note... if you see a blitz of fish breaking on the surface, there is a good chance that it is all blue fish or part bluefish.
Don't throw in the middle of the melee. You'll hook one but the others will bite you off.
Work the edges of the fracas. There are way more fish than what show themselves.

Good luck.
Surf fishing starts warming up with the first good NorEaster we get and can continue on until halloween or even Thanksgiving.
 
Take a look over at Stripers On Line, the best surf fishing forum out there.
The BF of the surf world.
A search will get you plenty of suggestions.
There is even a local CT sub forum.
Just don't ask for or post about specific spots any where on SOL... "spot burning" is verboten.

If it were me, I'd get a 9' rod rated 1/2-3 to fish the sound with that reel and toss lures.
Bunker makes your fingers (& everything else) smell bad...
:)
 
I've fished salt before, and the smell of bunker is something you can't forget lol. I snag my bunker though, just as fun as catching. You think this reel will handle many fish that come in? A buddy of mine said it's too small, but the majority of striper that come in are 20lb range. I was also thinking an 8-9' rod, was looking at a tica USGA 8' MH.
 
Fill the reel with 20 lb braid and you should be fine.
Tica MH rod sounds good as well. I really like my Tica rod and Penn SSV 4500 reel... IMNSHO you no longer need a really big reel with the new thin braid. Big reels were used to fit lots of thick mono.
I think the best part about the new braids is that you can use smaller lighter reels. YMMV ;)
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Try yours and if you feel under gunned you have a good reason to go shopping or add to your Christmas list :)
If you are snagging the bunker just snag them and leave them out there.
Keeps your hands clean ;)
 
9 foot? I guess it depends on conditions. down here I see lots of guys using rods between 12 and 15 feet. Of course with the big alvey reels, the first guide is four feet from your hands, or further. pretty fully to see little cars with rod racks bolted to the front bumper, and the rod tips tied off to the back one!

I mostly use natural bait on a simple running shot rig, with as big a lead as I can chuck. So far I haven't gotten in on any of the "good" surf fishing as I haven't been out at the right times. Most of what I catch is dart and some of the smaller trevaly species.
But I'd recommend listening to Ebb, instead of me, I suspect he actually knows something, rather than my collected fishing expertise, which is equal parts BS and superstition.
 
Ebbtide said:
Fill the reel with 20 lb braid and you should be fine.
Tica MH rod sounds good as well. I really like my Tica rod and Penn SSV 4500 reel... IMNSHO you no longer need a really big reel with the new thin braid. Big reels were used to fit lots of thick mono.
I think the best part about the new braids is that you can use smaller lighter reels. YMMV ;)
maxresdefault.jpg

Try yours and if you feel under gunned you have a good reason to go shopping or add to your Christmas list :)
If you are snagging the bunker just snag them and leave them out there.
Keeps your hands clean ;)
Click to expand...

Does that actually work?! A snag hook in the bunker to catch other fish? I had once snagged a bunker and a bluefish hit it and took it clean off the snag hook.
 
The lead weights you use does make a difference, depending on the surf conditions. The egg shape no good, "triangle" heavy lead works better.


I would like to mention, too many amatures fish at the beach with their kids playing in the water. It is a problem. You should only fish where there are no bathers. There are designated no fishing zones on the beach. My grand daughter spent an evening in the emergency ward getting a fish hook ouf her foot. I wasn't there, that fisherman would have been in the emergency room too or the morque.
 
Yes the bunker snags work for stripers.
Bluefish bite the tail of the bait first (usually).
They have razors for teeth so they can chop off the tail of their prey and then spin around and catch the rest easily.
Stripers have a raspy jaw that is good for grabbing and holding. But they aren't going to take a bite out of anything.
So... they take their prey head first.
Head first so the prey fish's fins fold flat and it goes down the gullet easy.

So the downside to the bunker snag is that it is easy to gut hook smaller fish that have to be released.

The "standard" rod length for the LI Sound has always been 9'
Between 9 or 8' I'd go with 9, it's better to have what you don't need than need what you don't have.

You don't have to worry about the reel blowing up if you set the drag correctly.
That's what the drag is for. To protect the reel, rod and the line.
It should be tight enough not to slip on the cast (cut finger with braid) but not so tight that you break your tackle.
With mono it was easy, that was always the weak link. Braids test way higher than the ratings and it is all too tempting to crank the drag down super tight and, as Johnny @ Johnny's Tackle in Montauk would say, reel the fish thru the guides.

Some people use a scale, I go by feel, I suggest you do the following until you get a feel for the amount of drag to use.
Put a clip on your line.
Loop the end of the line around something sturdy like a fence.
Back off 30' or so. Point the rod at the fence and tighten up the line.
Now slowly lift the rod tip. The drag should start slipping when you have a deep bend in the rod and it is pointed in between 10 and 11 o'clock.
Higher than 12 and you really risk breaking your rod, it's called 'high sticking'.
Once you get it dialed in properly, pull some line off with your hand and you'll get a 'ballpark' feel for the correct amount of drag.
Better a little too little (but not so it slips on the cast!) than too much. You can always cup the spool of the reel with your cranking hand to add more drag when you really have to.

I also use 3-4' of mono as a leader, handle for landing fish, and a weak link in the chain so that mono will break if I get hung up.*
20lb braid gets 15 or 20lb mono. 30lb braid gets 20-25lb mono leader.

The last thing you want is to get hung up and be unable to break your line.
If you have to cut it, you'll lose a lot of expensive braid and your stuck line will be there for ages fouling all that come behind you.

*Take care popping off snags & landing fish, the braid will cut you like a steak knife.
 
I use 100# braid and steel leader for sturgeon all the time. When snagged just point the rod at the snag, Palm the spool and pull straight back without bending the rod. Works every time. I've brought in birds nests that were submerged for years yielding a small fortune in sinkers.
 
What kind of reel?
Sounds like rough treatment for the OP 4000 series spinner ;)
 
Daiwa bg 90. Bullet proof and affordable. A bit heavy for throwing plugs though.
 
While I have never fished the northeast (one day I will make a trip to Montauk) but when I lived in Texas I did surf fish the beaches down there often. I used two set ups one was a St. Croix Avid Inshore 7'6" medium power fast action with a Shimano Stradic 4000 reel (this was used for light jigging and plugging) and I used a St. Croix Triumph Surf 9 foot two piece medium power medium fast action with a Penn 706Z (this was used mostly for live and cut bait but I would also throw heavier plugs and jigs on it). I felt with these two set ups I could fish just about any water in Texas. With the later set up I would feel completely confident in hitting the waters of the northeast.
 
Those 706s were the bread and butter NE surf reel for decades.
Before Van Staals the hardcore would pack them with marine grease and drill holes in the spool and cup to let the sand and water out.
 
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