Summary: TweetCero Mackerel Was New Fish for Me on this Trip. For Dorothy the beach is a place to walk, pick up shells and sit around and do nothing. While I enjoy much of that, especially with a Jimmy Buffet approved drink in hand, I also love to fish the shore. There is an excitement about surf fishing that to me just doesn’t exist in a lake or a river. Do a bit of research on any lake or river (fresh water river) and likely there are 6-12 fish if that which are commonly caught on rod and reel. One of several Snook caught on my recent trip. When you look at fish you are likely to catch the number is likely to be closer to 3-4 than 12. And frequently to catch any real variety you will have to employ a variety of techniques, baits, depths, approaches to catch any significant number of fish species. Now fishing with mostly life shrimp and one method, these are the species I caught over 9 days on the Sanibel island coast… Cero Mackerel Spanish Mackerel Snook Ladyfish Whiting Hard Head Catfish Jack Crevalle Blue Runner Speckled Sea Trout That is 9 species and I am leaving out some of the little odd bait fish stuff that also managed to get hooked like Pig and Pin fish. With that I’d be over a dozen. I also took a guided fishing trip and focused on big fish. While we didn’t get any real monsters and gave up catching a lot of little stuff to target something bigger, I did get to cross an item off my bucket list. That was a Goliath Grouper in the 50 pound range. A 50ish Pound Goliath Grouper Caught about a Mile off the Beach I also caught a black tip shark in the 20 pound range on the same trip. On top of this I got to see a small shark cut a nice Jack in half with a single bite, allowing me to reel in the head, which we then used to catch the grouper. A Nice Blacktip Taken in Pine Island Sound on the Bay Side of Sanibel Island Now I have had some good days/weeks on lakes and rivers but nothing like this! I have fished the Texas coast many times and while not quite the diversity of Florida’s coast it is also a great deal of fun. I have often caught red fish, sea trout, whiting, sand trout, croaker, sail cats, hard heads and a lot of other stuff in a single trip. I have also managed to catch a few small black tip sharks down there. I even remember one day when the surf was really clear and I was standing about waste deep on the second sand bar and several of us watched a bull shark that was at least 8 feet cruise by just 10 yards in front of us, while we all backed slowly onto the bars shallower area, no one panicked and the fishing continued. This is why I love surf fishing, you never know what you might catch or what might happen. Join Me Today To Discuss… My basic gear, not much different from lake fishing Medium action spinning rod Snap swivels 10-14 pound premium mono Bait casting sinkers Bait holder hooks #2 – #4/0 generally snelled Circle hooks #2-2/0 also snelled with floro carbon Cut bait (shrimp, cut whiting, squid, etc) Live shrimp Stepping gear up for bigger fish Medium Heavy to Heavy Action rod and reel Braided line is almost a must have Steel leaders – not without problems! Large circle or khale hooks Simply put, bigger bait Don’t buy rod holders they are too cheap and easy to make Paddle boards, surf boards, etc. – not necessary but functional Thoughts on the Sand Blaster type technology Taking a multi day trip and including a guided boat trip The basics of surf fishing – easy as it gets Guts and bars are your friend, if they are there Tides, incoming is best but it is not that simple Understanding tides and tide charts Surf reports, calm water equals better fishing In summer cool calm mornings trump tides, in fact they seem to trump everything Seasonality – what is there and when Piers – sometimes the only valid option but crowded When wading shuffle – sting rays! Beyond Cut Baits and Life Shrimp Whitebait, Theadthins, Pi[...]
