Throwing topwaters from the beach is as exciting as it gets for surf casters. Most are designed to mimic fleeing baitfish. Look for blitzing fish when making casts. (Photo by Nick Honachefsky)
September 19, 2024
By Nick Honachefsky
In the world of East Coast saltwater fishing, casting from the surf with your feet firmly planted in the sand is as basic as it gets. Yet, surf fishing is not quite that simple. Fish abound, from stripers to blues to fluke, but as with any fishing, the more you learn about it the more involved it can get. Here are some surf-fishing basics to get you started.
TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT Without a doubt, surf fishing’s epicenter is the East Coast—aka the Striper Coast—from Maine through North Carolina. Boulder fields, jetties and sandy shores all attract striped bass, considered the No. 1 gamefish in the surf. In spring and fall, striped bass, along with bluefish, migrate up and down the Eastern Seaboard, following the 58- to 65-degree water gradient as they feed on baitfish in their continual hunt to eat and spawn.
Other species that draw attention from surf anglers from New Jersey to the Carolinas are flounder, weakfish, kingfish, red drum and black drum. Target species and tactics switch the farther south you travel. Once you get into the Florida coasts, the waters warm into the 70- to 85-degree range on average, and the species list switches over to burly beasts such as snook, redfish and tarpon, along with pompano, seatrout, Spanish mackerel and various shark species.
GEARING UP Ideal rod-and-reel setups vary depending on the target species, but an 8- to 11-foot spinning or conventional rod with a moderate to fast action applies for most. East Coasters who typically fish for striped bass and bluefish have to battle heavy surf conditions and therefore tote 9- to 14-foot rods. Various manufacturers—Penn , Lamiglas , St. Croix , Tsunami and Shimano among others—offer surf-fishing rod lines. Rods should be rated to cast 2 to 8 ounces and be equipped to handle 20- to 50-pound monofilament or braided line.
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Reel choice is also dependent on the target species. Smaller 1- to 5-pound fish can be handled on a 3000-size reel. Fish into the teens can be battled with a 5000-class reel, while monster fish over the 20-pound mark necessitate 8000- to 12000-class spinning reels.
Conventional reels can range from the 6500 to 8500 size. Surf reel manufacturers include Shimano, Penn, Van Staal and Abu Garcia . Most surf-fishing can be accomplished by spooling up reels with 30- to 50-pound braided line or 17- to 20-pound monofilament line.
Fall is prime time for gorilla blues. They feed with reckless abandon and fight as hard as any fish found in the surf. (Photo by Nick Honachefsky) READ THE WATER Often, anglers look at a beach and see a featureless landscape, but that is not the case at all. Upon closer inspection, you’ll see a bounty of fish-attracting structure near what appears to be the mostly desolate beach—and that is what will improve your odds of success. Obvious clues come in the form of rocks, jetties, boulders, piers and pilings. Those are all fish magnets, as fish tend to gravitate to them to feed upon crabs, shrimp, mollusks and baitfish that congregate around the structure. On sandy shores, though, cues may not be as easy to identify. In general, look for the deeper-water sections—cuts, bowls and sloughs—where water does not break and fish root down in. You can tell where the shallow sand bars are by where the waves crest and break. Casts should be made into deeper waters where fish have enough room to move around and feed.
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Tides play a big role in determining when to fish, and a good rule is to fish the high-tide hours, mainly 2 hours before and 2 hours after. That way you reap the benefits of the last of the incoming and the start of the outgoing tide when the flood current brings in and washes out the forage from the swell. The best times of day to fish are sunup and sundown when fish will be most actively feeding. Low-tide hours allow you to inspect how the surf is laid out. In general, spring and fall see striped bass and bluefish migrating and on the feed, whereas summer and winter months have them on a mild vacation, so you might plan your trips around the shoulder seasons.
BAITFISH MAGIC Using cut or live bait varies depending upon location, but a good start when fishing bait or dead-sticking is to use a high-low rig. With it, you can fish two baits, one up top and one on the bottom, with 1/0 to 5/0 baitholder hooks and a sinker of 3 to 8 ounces.
Fish-finder slide rigs are best used when casting live baits. These allow the bait to swim freely so that gamefish can pick them up without feeling any resistance. The fish-finder rig consists of a slide clip with a properly weighted sinker, 75-pound barrel swivel, a 24-inch section of 25-pound leader and a circle hook.
In the Northeast, top baits include bunker, eels, clams, sandworms, bloodworms, sand eels and squid. A basic game plan for bait-fishing is to cast the baited rig out into a deep section of water, click the bail over, reel it tight so there is no slack in the line and put the rod in a sand spike. Watch for the rod tip to buckle down, then simply pick the rod up out of the spike on the hit and set the hook. Make sure your drag is set at a medium level so if the fish is big and wants to make a run, it can pull line without snapping it. Always recheck your hook every 20 minutes or so to make sure crabs or smaller fish haven’t stolen your bait.
Although striped bass garner much of the attention along the Northeast coast, species such as drum, bluefish and fluke are also available at times. (Photo by Nick Honachefsky) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Casting artificial lures is by far the most exciting way to target stripers and blues. A whole array of lures are available for surfcasting, including poppers, plugs, swimmers, bucktails and metal lures. All are designed to mimic fleeing baitfish and trick surf fish.
For a very basic yet effective leader, tie the main line to one end of a 75-pound barrel swivel and a 30-inch section of 40-pound leader material or 30-pound fluorocarbon leader to the other. To the opposite end of the leader, tie a 40-pound-class Duolock snap to faciliate the switching out of lures. That rig will be sufficient for almost any surf-fishing action.
Many manufacturers have surf-specific lures. Some favorites include swimming plugs like the Bomber A-Salt and Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow ; topwater poppers such as Yo-Zuri’s Hydro Poppers and Atom Poppers ; rubber paddle-tail shads like those from Storm and Tsunami ; and metal lures like Ava 007 and A17 jigs, 1- to 2-ounce Deadly Dicks and Crippled Herring jigs .
The key to making a surfcasting session successful is to first look for blitzing fish that churn up the water as they pounce and hammer baitfish schools. Blind-casting can also be productive as long as you concentrate on working the structure areas and read the beach well enough to place your casts into the hot zone. Watch the waters to see rippling baitfish schools as they swim cautiously to avoid being eaten by gamefish.
Surf fishing can be one of the most rewarding pursuits for both the hardened outdoorsman and the weekend warrior. Nothing brings a greater sense of accomplishment than having your feet planted on a beach, casting into the deep blue abyss and hooking and reeling in a fish from what seems like an impossibly infinite expanse of ocean. Some of the largest fish ever caught on rod and reel have been taken from the surf. Now’s your chance to make some memories of your own.
This article was featured in the September issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
