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[johnbgood]

Ok sorry if this is one of the dumbest questions ever on this board, but when you go surf fishing do you have to wade in the water to cast your reel or is it possible to cast from the shore and still have some luck... Thankx

[crab_n_fisher]

There are plenty of fish in the "wade gut," that is, the shallow water one initially encounters leaving dry sand and out to the first sandbar. Trout, Redfish, Whiting and sometimes shark, among other fish, are in it.


Do not feel your question is "dumb". We all have to begin our learning process somewhere, and it helps to ask such "embarrassing" questions and hopefully get appreciative responses. Believe me, it feels good to teach freshwater newbies how to catch catfish, crappie and bass. However, I am a newbie to the surf and, boy, do I have a lot of questions to ask! Had I not have been embarrassed, I would have learned NOT to scale* a slot Redfish but just filet it and then remove the skin. Thereby I was learning from experience and the "hard way".

-- note * ...When does scaling turn into the act of prying? You know, using a pry bar and a heavy dose of bickering and hollering as you try to get the armored scales off the fish? (haha)

Here is an interesting introduction to surf fishing. Its one of the best guides for newbies available on the web. And it's arguably the best primer thus far to ever have been uploaded into cyber space. Enjoy!

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/2615/
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[SurfRunner]

It mostly depends where I am fishing. I have caught 6 foot sharks from baits I have casted from the dry sand. I have found the more desolate a beach, the closer to the beach they will come.

Look for a place where the first gut runs close to the beach for bigger fish.

You can catch light tackle sized fish in the wade gut. Look for a deep well defined wade gut with a pinch.

Matagorda and PINS are 2 beaches that offer this type of structure.

[Guest]

I have knee boots and old tennies that some days barely get wet because when fishing the Big Shell area, circa Mile Posts 18 to 28, there is no need to wade out to reach the second gut with a good surf rod. Only if you prefer to fish with light tackle would getting across the wade gut and first bar into the second gut be a problem in Big Shell. Not that there's any shortage of whiting and trout in the wade gut, mind you. However, unless you're part polar bear, when water temps fall below 75, waders are pretty much essential for reaching the pompano holes on the far side of the second gut and beyond.

Hey crab_n_fisher, many of us grew up scaling fish so we could fry and eat their skins, and most still do that with panfish and delicate-skinned fish like sand trout, so a lot of "prying" is still going on. Actually, if you're going to broil a red or black drum outdoors, you don't need to skin or scale, but the filets might tend to curl up on you unless you cut a few slits crosswise through the skin. Did you ever nail down the tail of a big drum and use a garden hoe as a scaler? Boy, those big scales flew across the back yard like Frisbies!

[Vern]

LOL Johnny, I have never even thought about it but I bet it was a sight to see!! Johnbgood, with a good 12' rod, a good casting reel, and a lot of practice you should be able to do what you want from the sand. I still wade out to about knee deep and throw but my casting skills lack a lot yet.

[johnbgood]

Thanks everyone for the feeback and making me feel comfortable with whatever type of question i may ask in the future

[crab_n_fisher]

JohnBGood --- I'm glad to help, even though my knowledge of the surf is very limited; and, knowing my luck, I'm always a hardhead or and a couple jellyfish short of a meal Now some folks may get upset if you ask for their secret fishing spots, but don't get "down" about it. Cheer up! Those who are willing to show you their secret honey holes we like to call "guides" -- and they charge money!

Johnny French --- Are you sure it's a frisbee or another one of those unidentified flying objects people have been reporting somewhere out on PINS? Whatever the case, its gonna be our little secret! ....I talked to my next door neighbor a couple months ago about Redfish, and how she prepares them on the BBQ pit. She leaves the skin AND scales on! When the fish is done she said the meat falls right off the skin! Now this is something I've definitely gotta experience. .....
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[crab_n_fisher]

Surfrunner,

May I ask a question? I moved down here just SW of Houston last August. So far I've only fished* the beach in Freeport and at Sargent.... Now I know Sargent Beach gets deep very quickly so I did not have to worry about my line capacity very much. However, I am now wanting to venture down to Matagorda Beach... and I am wondering if the water runs relatively shallow for great distances like Padre Island beaches, especially during low tide?

I ask because I'm looking to purchase a couple 12 foot Ugly Stiks, 300-340 yard 30 lb capacity spinning reels to target oversized Reds, Black Drum, Jacks and Blacktip sharks. I am hoping my line capacity would be good for the area. Any reply would be appreciated -- even if you ask for a keg of beer for New Years in return! (Rumor has it that Vern said he'd bring it to you...hehe :O)
----

*fished, in reference to corroding my freshwater reels in the salt environs of the beach...Uggh!
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[crab_n_fisher]

_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[Guest]

crab_n_fisher, we almost got it right. The way I spelled Frisbee was wrong, but it's a Trademark, and should be capitalized. Dictionary sez the name was derived from Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut; supposedly, metal pie tins were the inspiration for the plastic toy. Learn something new every day.

Love the Golden Rule. Always glad to share surf fishing locations, but draw the line at someone casting over me, running a boat just downwind of where I'm drifting, or pulling up my trotlines at the lake. I'm funny that way.

Still, to everyone else I wish small seas and clear water, with plenty of whatever fish suits their ice chests. Happy New Year!

[Big Irv]

[Guest]

Flounder skin never appealed to me. If I want fried flounder, I filet and skin 'em. If they're too small to filet, I broil or poach 'em, unzip the fins, and peel the skin away.

Get ready to load up the flounder when they finish Packery Channel.

[crab_n_fisher]

Good response, Johnny! A man who follows the Golden Rule and has a since of humor, too! ....Now if I can only win an Ugly Stik XH and Penn Senator 4/0 on Ebay for $1.99, with free shipping, of course, I'd laugh all the way to the...bank, er, edge of the water! ....take care
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[mando]

speaking of trot lines i ran a long one out yesterday with around 30 hooks. get this NOT ONE FISH! all baited with cut mullet on a 5/0 kahale in lake corpus christi...i hope no one was messing with my line but i doubt thats what happened
aye vern if ya really want to get some distance get the breakaway casting video. just with 2 days of praticing what i saw on the video i got up to 100 yrds EASY! practice practice practice

[SurfRunner]