Surf Fishing for Beginners (The complete Guide)
The best way for beginners to learn surf fishing is to buy a 3500 series reel and a medium heavy action 8 foot rod and learn how to fish the trough with jigs during the higher parts of the tide. Surf fishing beginners will have access to snook, tarpon, bluefish, jacks, whiting, pompano and many more.
If you want to learn everything about surf fishing for beginners, then keep on reading this article. It will have all of the right baits, lures and tackle that a beginner need to fish off of the beach.
He would take his kayak and bring the bait out to the sand bar because he's not able to cast that far with his shark rod. This technique is used by a lot of shark fishermen but is not allowed on some beaches. Make sure to check your area's regulations.
In this article I will cover the tackle, tips and techniques, and the different species of fish that you can target along the beaches.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the beaches, grass flats and mangroves around Florida for over 40 years. I will do my best to teach you everything that you need to know to be an excellent surf fisherman.
Okay. Let's learn about surf fishing.
The video below will show you how to catch more fish in the surf.
The best way for beginners to learn surf fishing is to buy a 3500 series reel and a medium heavy action 8 foot rod and learn how to fish the trough with jigs during the higher parts of the tide. Surf fishing beginners will have access to snook, tarpon, bluefish, jacks, whiting, pompano and many more.
If you want to learn everything about surf fishing for beginners, then keep on reading this article. It will have all of the right baits, lures and tackle that a beginner need to fish off of the beach.
He would take his kayak and bring the bait out to the sand bar because he's not able to cast that far with his shark rod. This technique is used by a lot of shark fishermen but is not allowed on some beaches. Make sure to check your area's regulations.
In this article I will cover the tackle, tips and techniques, and the different species of fish that you can target along the beaches.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the beaches, grass flats and mangroves around Florida for over 40 years. I will do my best to teach you everything that you need to know to be an excellent surf fisherman.
Okay. Let's learn about surf fishing.
The video below will show you how to catch more fish in the surf.
Surf Fishing for Beginners--Gear
If you are going to do a lot of surf fishing, then you will need to protect yourself from the sun. A good set of polarized glasses is a must for surf fishing. They not only protect your eyes but that also take the glare off of the water so that you can see into the water.
A really good pair of glasses will cost you $250 but you can find a lower quality pair for $25 or less. You will want to have a blue or a gray lens for surf fishing in clear blue water. If you fish a spot with dirtier water then amber, rose or copper lenses will work the best.
You are also going to want to get yourself a back pack so that you can put some exploration time in easily and effectively. You may have to walk a half mile or so to find the bait and the feeding fish so you should make it as easy on yourself as possible to carry all of your gear with you.
You will also need performance fishing shirts with UV protection. These shirts are impregnated with sun screen to help protect you from the sun's UV rays. They are also moisture wicking to evaporate your perspiration quickly which helps keep you cool.
Watch the video above and catch more fish in the surf.
Surf Fishing for Beginners--Tackle
The tackle that you will need is very subjective. For instance, I have a 10 feet long medium heavy surf fishing rod with a 5500 Penn Spinfisher V. It is loaded with 80 lb. braided line and I use it almost exclusively to cast large top water lures to catch black tipped sharks and tarpon off of the beach. Most people would use that rod to catch pompano with.
If you are fishing the trough right by the beach then a 3500 or 4000 series reel filled with 10 to 20 pound braided line and a medium/heavy 8 foot rod is all that you will need.
You will definitely want to have a couple of different rods for surf fishing based upon what you are fishing for. If you want to cast large lures for sharks and tarpon the 10 to 15 foot medium/heavy rod is the way to go. I like the 8 inch pencil popper style of lure. They can cast a mile and the sharks and tarpon will attack them regularly.
The best time to catch tarpon and sharks with lures off of the beach is first thing in the morning or right before sunset when the tide is in its higher stages. The big predators like sharks and tarpon will cross the sandbar and get very close to the beach when the tide is high. This puts them within range of your lures. I don't usually bother to try for tarpon and sharks during the lower stages of the tide.
I wrote another article that covers the best tackle for surf fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Another great lure is the silver spoon. Get a heavy silver spoon that is 2 ounces or larger and use your 10 to 15 foot rod heavy that bad boy out as far as you can. You will catch bluefish, tarpon, sharks, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel and an assortment of other fish using a simple but effective silver spoon.
The rest of the time when I am fishing for pompano or whiting off of the beach I use my 7 feet medium heavy rod and a 4000 series reel with 20 lb. braided line. BUT I am usually casting this rod no more than 30 feet from shore. If you have to cast further then a 100 feet plus surf rod is a must.
The main reason that I can get away with such a small rod is because I fish mostly in the trough next to the shore or just a few feet past it.
Watch the video below to see more about fishing the trough for whiting.
Surf Fishing for Beginners--Baits and Lures
Where I fish in Florida there are lots of great fish to catch off of the beach. We have pompano, whiting, snook, bluefish, flounder, tarpon, sharks, mackerel....... I am going to cover the best baits and lures for a few of the fish species that I just mentioned.
POMPANO- Pompanos are probably the most sought after fish by surf fishermen in Florida. They are a migratory species and only show up when the water temperatures are between about 62 degrees to 75 degrees. They will move south in the winter and north in the summer to find this temperature range.
Many surf fishing beginners started fishing off of the beach just so that they can target this species of fish. They are fun to catch and delicious and so many surf fishermen go gaga over this fish.
The best natural baits for a pompano are sand fleas (mole crabs), shrimp and clams. The best rig for pompano is the one in the video above. When you go to your local bait shop to buy frozen shrimp and some pompano rigs just ask the guy at the counter and they will get you the correct pompano rigs and weights to get you started.
I like to use a 1/0 circle hook on my pompano/whiting rigs because those fish have such little mouths. The circle hooks work great because they usually hook the fish in the corner of the mouth so they don't swallow the hooks. You don't set the hook with circle hooks. The fish hooks itself when it swims away with your bait in its mouth.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in great detail how to catch a pompano. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Pompano and whiting are often caught together and feeding upon the same things. So every pompano bait and lure will also catch whitings a.k.a. Southern Kingfish. I am not going to cover fishing for whitings because the same pompano baits, lures and techniques also apply to them.
The best lures for pompano are banana styled jigs. These jigs really work well for pompano and come in a variety of colors. Pink, orange and yellow seem to work the best for me but some people swear by other colors.
The bottom line for effective fishing with jigs is the presentation. I like to cast out as far as I can and bounce the jigs off of the sandy bottom with a relatively slow retrieve pausing every 20 seconds or so to let it just sit on the bottom.
The video below will show you the best pompano jigs to use.
SNOOK- The common snook is another extremely popular fish targeted by surf fishermen. You can see them walking the beaches at first light casting parallel to the shore with a myriad of different lures. They are all waiting excitedly for the snook to slam their lures. This is my favorite species to target off of the beach.
The best bait for a beach snook is definitely croakers. A dozen croakers will catch you a ton of snook if they are in the area.
I use a 7 feet long medium heavy rod and a Shimano 4000 series reel full of 20 lb. braided line when snook fishing. The leader is usually 30 lb. mono filament. I free line a croaker with a 4/0 circle hook maybe 20 feet from shore and wait for it to get slammed by a monster snook. The great thing about a croaker is that they will stay on the bottom right in the strike zone of the snook.
I wrote another article that covers in much greater detail how to catch a snook. You can read that article by clicking right here.
If you use a mullet it will stay near the surface so you have to fish a mullet in 4 feet or less water depth to be in the snook's strike zone. You can add a sinker to get the mullet to the bottom but if the water is clear the snook will notice the sinker and are less apt to bite. If the water is murky it doesn't matter as much.
My favorite lure for snook fishing the beach at first light is a walk-the-dog style of top water lure. The white or a natural color combination work best for me. The two brands that I use most often are Zara Spooks and MirroLure top dogs. Those lures cast very far and have the right action when you learn how to walk-the-dog effectively.
You want to cast maybe 5 or 6 feet from the shore and at the same time as parallel to the shore as possible. the snook will be in the trough or just outside of the trough waiting to slam the croakers and whitings that are feeding on the sand fleas as the waves recede from the beach.
WANT TO CATCH SNOOK? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
Another great lure for surf fishing for snook is a Mirrolure suspending mullet. This lure will sink down in the water column a couple of feet and floats there horizontally. It has a very natural presentation and is a good choice when the water's surface is too choppy for a walk-the-dog type of lure. My favorite colors are natural color combinations like a black or green back with a white belly.
Any sort of jig with a paddle tail combination is hard to beat whether you are surf fishing or fishing from a kayak or wade fishing inshore. A white paddle tail for clean and stained waters and a root beer colored one for dark and dirty water is really all that you will need to catch a ton of fish. You will need a 1/8 ounce to a 1/4 ounce jig depending upon how deep you are fishing.
I wrote another article that covers the best baits and lures for snook fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The video below will show you how to catch huge snook off of the beach.
Another great snook lure is a flair hawk jig type of lure. This lure works exceptionally well when the water is a little bit churned up or dirty. When there is about a 3 ft. swell coming in the water gets kind of milky and full of sediments. This is when the flair hawk can turn the ordinary surf fisherman into a SNOOK SLAYER.
The best colors for a snook jig are white, chartreuse and pink. The white works best for clearer water clarity conditions. The pink and chartreuse work best for murky water conditions. A 1 1/2 ounce jig is just about perfect for fishing off of the beach. You may want to downsize to a one ounce jig if you are not getting any hits.
The technique is very simple. Cast it parallel to the shore and slowly bounce it back to you. That is it. You will feel a tug then set the hook hard!!!
Check out the Flair Hawk Jig article to learn more.
BLUEFISH and MACKEREL- Bluefish and mackerel can often be caught together when surf fishing the beaches around Florida. These fish are voracious feeders and will hit just about anything shiny that is moving quickly when there is bait around.
Surf fishermen who are just beginning love to catch these two fish. When they are hungry there is nothing that they won't hit if you get it close enough to them. They are voracious predators and are a ton of fun to catch.
A silver spoon works great for both of these fish species. The key to using a spoon is to keep it moving rather quickly. The problem is this can twist up your line very predictably if you do not have TWO barrel swivels incorporated in you fishing rig.
The first barrel swivel goes on your spoon itself. This will help stop the line twist somewhat but you should add another barrel swivel where your leader attaches to your main line. Bluefish and mackerel are very toothy fish and can cut through mono filament line and fluorocarbon line easily.
I wrote another article on this website that covers how to catch the various mackerel species in Florida. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Many fishermen use a thin leader of metal leader to stop the line from being cut. You will lose a lot of spoons if you use mono filament or fluorocarbon leaders instead of metal. The drawback of using metal leader is that you will get a few less bites because bluefish and mackerel have great eyesight.
If the water is murky, then it doesn't really matter that much so you might as well use the metal leader. it's only when the water is very clear that the metal leader can be seen easily and will limit your bites a little bit.
Watch the video below and catch more mackerel.
Bonus Video>> More black tip shark fishing tips and techniques
Conclusion:
Surf fishing is a great way for beginners to get involved in fishing. It is very fun and easily accessible for anyone that has a beach near them. This low barrier to entry is probably why so many people love to go surf fishing. You just don't need much to get started. You need a rod and reel and some bait or lures and you are good to go.
There are so many fun fish to catch in the surf too. You might catch a 6 foot shark or a 6 inch whiting. You just never know what you are going to catch in that great big ocean. That's what I like about fishing in the first place. The mystery of catching something new or something gigantic.
Surf fishing is great fun and if you haven't done it, then maybe you should try it out. I hope that this article helps you catch more fish the next time that you go surf fishing or at the very least have more fun trying.
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Surf fishing is a great way for beginners to get involved in fishing. It is very fun and easily accessible for anyone that has a beach near them. This low barrier to entry is probably why so many people love to go surf fishing. You just don't need much to get started. You need a rod and reel and some bait or lures and you are good to go.
There are so many fun fish to catch in the surf too. You might catch a 6 foot shark or a 6 inch whiting. You just never know what you are going to catch in that great big ocean. That's what I like about fishing in the first place. The mystery of catching something new or something gigantic.
Surf fishing is great fun and if you haven't done it, then maybe you should try it out. I hope that this article helps you catch more fish the next time that you go surf fishing or at the very least have more fun trying.
Do you like how to fishing articles like this one? If you answered yes, then sign up for our email list below and you will get a new how to fishing article sent to you every week. Sign up now and get your first one today.
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