Part 2-2019 Saltwater Thread

[TA_Fab]

I got hit last year while fishing the surf, no ray guards though. I don’t even think about it when I’m fishing just a risk you take.

Saturday / 29th in the surf tops / tails




Monday / 1st offshore






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[Killer]

good looking groceries!

[Killer]

I primarily fish it by boat these days. I rarely get to wade the surf anymore because I usually have customers with me and it's a rare day that I have customers who will get out of the boat. So I use my trolling motor and anchor and we fish it out of the boat.

OK, fishing the surf is one of my favorite things and has been all my life. I've spent many years watching and waiting for green tides to kiss the sand. And I have been a student of it for 40 years now. I have gotten pretty good at it. I'll pass on a few things for you to think about.

Fish are fish and the same things are important in the surf as in the bay. Water quality, water movement, structure and bait presence are all important. The fish are going to use those things to their advantage. You can use those things to locate fish too. Just keep in mind that structure means different things in different situations. I'm not talking jetties or huge drop offs or shell reefs. I'm talking bars, guts and washes. Also the surf will be loaded with bait, often all bait is not bait to a trout. There may be 10 billion pogies in the surf and the trout are on finger mullet. So being in bait means you need to be in the right bait. And that takes observation to figure out. But in general they are going to eat bait like finger mullet over pogies and big mullet. Or the surf may be full of big white shrimp and they may be on those. If you see big shrimp hopping out of the water regularly... there is a clue. As to structure there are bars and guts paralleling the beachfront and the fish do move up and down those bars and guts. You can pick out any random spot and chances are some trout will swim by and you will catch some and may well even limit out. That is what most people do when they fish the surf. But there are other spots where the fish will stack up and you can literally sit in them and catch fish every cast until you are worn out. Trout tend to concentrate in what I call washes. A wash is a deeper hole that goes thru the sand bars. They are spots where you will see water flowing heavily away from the bank. The swells push water and stack it on the bank. The water must return back out. What happens is you get stretches of beach where there is a longshore current and that current is running down the beach parallel to the shore. It is water looking for a way to get back out to deep water. When it reaches a wash it then turns and goes out away from shore back to deep water. These spots are where you run into a strong undertow and people can drown in them. You have to be careful wading around them. You can go from belly deep to over your head in one step and the current rips through them. So you have a structure change, a hole, and you have strong current, moving water... hmmm... maybe that's a good spot to look for trout. It's like sitting on a food conveyor belt for a trout. The flow washes down the beach and then carries bait out off the bank and into that hole where the trout are waiting. Hit the right wash and you'll catch trout almost every cast.

It'll take time to spot them and there are lots of them. Not every one is going to hold a wad of fish. You have to put all the pieces together. Water quality, current, bait, and the ambush point. Some washes will hold a few fish, some will hold none. When you figure out where they are it's just lights out good. And you can sit there anchored up and just catch and catch until you are tired of catching. It's not unusual for my groups to have 20 or 25 good ones in the box in 15-30 min in that situation and I have seen many grown men put up their rods, sit down and just say "enough" after a couple hours of catching them almost every cast.

Now, one last thing is you have to fish it when it's right. And by right I mean it has to lay down, of course, but it can also go too long and get too clear, When the surf lays you usually have about 3 prime days and then every day after that it continues to clear you end up with more and more sharks, jacks, mackeral and skipjacks up in the surf and less trout. If you get there and you can see the shells on the bottom in 6' of water you are likely going to have a tougher day. So you don't want it too sandy and rough but you don't want it too clear either.

And then there is tide. The higher the tide the closer in they will be. As the tide falls out the fish will drop out deeper as well. So keep that in mind too.

It's just one big puzzle and it takes a little time to learn to read it and understand all the pieces. But it's worth it.

Good info Thanks

[Mexico]

All these reports of people getting hit by rays, makes me wonder WHY there aren't waterproof boots that are made of the same material as snake boots. Think I may buy me some lace up snake boots and put some drain holes near the bottom of them.

I just bought my 10 year old those wade boots with the ray guards too... Thinking I wasted my money on them now.

Mayhem, You got a nice looking sled.

X2, there would be a huge market for them!

[Deathrow Jethro]

https://www.amazon.com/Rocky-Waterpr...gateway&sr=8-8

Something along these lines.

Also there are these:

https://www.waderight.com/stingray_guardz.php

[marshhunter]

I primarily fish it by boat these days. I rarely get to wade the surf anymore because I usually have customers with me and it's a rare day that I have customers who will get out of the boat. So I use my trolling motor and anchor and we fish it out of the boat.

OK, fishing the surf is one of my favorite things and has been all my life. I've spent many years watching and waiting for green tides to kiss the sand. And I have been a student of it for 40 years now. I have gotten pretty good at it. I'll pass on a few things for you to think about.

Fish are fish and the same things are important in the surf as in the bay. Water quality, water movement, structure and bait presence are all important. The fish are going to use those things to their advantage. You can use those things to locate fish too. Just keep in mind that structure means different things in different situations. I'm not talking jetties or huge drop offs or shell reefs. I'm talking bars, guts and washes. Also the surf will be loaded with bait, often all bait is not bait to a trout. There may be 10 billion pogies in the surf and the trout are on finger mullet. So being in bait means you need to be in the right bait. And that takes observation to figure out. But in general they are going to eat bait like finger mullet over pogies and big mullet. Or the surf may be full of big white shrimp and they may be on those. If you see big shrimp hopping out of the water regularly... there is a clue. As to structure there are bars and guts paralleling the beachfront and the fish do move up and down those bars and guts. You can pick out any random spot and chances are some trout will swim by and you will catch some and may well even limit out. That is what most people do when they fish the surf. But there are other spots where the fish will stack up and you can literally sit in them and catch fish every cast until you are worn out. Trout tend to concentrate in what I call washes. A wash is a deeper hole that goes thru the sand bars. They are spots where you will see water flowing heavily away from the bank. The swells push water and stack it on the bank. The water must return back out. What happens is you get stretches of beach where there is a longshore current and that current is running down the beach parallel to the shore. It is water looking for a way to get back out to deep water. When it reaches a wash it then turns and goes out away from shore back to deep water. These spots are where you run into a strong undertow and people can drown in them. You have to be careful wading around them. You can go from belly deep to over your head in one step and the current rips through them. So you have a structure change, a hole, and you have strong current, moving water... hmmm... maybe that's a good spot to look for trout. It's like sitting on a food conveyor belt for a trout. The flow washes down the beach and then carries bait out off the bank and into that hole where the trout are waiting. Hit the right wash and you'll catch trout almost every cast.

It'll take time to spot them and there are lots of them. Not every one is going to hold a wad of fish. You have to put all the pieces together. Water quality, current, bait, and the ambush point. Some washes will hold a few fish, some will hold none. When you figure out where they are it's just lights out good. And you can sit there anchored up and just catch and catch until you are tired of catching. It's not unusual for my groups to have 20 or 25 good ones in the box in 15-30 min in that situation and I have seen many grown men put up their rods, sit down and just say "enough" after a couple hours of catching them almost every cast.

Now, one last thing is you have to fish it when it's right. And by right I mean it has to lay down, of course, but it can also go too long and get too clear, When the surf lays you usually have about 3 prime days and then every day after that it continues to clear you end up with more and more sharks, jacks, mackeral and skipjacks up in the surf and less trout. If you get there and you can see the shells on the bottom in 6' of water you are likely going to have a tougher day. So you don't want it too sandy and rough but you don't want it too clear either.

And then there is tide. The higher the tide the closer in they will be. As the tide falls out the fish will drop out deeper as well. So keep that in mind too.

It's just one big puzzle and it takes a little time to learn to read it and understand all the pieces. But it's worth it.

Glen this is outstanding information! Thank you for taking the time to type it all up and share!

[kevin nicholls]

^^^^X2
I also look for bottom changes. Sargent surf goes from mud to sand along the beach. I catch a lot on these surface changes.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Those ray guards were originally done by "walk n wade" many, many years ago... everyone had them on the shelf... Were a product of "Night Train" I think. I got hit in Mexico at 3rd pass and decided to buy a pair for our next trip... Also during the trip that I got hit on, I caught a small ray and I kept his barb. It was about 4 inches long or so. Had it in my tackle box. On the next trip to 3rd pass, I had my walk n wades and wore them the first wade of the afternoon... surf fishing is what we used to do down there... Had a pretty good day and on the ride back to the house, one of my buddies asked me about the ray guards... I told him they were heavy but for the protection were worth it. Then one of the guys said why don't you test it with that barb you have... I got it out of the box and raised it to stick in in the guard that was still on my leg... I stopped at the last minute and took it off, then stuck the guard. That dang barb went through BOTH sides of those dang walk n wades so slick it wasn't even hard to push thru! To say I was ******, was an understatement!! When I got back home I told another friend about it and he told me "No WAY". He came over to my office and I demonstrated it again with the same results... He and I went straight over to Cut Rate on I-10 (now FTU) and told them about it... They too said NO WAY... so I pulled my trusty barb out my pocket and went to the shelf, got a brand new pair, didn't even bother taking them out of the bag and punched that barb clean through the bag and the guards (both of the pair this time) and out the other side of the bag... Guy stood there with his jaw hanging... We then went to the guy who made them as my other friend knew the guy... His comment was yea, that's the heaviest weave I can get and sometimes it might not stop the barb but it will reduce penetration and will clean the barb before it punches into your leg!!
I got my money back and haven't worn guards since. That was probably 25-30 years ago! Now those hard plastic brush and snake guards I am told work really well. A couple guys I've fished with wear them. On a trip to the Chandeleur Islands year before last, they were wearing them. I didn't have a stingray barb, but I did get an ice pick from the kitchen on the VI and stabbed the guards with it, and it did not penetrate. I bought a pair of those, but haven't actually waded with them...

[Quackerbox]

Rays don't really bother me at all. I wear the guards, if I get hit, I get hit.

This is me. At 42 Im just in my second year of actually wearing guards. Heck, Ive waded barefoot in LLM many times. I just shuffle and keep my eyes open.


The full on boots are far to bulky for me and wearing something designed for dry land wear would turn a 6 hour wade trip to 3 fairly quick Id think

[kevin nicholls]

I don't us the guards either. I've been wading close to 40 years and I've had a few close calls but not been hit. I was down at Pt Mansfield a few years ago and it was like a mine field of rays you could see in the clear water. That was a little spooky, I'd poke em with my rod tip to clear a path for my brother in law. He didn't last to long and we were back in the boat.

[Mexico]

Those ray guards were originally done by "walk n wade" many, many years ago... everyone had them on the shelf... Were a product of "Night Train" I think. I got hit in Mexico at 3rd pass and decided to buy a pair for our next trip... Also during the trip that I got hit on, I caught a small ray and I kept his barb. It was about 4 inches long or so. Had it in my tackle box. On the next trip to 3rd pass, I had my walk n wades and wore them the first wade of the afternoon... surf fishing is what we used to do down there... Had a pretty good day and on the ride back to the house, one of my buddies asked me about the ray guards... I told him they were heavy but for the protection were worth it. Then one of the guys said why don't you test it with that barb you have... I got it out of the box and raised it to stick in in the guard that was still on my leg... I stopped at the last minute and took it off, then stuck the guard. That dang barb went through BOTH sides of those dang walk n wades so slick it wasn't even hard to push thru! To say I was ******, was an understatement!! When I got back home I told another friend about it and he told me "No WAY". He came over to my office and I demonstrated it again with the same results... He and I went straight over to Cut Rate on I-10 (now FTU) and told them about it... They too said NO WAY... so I pulled my trusty barb out my pocket and went to the shelf, got a brand new pair, didn't even bother taking them out of the bag and punched that barb clean through the bag and the guards (both of the pair this time) and out the other side of the bag... Guy stood there with his jaw hanging... We then went to the guy who made them as my other friend knew the guy... His comment was yea, that's the heaviest weave I can get and sometimes it might not stop the barb but it will reduce penetration and will clean the barb before it punches into your leg!!
I got my money back and haven't worn guards since. That was probably 25-30 years ago! Now those hard plastic brush and snake guards I am told work really well. A couple guys I've fished with wear them. On a trip to the Chandeleur Islands year before last, they were wearing them. I didn't have a stingray barb, but I did get an ice pick from the kitchen on the VI and stabbed the guards with it, and it did not penetrate. I bought a pair of those, but haven't actually waded with them...

Great story Charlie! I've seen those plastic guards and might be going to them now. I'm like Philip, I love to wade fish and if I had to be in a boat I'd probably give it up. And this is coming from a guy who got hit...

[panhandlehunter]

Great story Charlie! I've seen those plastic guards and might be going to them now. I'm like Philip, I love to wade fish and if I had to be in a boat I'd probably give it up. And this is coming from a guy who got hit...

Those hard plastic ones look like they’d work. They also look like they would suck to wear. Lol. Probably have to chop the top part off.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Great story Charlie! I've seen those plastic guards and might be going to them now. I'm like Philip, I love to wade fish and if I had to be in a boat I'd probably give it up. And this is coming from a guy who got hit...

Yep, me too... That boat is transportation to where I want to fish primarily...

[Mexico]

Those hard plastic ones look like they’d work. They also look like they would suck to wear. Lol. Probably have to chop the top part off.

I was thinking the exact same thing. They're cheap enough to try it. I studied them at Academy the other day and the whole time I was looking at them I was thinking these things probably suck in the water!

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[zztex]

I’m like some of y’all, I love to wade. I’m 62, and have wadefished since I was 16. Never been hit and never worn guards. Maybe just lucky. Don’t think about it. I’ve been a little spooked floundering with all the rays, but never really worried about it