Help with fishing the surf

[imhammer]

For trout in the surf I throw Tops in all sizes until I find what they want......Corkies......Tops......Mirrolures......T ops.......or maybe Tops!
Super spook, Super Spook Jr, Slitterwalks, She Dog, He dog, Top Dog.

[Swells]

Combat surf fishing is fun, and yes at times of the year the stingrays or cow-nose ray might be breeding in the surf. The cow-nose ain't no problem through. I just wear Crocs or reef shoes in the surf.

If you can drive the beach and not get stuck, look for rips, channel guts, birds working, and bait moving ... sometimes you'll see dolphin, shark, or tarpon jumping. Stop the truck and run like heck into the water and dang the stingrays! When the trout, reds, or whatever are feeding good, anything shiny will get a hit. I usually throw metal like spoons, the Kast-Master, the Little George, and various jigs. That's Combat surf fishing!

Others fish by stopping somewhere and setting up camp with a surf pole on bait using a pole holder pounded in the sand, and using a trout pole for chunking. I use poppers and such in the still mornings, and work deeper throughout the day until 5:30, when you can use about anything ... but the surf dictates what to use. You can't throw a She-Dog in 2-3 foot surf. But for a lack of a better name, that's Grandpa Style Surf Fishing.

A word to the wise, later in the summer there is a crop of bull shark that come in so I don't pack bait or fish out there on the first or second bar. No sir, I back my trout or red all the way into the beach in case Mrs. Chark wants it. Call it Sissy Surf Fishing but I ain't crazy!

Chark Surf Fishing is a big rage and while I catch a few babies every year, these folks tend to camp overnight with Coleman lamps or even pack firewood while waiting on 4 to 7 foot long monsters. Who knows, you might like it but you need big offshore reel to do the job right. A kayak is good for getting the bait way out there.

[dbarham]

check offshore buoys and winds and cams and GO!!

[Moonpie]

There's no hard rule about what lures to toss in the surf.
Popular lures are gold and silver spoons, mirrolures of various colors, soft plastic tailed jigs of various colors, topwaters like She-dogs/Skitterwlaks/etc, plugs like Ratlletraps and Rubberbacks, and of course live baits like shrimp, mullet, or croakers.
The classic gold spoon is a great starter lure as it relatively cheap, is easy to throw, and easy to work.
No need to spend eleventybillion dollars on lures. Get maybe half a dozen and go get wet. See what works for you.

Good luck.

[Ibtsoom]

Shuffle Shuffle dude...better yet buy some ray guards -- rays are an issue everywhere! Saw 20 or 30 of them while running over the sand bars at the pass last Sunday. As to what to throw I'll have to leave that up to the guys that frequent the surf. If it's calm enough I imagine I would be throwing tops and switching to plastics when the surf kicked up a bit but I'm not out there that much. Good Luck!

[Texas Aggies]

Still new to the saltwater fishing scene. I see people out now wading the surf. What artificials are they throwing? Am I correct in assuming rays arnt a problem in the surf or do I still need to be shuffling? Thanks!!