Decided to try out some surf fishing this evening after work. Only fished for an hour and a half a mile down from access road 1 with no bites. Using 7/0 circle hooks with halfs of crab. Its my first time ever doing this so I was wondering what is considered the 1st gut? The drop after the first sandbar? The wind was pretty strong couldnt even manage to cast as far as the second gut. Just looking for some pointers if anyone has any fishing for reds and shark, thanks.

I too want to try surf fishing....any one have any info on that??

the truth is, unless u have a 10+ preferably 12ft rod, u cant effectivly fish the surf while staying dry in the heavy wind, either go on a calm day, or walk out to the first sand bar, (30 yards) u will have the water come up belly button height (depending on height and go back down to 2 ft, this is where most people surf fish with shrimp, fish 10-20yards ahead( considered first gut, if you find your self pretty confortable and the water is not too cold walk out to the 2nd bar, ( shoulder height than back up to 2 ft )80 yards out from shore, u can use bigger bait here, fingermullet, crab, cut bait, only go to the second bar if the waves are little to none, dont go pas the second bar, before u start fishing, feel around for where the drop off is, dont go past it!!! back up and fish, if u arent loaded with money for expensive gear, try to go cheap because your gear will get wet, and after u catch a fish, dont string it like bay wading cus there are sharks known to come up to the second bar, u can always cast out and walk it back to the beah to put on a post, mainly for bull red and shark fishing, but that gets our all sandy, id rather be in water then sand coating me , and the thing about crabs.......im never very successful with them, ive caught many reds and not once have i ever seen a crab in its belly...maybe black drums but idk , id go with live shrimp or finger mullet

Thanks for the reply. Went back out again today used crab all morning and nothing! Crabs work great at the horace caldwell pier everyone catches reds with them just hate losing tackle. So about 2pm decided to get the cast net wet. Got my line into the first gut and had a 2'7" blacktip in within 5 min! I do wade out to the 1st sand bar but with the waves today and yesterday its not safe to go further I tried... Im an avid swimmer just not risking the under tow with a 10 foot rod in my hand lol. Im guessing the rough waters is the reason I didnt catch any reds hopefully it will be calmer this friday after I get off. As for the blacktip this will be my first to eat. I had a bonnethead last week and enjoyed the heck out of it despite other peoples opinions.

if u have a surf rod, u can cast from the shore, i think crabs tend to settle alittle bi past the surf, i would imagine a crab just being tumbled around and not being able to feed if it was in the middle of all the waves, blacktips are good eating, personally i like letting my meat sit in butter milk or whole milk for a day, the acidity and baseness of the amonia and milk balance out and BAM nice smellless meat,wash out milk and squeeze dry with a paper towel, try it i promise ull notice no smell, but the fact that u caught a shark up close reinforces my point of not having fish strung on to you, ive seen people get fish ripped off and if it wasnt for the loose knot the guy had on.... who knows what could happen, anyways its good to hear your success starting to build up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGnc_zmeQus, this isnt me but a good example, video has some language, but the guys in the video are on the 2ndbar, probably 3rd, surf was maybe 2-3 ft, but u can tell that the few ft of waves makes the water come over pretty high,inthese conditions, Only 1st bar,

Thanks and I will never go out that far unless its super calm lol. Im not really scared but I have a slight phobia of what lurks in deep murky waters lol. I want some 12 foot rods just not in the budget going to keep my eyes on craigslist though. And for my knot being ripped off I highly doubt it I use the "eye crosser knot" and believe it is the best. My leaders cost 6 dollars a piece way too much for just any knot. I do use 60lb test by the way which shortens my casting range alot. Where can I get 100lb braided?

u can get cheaper braid off of ebay, it ships from china, its dirt cheap 13 bucks for 500yds, its not good quality, its 4 strands and it looses color

Man that was fast lol. I dont want anything thats going to fall apart within a few weeks of fishing every weekend all day. But I will check ebay for sure. Whats a good way to make sure my spinning reel doesnt shut when casting?

Let me just save you the money... DONT BUY EBAY BRAID... its utter garbage and not even = to the supposed line test... ie 20LB Ebay Braid "China Line" as I call it tends to break around 10-15lb range during tinsel strength tests.

Just save the money and get the real stuff since you'll be spending that amount in lost tackle anyways if you dont.

This includes any braid sold on ebay for less than normal prices(even ones posing as PowerPro... its all fake)

Charkbait has decent deals on better braid sometimes.

I don't like using braid in the surf. The abrasive sand tends to fray it up something fierce.

ive tried 2 different brands, one of them was a fake power pro, TERRIBLE!!! another was a spectra brand, it lasted better and it was worth the money, if ur on budget sometimes u have to buy cheaper stuff, but just know that u get what u pay for, tufline xp is one of the cheapest american brands, u can get 300 yards for 20 bucks, power pro goes for about 30 bucks for 300yds and jerry brown goes for 35 for 300 yards, i honestly think tufline is better than powerpro

OK, givn away my secret fishin' hole. Don't tell nobody I did it.

If its decent, not too windy or too many big waves, Fish Pass between Corpus and Port A is the place to be, on the North groin.

I use a 12' surf rod, a Penn 950 Spinning reel, 40 pound mono, a leader and a 4 ounce sinker. Cast out off the end, either side, the middle, whatever.

I also use a regular, medium/light spinning rig for free shrimping or using a popping cork. I got 30 Pound braid on it.

I love finger mullet, piggies, sailor's choices (grunts), croaker, crab, whatever, live, dead, cut, etc. for bait. Shrimp too, live dead, fresh dead, frozen, whatever, and squid. I will buy, cast net, fish for, beg for, whatever I must do to get good bait and take all the time it takes to do so. Fishing with bad bait is a waist of time.

There you go, Fish Pass with bait. Very good bet for fish.