What kind of rod/reel/line are you planning to use? What species are you wanting to catch. Give a little more information and I can get you headed in the right direction.
You can get pompano rigs, and fish the first gut for whiting. They make good bait, and they are tasty. Then on a big rod you can use the double drop with the cut whiting. Like above I would get some spider weights. Last time down, the current was so strong we could not get a 5.5oz spider weight to hold beyond the second gut. Good luck and enjoy, it is a lot of fun. I have a couple recent videos from surf fishing you can check out, just follow the link in my sig below.
Personally I�d use a fish finder rig and not the double drop. There�s also a rig called a mousetrap rig that I use. Like stated already, only use spider weights. Pyramid will roll too much. Use the lightest weight you can get away with. I try to use 4 ounce if I can, but will move up to 8 oz if I have to. If you use braid make sure you have a mono shock leader. You�ll get your heart broke using straight braid. Reason being is it will rub on the sandbars and eventually break. Either on its own or when a fish hits. After casting out, be sure to back off drag and set your clicker. If no clicker, put a chip clip on your line right past the last eye so you�ll be able to tell if a fish hits and pulls drag. Be sure to use circle hooks. If they�re not offset, get pliers and offset them. They make hooking up so much easier. The fish basically hooks themselves. Try to catch mullet in cast net and use it or whiting, croaker, sand trout or cut stingray. Walk out to chest deep water, cast out and walk back in. Set the rod up in a holder, grab a cold beer and enjoy.
PS: if current is strong and moving say east to west, cast against the current (east). If grass is heavy, try to get your rods higher. What I do is get my pvc rod holders and put them in a 5 gallon bucket. Fill the bucket with sand, place the sand filled bucket with holder in the back of my truck then use a strap to secure the bucket to one of the eyelets in the bed so it don�t fall over when a fish bites. It may not totally eliminate grass from getting on your lines but it�ll definitely help. Good luck, let me know if you have any other questions.
These two reds were caught Tuesday in High Island on fresh cut mullet.
If it's your first time surf fishing, you'll need to make sure you have a reel with a larger line capacity. That was the biggest learning curve for me. Also when people are telling you to fish the first gut, it's literally right there and you'll be surprised what you'll catch in it. I was there last weekend and the water was so dirty that i ended up wade fishing in the bay instead.
I went back to High Island today. The water was muddy, the grass was a pain in the arse and the current was hellacious. The gafttop wouldn�t let the bait sit long before they jumped on it. I got tired of messing with them so I ended up putting a 10� mullet minus the tail on the hook and threw it out. You wouldn�t believe what I hooked next. Yeah, another gafttop. Packed up and left after that. Ohh yeah, prior to leaving I caught a damn sea turtle in the cast net. That was a first.
Do not know why everyone gets so upset about gafftops. With lighter equipment they can put up quite a fight. If I were able to consistently catch the gafftop I do in the surf at the lake I would be thrilled to death. Gafftop are pretty easy to clean and taste very good. We all want the big shark, trout or red fish, but gafftop can be pretty fun and provide a nice meal.
Catching the sea turtle is a bummer. Hopefully you were able to get it out of the water quickly and back into the water safely.
Keep at it, you will catch those larger fish. Till then, be thankful for what you get.
Thanks for the confidence booster, however I�ve been surf fishing for 20+ years. Go back and look at some of my old post/reports. I�ve caught many very large fish. I�ve ate gafttop before; it�s not bad. It�s not what I�m after though. I don�t fish for a meal. I fish for the fight. I rarely keep any fish. The sea turtle was released and swam away just fine.
If it is your first time you can throw some big drop rigs but also throw some small stuff. A one ounce egg sinker with a split shot and a shrimp will catch lots of fun stuff. Also try a 3/4 gold spoon. If the ladyfish are running it is really fun.
