Hit it yesterday afternoon and early this AM. Yesterday, hot water, big rollers, Sandy green water. One 20” +/- redfish that got off as I walked it in. One plus sized whiting. One tiny jack. Didn’t stay long, but saw enough that I thought this morning would be good. Fish came on the shrimp pattern in the second gut. The break made getting comfortable difficult.

Today, big rollers, cooler green water, zero wind and chop. Today, not the shrimp fly, but it was the borski slider. Everything in the first gut. Lots of trout from 7:30 to 8:15 or so on a tan one, a dribble after that until 9:15, when the last trout came to hand. Tried the shrimp pattern for a bit, but not anything wanted that. Trout ran from 12-17” or so. Kept the 4 biggest that made it to the beach. Other fish made an appearance. A couple of ladyfish, a bluefish, some more tiny jacks. Fun in the sun. Love the surf.

Man that's awesome. Sounds like the action was fast and aggressive. Those are some good looking fish. What weight rod are you tossing in the surf.?

Sounds like a fun day and some nice fish there.
I caught a ladyfish once, fought like it was possessed or something.

I was using both my 7/8 and 8/9 weight G.Loomis Short stix Rods. They are ultra fast action, the tip barely flexes, and it just works for me. They are only 7’6” and very light so I am able to lift them well above my shoulders for casting when I’m out deeper and wading. These rods really weigh more like a five weight, they just have a super progressive taper.

I broke my 8/9 weight today. I had a fish on that I was walking up to the truck. I had a couple of trucks stop and look at what I was doing and kind of lost focus of what I was doing with the rod angles.

I just got a 6 weight I want to try out in the surf. I’m usually not making long casts, about 50-60 feet . The flies aren’t very big. A six weight is plenty for the trout. I’ve used the 7/8 weight CGRs out there, but the slow action only works in calm and waveless conditions.

I’m not a fan of baskets and stripping baskets are useless and a burden out beyond thigh deep. I just use floating line and lengthen the fluorocarbon leader some if I want to fish a little deeper. There are ways to manage the loose floating line without baskets. Flies lightly weighted with tungsten and sparsely tied can easily be fished with floating line down to about 5 feet. Most of the fish are much more shallow than that. Most fish are in more like 3 feet of water or a bit less.

They are crazy, possessed for sure. I had a really big one on today, cleared the water like 4 or 5 feet, then came off.

I hate them as they stink, mess up the tippet and flies, and bleed and defecate all over. I’ll relocate if they move in.

Solid post and solid fish. Good job.

Beautiful fish and nice write up, as usual. I always learn a ton from your posts. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson (he said this about gardening), I'm an old man, but a young fly fisherman.

Hey, hey, glad you liked it. Fly fishing is fun. I like working on solutions to whatever the conditions are presenting at any given time. There’s a lot of imagination and creativity that can be put to good use out on the water or on the vise.

Awesome post and nice specks!