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Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? #13386585 12/29/19 10:01 PM
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Synstars Offline OP
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We made our first trip to Quintana beach to surf fish the beach and while it was fun it was not very productive. Just got one croaker and a lot of lost shrimp. The surf was rough and with our freshwater gear we were not making it past the waves often and when we did we only had 2oz spider weights and they would drift off to the sides easily. Lots of seaweed on retrieves as well but it was fun family time!

Xmas for the family, bought a pair of 9ft and a 10ft daiwa combo surf set to try out and hopefully be able to get a bit more distance for later

Anyways, few quick questions:
Would surfside be a good place to fish or would it be better to spend the extra travel time to Corpus Christi? Was eyeballing entering the beach from Bluewater HWY assuming we are able to drive on the beach.
Read a lot of posts talking about N and NE winds but what about NW being poor for TX gulf fishing? Would it bring more of the smaller guys in and therefore possibly bigger ones like drums?)

Tackle
Got Daiwa 5000 reels so plan on loading them up with 30lbs braid ~300yrds and then finish with 40-50lb mono
Have spider and pyramids 2-4oz weights
Will 4/0 offset circles be okay for live/FDS shrimp and fishbite bait? Figure we could use some whiting for cut bait and keep the larger ones to try and eat.
Made some PVC rod holders as well.

Any followup tips would be amazing. We are just starting with beach surf fishing and freshwater fishing so a lot is new to us. Thanks guys, will continue to watch videos and articles, trying to learn how to "read the surf" for fishing, hopefully the youtube gurus and articles will help ^.^

Happy holidays as well!

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13386684 12/29/19 10:35 PM
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Have you ever been to the Tx City Dike?


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Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13386733 12/29/19 10:53 PM
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You might want to give Matagorda beach a try.. Not sure about January fishing we fish there in September, October and November Plenty of slot reds and bull reds. WE use 10' rods with 4000 to 6000 Shimano spinning reels loaded with 30# braid 4oz. spider weights-- double drop leaders with 7/0 circle hooks. Most of our bait is cut mullet or whitting

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: pkhunter624] #13386798 12/29/19 11:30 PM
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Originally Posted by V-Bottom
Have you ever been to the Tx City Dike?


No we have not. We are new to TX, originally from WA state.

Originally Posted by pkhunter624
You might want to give Matagorda beach a try.. Not sure about January fishing we fish there in September, October and November Plenty of slot reds and bull reds. WE use 10' rods with 4000 to 6000 Shimano spinning reels loaded with 30# braid 4oz. spider weights-- double drop leaders with 7/0 circle hooks. Most of our bait is cut mullet or whitting


I'll have to scope that out. After more reading seems may be best to fish for the mullet/whiting first w/ the shrimp and fishbites and then cut them for later day fishing on 2nd high tide? Again, I'm just speculating on how this works
eek

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13387047 12/30/19 02:02 AM
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Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13388328 12/31/19 03:50 PM
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As far as fishing goes I don't know that you'll see much of a difference between spots in the surf along the coast. If you decide to hit up the Corpus Christi area feel free to hit me up and I would be happy to point you at some spots that I would go to. There are big fish to be caught out there, my suggestion would be to go as far South as possible and get some big spider weights (surf will likely be rough). You want shrimp, live croaker or crab 1'-3' off the bottom on the inside of the furthest sandbar that you can reach. Have a redfish tag handy if you plan on keeping anything... you'll likely need it.


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Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Stanley Orchard] #13392292 01/04/20 04:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Stanley Orchard
As far as fishing goes I don't know that you'll see much of a difference between spots in the surf along the coast. If you decide to hit up the Corpus Christi area feel free to hit me up and I would be happy to point you at some spots that I would go to. There are big fish to be caught out there, my suggestion would be to go as far South as possible and get some big spider weights (surf will likely be rough). You want shrimp, live croaker or crab 1'-3' off the bottom on the inside of the furthest sandbar that you can reach. Have a redfish tag handy if you plan on keeping anything... you'll likely need it.


Thanks! I think we may hit up surf side again this weekend just due to drive time. Ended up buying some spider weights off a local who makes them in his garage to help pay for his fishing hobby. Got 3 each of 3oz and 4oz spider weights for $10!!! Steal in my opinion.

1-3’ off the bottom I may need to try and make some of my own leaders with some 60lbs mono. Leaders I have are only 8-12” long. Gotta bust them out to tell for sure. They’re like this but obviously using spider weights

[Linked Image]

Also any tips on windage would be good. Planning Sunday and forecast looks like NNE winds. Appreciate everything!

Last edited by Synstars; 01/04/20 04:40 AM.
Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13394119 01/06/20 02:15 AM
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I would be interested in contact info for the person making the spider weights. If you can post great, if you want to keep it private please pm me.

Hope you had a good and productive day of fishing!

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Hookster81] #13394247 01/06/20 04:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Hookster81
I would be interested in contact info for the person making the spider weights. If you can post great, if you want to keep it private please pm me.

Hope you had a good and productive day of fishing!


Doubt it’ll be a problem but I’ll ask just to make sure.

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13395259 01/07/20 03:13 AM
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Gerard in Houston
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Makes damn good weights for a damn good price!

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13395385 01/07/20 12:24 PM
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Tackle is key to getting at least to the 2nd bar. Sounds like you have the poles to cast that far. If you're fishing for Pomps or Reds I recommend reaching out to Nick at Breakaway. They have some awesome tackle that allows you to cast further. Website is https://www.breakawaytackleusa.com


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Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13395736 01/07/20 06:16 PM
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Great. Thanks!

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Jerry713] #13395998 01/07/20 09:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Jerry713
Tackle is key to getting at least to the 2nd bar. Sounds like you have the poles to cast that far. If you're fishing for Pomps or Reds I recommend reaching out to Nick at Breakaway. They have some awesome tackle that allows you to cast further. Website is https://www.breakawaytackleusa.com


Assume we were hitting 2nd bar however some issues I realized after we started fishing.
1. Need more practice long casting spinning reels. Tips always appreciated.
2. 30lbs braid to 60lbs mono is a big freaking knot and clips the eyelet every cast. Figure I should do a 30lbs braid to mono leader?

We were fishing for whatever ate fish bites and live shrimp. We ended with 4 hardhead catfish and 3 whitings. The surf wasn’t bad but had SSW winds and the surf got choppier around 1130 which caused our gear to drift left (East) making it difficult to tell how far apart to cast each reel.

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: Synstars] #13396172 01/08/20 12:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Synstars
Originally Posted by Jerry713
Tackle is key to getting at least to the 2nd bar. Sounds like you have the poles to cast that far. If you're fishing for Pomps or Reds I recommend reaching out to Nick at Breakaway. They have some awesome tackle that allows you to cast further. Website is https://www.breakawaytackleusa.com


Assume we were hitting 2nd bar however some issues I realized after we started fishing.
1. Need more practice long casting spinning reels. Tips always appreciated.
2. 30lbs braid to 60lbs mono is a big freaking knot and clips the eyelet every cast. Figure I should do a 30lbs braid to mono leader?

We were fishing for whatever ate fish bites and live shrimp. We ended with 4 hardhead catfish and 3 whitings. The surf wasn’t bad but had SSW winds and the surf got choppier around 1130 which caused our gear to drift left (East) making it difficult to tell how far apart to cast each reel.


Never seen the need of a mono top shot. We tie our braid to a snap swivel then add a double drop leader to it. We fish mostly in the fall. Put one bait this side of the first bar and one over it to determine where the fish are. We catch most of our reds between the shore and the first bar. No need to get wet.

Re: Planning beach trip next weekend, help w/ planning? [Re: pkhunter624] #13396240 01/08/20 12:56 AM
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Originally Posted by pkhunter624
Originally Posted by Synstars
Originally Posted by Jerry713
Tackle is key to getting at least to the 2nd bar. Sounds like you have the poles to cast that far. If you're fishing for Pomps or Reds I recommend reaching out to Nick at Breakaway. They have some awesome tackle that allows you to cast further. Website is https://www.breakawaytackleusa.com


Assume we were hitting 2nd bar however some issues I realized after we started fishing.
1. Need more practice long casting spinning reels. Tips always appreciated.
2. 30lbs braid to 60lbs mono is a big freaking knot and clips the eyelet every cast. Figure I should do a 30lbs braid to mono leader?

We were fishing for whatever ate fish bites and live shrimp. We ended with 4 hardhead catfish and 3 whitings. The surf wasn’t bad but had SSW winds and the surf got choppier around 1130 which caused our gear to drift left (East) making it difficult to tell how far apart to cast each reel.


Never seen the need of a mono top shot. We tie our braid to a snap swivel then add a double drop leader to it. We fish mostly in the fall. Put one bait this side of the first bar and one over it to determine where the fish are. We catch most of our reds between the shore and the first bar. No need to get wet.


..............mind blown..............
The reason I did the mono leader (used about 20-30 feet) was mainly for finger protection as I have read a lot of posts of the braid cutting. Maybe this is not true with the amount of weight we are using? Maybe I’ll try one of our setups with just straight braid next time

Also curious about reading the surf properly. The bars are determined by the waves showing white caps and getting larger and the “calmer” parts will be ruts or down slopes of bars?

We were trying to cast into the pools that looked the calmest the longest. We ran into TONS of vegetation while fishing as well even one time thinking we had a big fish on it because the waves were cracking against the vegetation stuck to our line lol

Last edited by Synstars; 01/08/20 01:04 AM.
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