Hello everyone,

I am a bass fisherman and my family is taking a short vacation with some other families to Crystal Beach early next week. I have done some saltwater fishing but typically charters or with friends who have boats.

I think I will be able to sneak out of the house for an hour or two in the mornings and was curious if it was worth it to do some wade fishing in the surf? If so, what specifically should I expect or use?

Thanks!

Swimbaits, spoons, top waters and shrimp fish bites

Don’t feel like you need to buy anything new. You've probably got all you need in your bass box. Medium light action is good for the rod with 15 or 20# line. I prefer a spinning reel with braid mainly because you can cast it a mile. Make sure you rinse your gear each day with fresh water, and wash with dish soap at the end of your trip to get the salt film off.

Zara spook works very well in the surf. Chartreuse and white is my favorite, but color is not super important. If you buy anything, consider a popping cork. Run a bass assassin or fluke under the cork on a 2’ leader.

Wade our to the first sand bar and cast into the gut behind it. If you see birds working then cast under them. That’s where the long casting rig comes in handy. Fish under the birds is pretty much a guarantee no matter what lure you have tied on. And take a stringer. It’s mighty hard to beat fresh caught speckled trout.

7’ Spinning rod with 20 lb PowerPro, swivel, 2’ fluorocarbon leader, 3/4 oz Johnson Sprite gold spoon. Bring some aluminum pliers to unhook the toothy fish. You can expect Speckled Trout and Spanish Mackerel. I found dawn and dusk work better for Surf fishing than reading tide charts. If the fish are there, they will eat just about anything so don’t get hung up trying to find a specific lure or color.
Paddle tails and shrimp lures should also work well.
Baitcasters will work.
Monofilament will work.
Live shrimp will out fish everything, but it can be a pain to get up early and drive to get it.

Awesome. Thank you guys for the info. I'll dig through some of my stuff and see what I got that I dont mind getting in saltwater. I'll be down there the 31st through the 2nd. If i have some luck, I'll post a report on there..

We are going to be on Crystal Beach first weekend in June. I am hoping the wind lays down enough for the surf to be fishable. Dawn patrol can produce some decent trout and make a mighty fine dinner that night. As said above- gold spoon, zara spooks and paddle tail swim baits work great. I take two rods typically, one with a spook or spoon and one with a paddle tail on an 1/8th oz head.

I wanted to give an update.

I fished an hour or so yesterday evening and for a couple of hours this morning and struck out.

I spoke to a local gentleman on the beach and he mentioned the green water just hasn't come in yet. Hopefully before anyone else heads down here to fish the surf, the green water comes in.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I ran down to Surfside with my wife's cousin, who is in town from Tennessee, Saturday morning. The surf/beach was trashed from the small storm off shore. A buddy went down Friday morning and caught them pretty well. Just depends on the surf. Hopefully this weekend is decent.