great info here, thanks

Great info, thanks!... Still pretty new to surf fishing, but I love it. When talking about the guts, How deep do they get? For instance the wade gut and the first gut? I have trouble seeing the sand bars, but I guess that will come with time... Also how wide are the sand bars, and do you ever want to try to fish the sand bar itself?

thats surfside area by the way...

It depends on where your fishing... In surfside the wade gut usually doesn't get deeper than waist deep, the first gut doesn't get much deeper than 5-6' deep. It is different in all areas of the coast.

Seeing the sandbars will definitely come with time. It took me a few years of surf fishing and studying the water to figure them out well. Now its second nature. Spend some time standing up in your truck bed or on the seawall watching where the waves are breaking. Another good way is to just walk through the water and get a judge of how the waves are breaking in different spots (deepest part of gut, transition from gut to bar, highest part of bar, transition from bar to gut)

The sandbars can be pretty wide. Usually at surfside anywhere between 10-20 yards i'd say. Maybe wider sometimes

great info, thanks a lot! I'm starting to focus more on tidal movements and will add sandbars and such to my list as well. Usually I'm just having so much fun and its all so new, that I dont even get to that level of concern when fishing.

I totally understand that. It will take your fishing to a whole new level though once you learn the surf. Its cool how things just start to click and you can look out at was once just the ocean and almost feel like you have x-ray vision now that you know where everything is.