First, thank you for allowing me to join your foum.
My family and I will be camping at Mustang Island this June. Surf fishing is something I am looking forward to trying. However, I am a die-hard Bass angler. And I dont mind saying that I really dont know what to do. (live bait? or artificial bait?) What is the best rout to take for beginners. (Limited budget) I have two Med/Hvy 8' rods w/ spinning reels, with 20lbs P-Line.
What type of fish should we focus on? What is the best tackle and bait?
Any and all tips would be great.
Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,

Jon Martinez
Waco TX, TXARNG

Read my sig for a few lure suggestions..

Your poles are fine but I like to use 12 pound line for longer casts unless you want to use braid.

The fish to focus on our Reds/Trout but if you take the kids you can use double hook drop rigs and catch hardheads and whiting on just about every cast, not to mention everything else!!..

Lures you MUST have, Bone Spook, Gold Spoon, Red Fish Magic Spinner, and a Pink and Chrome Skitterwalk. Basic Saltwater fish Lures EVERYONE has!!!. You can also invest in a few poppin corks, find them anywhere on the coast for a few bucks, attach a #3 or 4 treble, shrimp and you're set. Get the mono leader [censored] setups, not the steel ones..

jon, first off, HOOAH
and welcome to TFF, everyone here is great and willing to throw in some pointers. wish i knew more on surf fishing, im new to it myself. but welcome.

hello Jon, Info U got is dead on, You will C when U get there. For the kids shrimp works best, but if too many small fish are robbing U try pieces of squid. I prefer the 2/0 sea circle hooks much easier to use.

Fish bites are especially good for kids. All you have to do is rig it to where the bite goes on the hook twice. One fish bites will last at least an hour of catching fish after fish. This way you don't fly through bait and you won't have to rig a hook with shrimp every few minutes. Not to mention you can get a pack of fish bites for the price of a pd of shrimp.

I personally like using circle hooks to but you can't set the hook with them or you'll lose fish, to set the hook just point your rod tip down and reel all the slack out of the line. If your kids have a habit of setting the hook (not a bad habit IMO) go with a 1/0 or 2/0 kahle hook. While down PINS I've had my lady set up with an ultra light rod she had a blast catching 2 whiting at a time all day long. I think she only stopped a couple times to get something to eat or drink.

Scout who makes fish bites?

Fish Bites is it's own company out of Florida. I sure hope they don't sell out to Pure Fishing one day.

i agree with Green Water....I go to Poppin Corks about 2ft of mono 30lb liter, and treble hook with live shrimp. If shrimps are scarce, I usually go to the GOLD SPOON. Unfortunately, alot depends on the water, and it's hard to guage how the weather will be until really that morning. I've never been so frustrated watching those jetty cams a couple days before slick with green water only to wake up at 4am and head down there a couple days later to huge waves and muddy water That's why it's fishing though, and keeps you going back! I love it!

EDIT: Make sure you have pliers cuz most salt fish have teeth, and BE SURE TO CLEAN YOUR EQUIP b/c that salt will eat it up.

Jon:

You already have some great tips here. You might take a look at my website, CoastalAnglers.com, where I have posted a good bit of material on surf fishing throughout the years (no, no money required ... just a site I operate to share, and occasionally generate, information about saltwater fishing). That'll be good for the "how-to" stuff, but for the right-now tips you can't do better than you will right here on TFF.

Far as I am concerned, this is the most helpful fishing site around, and its members are some of the nicest, most helpful people you could ever hope to encounter.

Even though I love to fly fish and throw lures, I still enjoy using long spinning rods and spinning gear to cast live baits on circle hooks for big reds, sharks and even the occasional big speck from the surf. Yes; I get called a "potlicker" on regular occasion ... No: I don't care, because I have too much fun knowing that the surf, in decent conditions, is going to provide me some serious fun.

Be sure to wear a PFD when wading the surf (my favorite is the CO2-inflated SOS or SOSPenders vest, as unlike a regular life vest it will not lift you with the waves). Surf currents can be treacherous when the tide is moving, especially in the vicinity of passes and river mouths (where fishing, not incidentally, tends to be its best in the surf zone).

Good luck ...

Boz

I would like to thank all you wonderful folks for all your
assistance.
I must agree with Mr. Lary Bozka and say that this site and the anglers that share and exchange information are among the best the Texas fishing community. Normally collecting helpfull information about Bass fishing is tough. Most of the local folks I've delt with, tend to be pretty tight lipped with info.
So I would like to say "Thank you so very much" and keep'em comming. We can never learn too much.

Respectfully,
Jon Martinez
Waco, TX TXARNG

My apologies Mr. Bozka, for misspelling your name. Lots of folks misspell my name.

Respectfully,
Jon Martinez

Hey, if we had a dollar for every time a name was misspelled we could all retire.

We wish ...

Good luck out there ...

Boz