Hey I have been reading the forums for a few weeks now, and finally registered to be able to post. I grew up fishing freshwater rivers, but am trying to start learning the saltwater around here. I have been fishing a lot lately trying my luck… but have not caught hardly anything! I have tried Brittlebank pier, Old Trolley Bridge, and Remley’s Point. I do not have a boat so I’m trying to fish from shore/bridge/pier. I have tried a carolina rig on a cork with live mud minnows and a double rig with a 3 oz weight with either live mud minnows or shrimp. I’ve been mostly fishing in the evenings after work and mostly around low tide. Any advice on what I am doing wrong? Any other places that I should try? Better tides to fish in? Different rigs/bait?
What species are you after?
keith mcpherson
Flounder/Redfish/Trout/Sheepshead … or really anything that I can get!
Keep doing what you’re doing. Summer is a tough time to learn but you’ll be ready for the fall when the fishnig is hot.
21’ Maverick Master Angler
“There’s a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning” -J. Buffett
Maybe try to vary your tide stages, fish random tides instead of at low. Also might want to try cut bait such as squid or shrimp, might get more quarenteed hookups. Alot of it just comes with experience and trial and error. Also some days the fish just arn’t biting, and its nothing to do with you.
- you dont have to cast to China to catch fish, 90% of the fish will be in 10% of the water.
- rather than strictly fishing low tide, try at a higher stage. the tide stage alternates just about weekly, meaning this saturday is low tide at "X"p.m., next daturday it will be high at "X"p.m… as the tide rises up to the grass, bait comes up with it intending to hide from predation. those hungry predators are what youre looking for!
- bottom rig (Carolina Rig). usually an ounce will be heavy enough, but sometimes you have to move up if the current is rushing. this rig lets the fish swim with the bait without sensing your weight as the line slides through it. make your own rigs so you know of the quality of the tackle and rigging workmanship.
- 1/0 circle hooks are about perfect for the baits youre using. dont snatch the rod to set the hook, the fish will pick up the bait,chew it, and swim away…setting the hook themself. if you find your bait(usually shrimp)is getting stolen by small fish, downsize hooks and use a smaller piece of shrimp. it may be croaker/spots/whiting nibbling. may not be your target species, but a tug on the line beats a skunk.
- for the fish you mentioned, mudminnows are the right bait(except for Sheeps)…for sheephead, you will want to use fiddlers primarily… although they readily take shrimp too.
- try rigging your minnows in different ways… throught the lips or throught the tail. keep them alive in your bucket and lively, sometimes crabs harass them pretty bad…in that case a slip cork or rattle-style cork will sometimes keep them at bay. when using a cork, hooking the minnow through the tail will usually have him swimming away from you. another flounder strategy using minnows is to hook it through the lips using a jighead and casting/retrieving it slowly across the bottom. reds also readily take minnows that way.
- sheeps normally wont hang on the edge of the grass like the red,trout,and flounder will. you will catch them right off the pilings by using a fiddler dropped to