Gents,
I am coming to Edisto Beach next month (born in Charleston but now live in Missouri) for a vacation and plan to do a lot of surf fishing while there. I have purchased a couple 9’ Shakespeare Surf Stik combos for this trip. That is all I have bought so far. I’m looking for help in deciding what tackle I should pickup.
My dad lives near Walterboro and is meeting me there with a couple of smaller rods/reels for hitting the creeks. He’ll have some tackle, but he’s never been a saltwater guy. He sticks mostly to Santee and other inshore freshwater.
My goal is to target Redfish, Sheepshead, Grouper, etc. I would love to get on to some Sharks or Rays also, but I don’t want to break the bank so I don’t need a ton. Looking for advice on what line, hooks, weights, rigs, etc. would I need to use? Thanks in advance.
If I were you I would use one for a busy rod and one for big fish/shark. You won’t catch any grouper in the surf but you shouldn’t have problem catching everything else you listed and then some. Fish about 40 to 100ft out depending if it drops off good and you will catch a assortment of fish mostly whiting, most people use a double drop rig with weight ranging from 1 to 6 ounces depending on current, I like to use the lightest Carolina rig I can for better feel, sometimes an 1/8th oz up to 1 oz. This is what I call my busy rod, it keeps you busy while waiting on the big bite, for this style of fishing I use small owner hooks, a little smaller gap width then a finger nail and small cut baits like shrimp, fish or squid, mussels and sometimes live minnows, shrimp or fiddlers. 15-30# line is good for this rod and the other rod I would use 40-65# line, since this would be my big fish/ shark rod. A Short wire leader 1-3ft to a heavy mono/flouro leader 6-10ft or just or a heavy mono/floruo leader about 6 to 10ft, 4 to 8 ounce weight pyramid or a spider/sputnik weight 3-6ounces and a 7/0-10/0 circle hook and live or cut fresh fish for bait. Fish structure like rocks or pylons really close for sheepshead and fish the down current wash close to those for flounder and red/black drum. Good luck.
Thanks! I truly appreciate the very thorough advice!
1984 16’ Astroglass Runabout
Mercury Black Max 150