Hey guys sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve been working WAY too much and fishing the rest of the time.
My question is are you able to fish on Edisto Beach at night? The last time I tried it I had a friendly law enforcement officer come onto the beach and inform me that it was illegal to park at the beach access after 11 (seems a little early). OK so if I can’t park at any of the accesses does that mean that you’re not allowed on the beach period after 11?
My plans were to get in some good shark fishing without the distraction of swimmers and joggers and such. Anyone else have any thoughts?
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I do think the accesses are closed for parking, but people walk on the beaches at night with no problem. Park on the street and they want know where you are. There is some ordinace about the beach at night with regards to the turtles, but if you don’t bother them you should be ok.
Also, you are not allowed to have a light source on the beach between May and October. Examples are lanterns, flashlights, flash photography. Red lights are ok, though. These are issues related to the endangered loggerhead sea turtles nesting on the beach.
It’s a very productive time of day if you’re shark fishing. Sharks actively feed at night and move in closer to shore making them easier to catch from the beach.
Choice baits include whiting, mullet and stingray (whole or cut). I usually have a couple of large surf rods for smaller casted baits and will kayak a larger bait out about 200 yds on a heavier outfit.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
I got a ticket last year for parking there after 11:00. I dont get it whats the point of that? i love fishing all night. Thats when the bruiser Lemon Sharks come out.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit around with his buddys drinking on the beach for hours !! ><((((º> J
I would say match the size of your bait to the size of your tackle. You don’t want to put a whole stingray on a medium surf rod and have jaws swim off with all your line. If you are using regular surf fishing gear (12’ rod large spinning reel with 2-300 yds of 20-30 lb test) I would go with a 14/0 circle hook with a 6 ft leader of 250 lb plastic coated stainless steel cable. For bait catch some whiting and cut in thirds for fish 12" or larger and in half for the smaller ones. This should help to match the size of the bait to the size of the tackle and allow you to target sharks up to about 6 ft or so.
Large sharks require large tackle. I don’t know what kind of equipment you have, but I haven’t even added any big guns to my arsenal yet.
I fish for medium size sharks with light tackle which is a 4/0 reel with around 500 yds of braid and 200 yds of 30 lb mono. I’m about to get a 9/0 which is really what you need if you are serious about sharking. This will hold about 700 yds of 50 lb mono.
For hooks use 16 or 20/0 circle hooks or 12-14/0 J hooks on 450-1000 lb coated cable. Use whole fish like large mullet and whiting, and whole stingrays rigged with two hooks.
Hope this answers some of your questions.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
i have a 6/0 and a 12/0,just waitin on gettin a kayak so i can utilize the big reel.i have learned to chunk a bait out about 30yds or so with the 6/0.does the 4/0 cast ok for you chum?
i saw 9/0 on ebay buy it now for 150.00 or so.seemed like a good price to me.but,are the new ones as good?probably not.
I haven’t tried to cast the 4/0 I have a yak and just run it out about 200 yds. I leave the casting to my daiwa 30 sha.
Ebay is awesome. I’m probably spending way too much time on there but I’ve been looking at the Daiwa 900h which has some great features and usually goes for less than the penn 9/0’s. I don’t know if I would trust the new senators. I’ve heard from some people that they’re still made in USA, but I think only the internationals and high end reels are. I’m definitely going to go with the sealine mainly because of the solid frame and slightly larger line cap. Probably have to wait till X-mas though:dizzy_face: Till then I have to try my best not to get spooled on the 4 while trying to target some decent size sharks.
I have a beautiful dinner plate sized stingray that my wife caught the last time we were down there in my freezer and I can’t wait to run it out in the yak with a couple of J hooks poking out of it. It’s probably overkill, but the last trip I made I couldn’t keep the pup sharks off my baits, so this should be to big for them to mess up too bad.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
Willy, I got my yak at Dick’s. It’s an Islander caster angler 12.5’. Does great in the surf and has all the amenities for fishing the back waters. The frenzy will be great for playing in the surf and delivering dinner to the big boys.
Guppy,
Anytime where there is good a current moving is a good time. This means it will be slower for about an hour or two right around high and low tide. I personally haven’t seen any preference to high or low. Get your baits out as far as you can (that’s why I use a yak) and use enough weight to hold down your bait in the strong current. I like to use anchor weights that I make myself. They have wire legs that dig into the sand and hold much better than a normal weight weighing the same amount. As far as regular weights, I would usually use about a 6oz pyramid sinker.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.