I was fishing back in march and i had just landed my first shark off a whole whiting. A week later i got injured and had to have spine surgery. Its been a long recovry but finally got okayd to start fishing. I have no idea whats running and what to use now. If anyone can give me any advice im looking to target small sharks and possibly stingray and any other types of fish besides whiting. I will be fishing with a boca 60 reel and 10ft surf rod with 50lb braid. And also fishing on sulivans island or isle of palms. Any advice on bait and rigs and what fish to target would be great thanks.
No Whiting…kinda hard to do. Use a pretty big hook 8/0+? Big chunks of bait? Cast out as far as you can? Only few things I can think of to stay away from Whiting.
I have caught Whiting on heavy rigs though. 6/0 circle and a Whiting chunk.
Ohh wow didnt think a small whiting would go for a chunk of fish that big!
Also works the other way around…don’t think “Whiting Fishing” can’t yield a suprise, happens more often than you would think. 
I have had a whiting take half a finger mullet on a 7/0 circle before… haha small one too and as D has said, I have thrown bit sized shrimp on a 3/0 hook and caught a 30 inch red… so you know, fish are opportunistic creatures haha
ive also hooked a 3 foot wide “sting kong” on my bait rod with a half a shrimp on it with 15lb line on a walleye rod. needless to say that fight took a little while! going the other way around ive tossed out a whole blue crab on an 8/0 circle in hopes of a nice red or black drum only to reel in a 12-14 inch toadfish.
Sounds like i will just catch whatever baitfish i can catch cut him up and throw him out on a hook. Not a big fan of using shrimp never stays on the hook. I love the fishbites shrimp though never comes off
Stevo I experianced the same thing your going through about 8 yrs ago. A double herniated disc in my neck that required an operation. Take your time getting back into the swing of things. Slowly work your way back in and build up your strength by doing the exercises the doctor has instructed you to do. I walked allot and did “light” weight lifting with dumb bells for some time before I got back in. I then started out by taking it easy on a few trips just testing the waters to see where I was. Shorter days, lighter loads, and I would suggest not to go out and target big sharks and rays that require you to use allot of strength to horse in fish. You know how long and costly the operation and rehab can be, you don’t want to go down that road again. The fish will be there next year. Shrimp is about the best all around bait you can use for targeting a variety of fish. Fresh shrimp will stay on the hook better than frozen. Squid stays on the hook better but doesn’t seem to do as well with versatility of species. The fall is coming and the best bet for fish from the surf is reds. I like to catch whiting on small hooks first, then cut them up into chunks and cast them out on a heavier rig and target reds with a bigger #5 owner circle hook. A 50lb mono liter. Try to find sand bars and troughs on the beach. Try to work points, straight off and to the left and to the right. Fish good drop offs and ledges. Allot of the structure is easier to identify at low tide because you can see the holes and ledges better. When the tide comes back in and fills over the structure areas have you plenty of whiting or fresh mullet sitting in those spots waiting for the fish. You want bait in the water at that time. I check mine about every 15 minutes. Avoid fishing just a flat beach if possible. Do some scouting and find areas that offer structure. Remember that if you do catch a big red show it the respect it deserves. Have pliers at the ready, a camera ready to roll “if” you are taking a pic. Don’t hold the fish vertically by the gill plat
Thats what i had a herniated disk penetrate a hole through my nerves and also a bulging disk above that one. Had the disk taken out and replaced with an artificial disk. It has been a long recovery and i didnt think i would be fishing this season untill my physical therapist okayed me to go ahead and fish just no boating. He did say i could shark fish but i dont think he thinks you can catch big sharks from the shore lol. I would love to catch reds what kind of rig should i use and size of chunk of whiting. Sounds like i need to handle them like carp very fragile.
They are pretty hearty fish Steve, but doing a few simple things does give them a better chance of survival and if we can do that no reason not to. The rig I use is a fish finder rig which you can see on web. A 50lb mono liter, 3-4ounces of lead. A # 5 owner or daichi circle hook. Mr. Parker uses a double drop rig that he has more success with. His weight is on the bottom and a fixed one which he uses that produces good results. I think he has a good one, maybe he will share. The size of bait they will hit a good size chunk or a tiny piece of shrimp. Usually the size I cut is about an inch by two, give or take a little not an issue. The first couple after the head. I don’t go to far down to the tail. Mullet is great for fall. Again fresh is better. The fish will hit just about any cut bait-whiting, blues, mullet, shrimp, a half blue crab all work well when they are hitting. You want hook exposed and not fill up the circle with the meat. Run hook through and have meat hanging off the bottom. Circle hooks you don’t set-just reel in.
Stevo,
My advice for increasing your hook up ratio is small,strong hooks and loose the 10 foot rod. It isnt necessary. You dont need to hurl the bait a mile and all those big rods do is kill the sensitivity. 7 foot boat rods are great. I prefer ugly stik tigers with baitrunners. Everyone has a preference. D parker hits the surf more than most and run does too. Take their advice.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
Stevo,
Forgot to mention. Powerpro will kill mono all day long for sensitivity but be sure to use some mono topshot or the braid will get abrasions very quickly on the sand bottom. Fresh shrimp is key. If you wouldnt consume it yourself then you’re doing yourself a disservice fishing with it.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
I tie my own rigs from 30 lb mono. Its stronger than pre-mades you can buy in the store and a entire spool of trilene big game costs 8 bucks and will make enough rigs to last me 4 years. I’ll throw the spool away because it gets too old before ill use all that mono.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
So how far should i throw my line out into the surf. I learned my lesson for small weak hooks yesturday. Had a hook straighten out on me. I am taking all of you guys advice in. The beach i fish is sulivans and i just dont see how im supose to keep a small peice of shrimp on the hook without the whiting tearing it to shreds. Everytime i cast out with my sabiki rig with fishbites on it the ****ing hit almost instantly there.
The fish is tearing the bait to shreds rather than getting hooked bevause of hook size. Use smaller, lighter hooks, lighter line, and less drag. You can catch anything you want thats edible on 15 or 20lb test in Charlestons surf. Heavier line applies for the toothys and bull reds.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
Learn to read the water or scout the beach at low tide. Fish dips in the beach, sandbars and troughs. Basically you’re looking for any structure that breaks up the flat sand on the beach. If you can’t find it fish in the breakers or just on the back of them.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
quote:
Originally posted by Stevo291scSo how far should i throw my line out into the surf? Had a hook straighten out on me…
How far is always a loaded question. Many variables dictate “where” to fish. As Pete commented, structure is the key. I’m a trough/hole/ditch guy. Some folks fish groins and rocks others like wood walls, piers and pilings. ALL are excellent targets that will hold fish. So if you can reach them that’s far enough. As a trough hunter, sometimes the structure can be near the low tide line…so at high tide you may have to cast 50-60-70 yards to hit the same holes that were just a 20-50 foot pitch at low tide. What do you “hope” to catch?..50" Red?..30# Black Drum?..30" Speck?..8’ Shark?..it could happen. My mentality is, if I’m catching tons of bait sized fish, the big ones are not far away. Personally I love catching Whiting and Black Drum especially with 4-5 lines out, keeps you busy!
As far as the straightened hook?..loosen up on the drag 
. I use small wire hooks 90% of the time, by far the weak link in my “light” rigs and will handle a 30lb+ fish on 15lb mono.
Great to here you getting back at it. I would go freakin’ CRAZY if I had to go more than a week with out being on the beach!
Good Luck!
Steve something that would help you out greatly is to look up Rich Troxler videos reading the beach. Identifying sand bars, troughs and cuts. Very important to view this. These are the hooks I like. For smaller set up the owner 2/0 mutu light circle with shrimp. For targeting big reds in the fall I like the Daiichi 5/0 circle off set for chunking hunks of cut fish. They aren’t cheep but are strong and last all day. I tie them ahead of time at home and just snap on what size I want depending on the target fish and can change out a frayed liter in a few seconds. Look at that video, great stuff. The bocca reel is a nice reel:wink: I agree with Mr. Parker your problem with staightening out hooks could be your drag is to tight and you are putting it on the fish to hard. Good luck and welcome on board!
Great advice guys. Went out today again this morning from 7am-11am. First cast caught a whiting chunked it out on a double drop bluefish rig the ones with the bobbers. Had a big bite but it chewed the leader right in half. Obviously this was a shark so i put on a one of my castable shark leaders i make and hooked into him 20 mins or so later. Not sure what kind of shark he is if i could get some help on ID. Also hooked into a huge ray both put up a great fight released them both quick and alive. Still waiting on a red or another species to come swiming by. Taking in all the advice and will apply it all in the next several weeks. Also i saw a ton of fish jumping out there looked like maybe bluefish do i threw a chunk of metal out there but nothing hit.
Look like a sharpnose but i’m not a shark expert so don’t assume it is!!!
George McDonald ; MAD Charleston
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