…so, I spent a week at Folly with my family. I got to fish 3 days, and fished about 3 hours of each falling tide. Just want to post my experience in case it helps anyone else. I’m primarily a freshwater angler, but I’m adapting to salt using freshwater gear.
First thing I did was spend some time walking the baech at low tide, looking for cuts/channels/drains, etc. on the beach. I picked out several areas that would be accessible at different stages of the falling tide. My plan was to hit certain spots while the water was high, then move along the beach as the tide fell and hit areas better suited to the water level.
Tackle used…I alternated between a 7’6" baitcasting flipping stick (with a soft tip)rigged with 30lb braid and a 7’ medium action spinning rig with 12 lb mono. I originally rigged up with pre-rigged bottom rigs with two 1/0 kahle hooks and a 2 oz. pyramid weight, but wound up switching to a carolina rig with 1-2 oz. of weight, and a 2/0 Owner j hook. Shrimp was the bait of choice. I tried some Gulp sand fleas for a while, but never had a bite.
Fish caught…a 38" bonnethead, 4 reds ranging from 13"-30", 2 trout ranging from 14"-19", a few small whiting, 1 pompano, 1 bluefish, and a few small fish I couldn’t identify. I also had 4 hookups that broke me off, I never saw what they were. One was a real mule, whatever it was.
Thoughts…the kahle hooks on the pre-rigged bottom rigs were cheap, and dulled quickly in the sand. I’ll probably try tying a double hook rig with better hooks, but the carolina rig worked fine. The 2/0 hook worked great on the bigger fish, but was probably too big because I missed a lot of bites.
Highight of the week, I saw a HUGE ray of some sort going down the breaker line, jumping as it went. I’d guess a wingspan of 8’ at least on it.