I’m very new to surf fishing and went out last week on Sullivans. Using frozen finger mullet hooked through the lower lip and out top of head on 4/0 hook and a 3oz weight on a carolina rig. Something bit the back 3/4 of the bait off. Curious for surf fishing if folks rig 2 hooks or is that just a small bluefish or shark etc. so deal with it and when something larger comes along they will just take the whole bait in? Also wondering for reds usually more productive past breakers or within? Thanks very much for any reply.
Been fishing on sulivans 5 days a week for past 2 months. For the past 8 days or so the bluefish have swarmed in and are killing all my bait. That is probably what is taking your mullet. If you want to catch them i use a longer style j hook with just a small peice of bait on. Im probably going to find somewhere else to fish tommorow to get away from them.
I had the same experience with the blues on Folly yesterday evening FYI. Water was dead calm with zero wind. Gnats were horrible. When we were leaving a guy was unloading fishing gear and saw how bad the bugs were and immediately loaded everything back up and left. Lol.
Ohh my i hope that wasnt folly on the far north end where everyone fishes. I was planing on going there tomorrow.
Cut the Mullet in half…on a 6/0 circle I’ll put both halfs on one hook.
Blues are notorious for biting off the body and leaving the head. It sounds like you are having action with smaller fish hitting your bait. You need to catch those smaller fish. The whiting and blues both make great bait for big reds. Frozen fish comes off the hook very easy. The only time I will use it is if there is no fresh fish available. It is a “last resort” when nothing else is available. The fresh fish stays on the hook so much better and it’s fresh. Small hooks with shrimp pieces, squid, fish bites whatever works/ will get you those smaller fish. Cut up the whiting and blues in chunks. Sling them out on a little heavier set ups like a number 5 or 6 hook and it will work well for Bull Red fishing. October and November are prime time to target the big reds. It should be any day now that the water cools enough and the bite turns on for them. Good luck and welcome to Charleston Fishing.
Thanks everyone for the information. I will try the small hook to catch fresh bait as well as the cut in half both pieces approach. Both sound like good things to try. Very much looking to find some surf reds and whatever else might be out there!