Hey everyone, I have some family in town so I thought I’d try to take them surf fishing this week sometime. I have been a few times but I need some advice on what rigs/weights to use. So far I have only ever used a double drop rig with a 2-3 oz pyramid weight with either cut mullet or cut crab. Am I kind of limiting myself to sharks with this rig? I’d love to catch some whiting, blues, and of course a redfish would be awesome. If I wanted to use a Carolina rig can I use a pyramid sinker on a sinker slide? I know an egg weight would probably get thrown all over the place. What about bank weights? Any suggestions on rigs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
the double drop with 2-3 oz pyramid will do you just fine.It’ all about the hooks size.small fish small hooks.big fish med. size hooks for surf.try using fresh cut shrimp.you don’t have to cast way out there,just beyond the breakers.good luck.
Great! Thanks for the advice. I noticed you can get pre-made all wire or monofilament double drop rigs from any tackle store. Would you recommend going with the wire ones or the monofilament ones? The mono ones do look fairly heavy.
I am a novice, but I personally don’t use the double rig. I think it only increases your chances of catching junk.
My go to rig is basically a Carolina rig with a few modifications. I use a sinker slide with an orange bead on the end. This lets me clip different pyramid weights without taking the time to cut the line. I start with 3 ounces, but sometimes 4 ounces is needed. This keeps the line from bouncing down the beach. I’m still trigger happy, so the less the line moves the less false hits there are to read.
Keeping the same theme, I use swivels with clips so I can swap out leaders/hooks. I tie a perfection knot so I can change rigs quickly. Sharks will cut 40 lb leader, so I like to make a few in advance. I use like a number 3 circle hook and cut mullet. Shrimp would too, but they don’t last more than 1-2 casts. As far as knots, I alternate between Uni, Palomar and Snelling.
I am always surprised how large of fish can be caught on small hooks, and vice versa. Stick with a hook size that is appropriate for the bait size.
-Richard
My Dad is retired in Jacksonville and fishes the pier down there. He’s a golfer who only sometimes fishes. He doesn’t seem to do very well off of the pier. What rigs and bait would give him the best chance to catch whiting and how far from the breakers, what tide, etc., should he fish? We were almost at the end of the pier in January and didn’t catch anything but small rays. The folks closer to the surf were doing better. Any advice would be appreciated. I normally only fish freshwater, so I’m not much help on the pier.
Spoonmaster whiting feed in the surf so in the breakers or just past the last breaker always seems to be best.
dlandes the pre tied ones will work but the mono they use is like 80-100lb test usually. you definitely don’t need wire but try to go with the lightest lb. test one you can get away with along with the lightest pyramid sinker.
-Wishes Charlotte was 3 hours closer to the ocean…-