Saltwater Fishing Gear

[FrogTastic]

Hey all, 

 

I need some recommendations for basic pier fishing gear. I need to catch shark bait, because I'm taking some friends of the family out shark fishing. I'm gonna be fishing at night probably, and hopefully sitting on the pier all day. Probably start pier fishing in the morning. Basically I need a list of stuff to catch a lot of fish from the pier. I'm hoping to get a mix of:

• Whiting
• Mullet
• Skipjack/Ladyfish
• Bluefish
• Spanish Mackerel
• Sand Trout
• Sheepshead
• Pompano
• Hardhead (Catfish)
• Cownose Ray
• Stingray

Possibly mixed in would be fish like blue runners, guitarfish, electric rays, eels, and/or piggy perch. Thanks in advance guys

[Chris at Tech]

Let me start by saying that if you're using pompano to feed sharks instead of feeding yourself, then you're already behind

 

I'd say you only really need "specialized" gear for pier fishing if you're targetting kings, cobia, tarpon, sails, bull reds, stripers, etc.

 

For blues, spanish and ladyfish, you can do some with spoons or gotcha plugs.  For the other ones, just soak some shrimp on the bottom.  And can't hurt to have a rod with a sabiki rig as well.

[SirSnookalot]

Find out what's running in the area, pier nets are important (good chance someone on the pier has one), select you're target as many piers have a rod limit so there is just so much you can take.  Forget shark fishing, unless you have 8' 80# rod, a reel with about 1000 yds of 100# braid, overkill well not in the least bit.  It's just a s easy to hook a 300# shark as 10# one, secondly you can't run a fish down on a pier like you can from a boat.  Last of all how would land it? Fish for shark, I'd suggest the beach they can be landed there.  Check the law, not all sharks are legal and many areas forbid shark fishing.

[FrogTastic]

Find out what's running in the area, pier nets are important (good chance someone on the pier has one), select you're target as many piers have a rod limit so there is just so much you can take.  Forget shark fishing, unless you have 8' 80# rod, a reel with about 1000 yds of 100# braid, overkill well not in the least bit.  It's just a s easy to hook a 300# shark as 10# one, secondly you can't run a fish down on a pier like you can from a boat.  Last of all how would land it? Fish for shark, I'd suggest the beach they can be landed there.  Check the law, not all sharks are legal and many areas forbid shark fishing.

Our pier has no rod limit. They charge by the rod though. I will be shark fishing from the beach, which is perfectly legal. I have a 30-80 pound rod with back roller, 650 yards of 50 pound mono with a 55 yard 80 pound topshot on a 9/0 senator, plus I have a guy coming with me with a kayak. I've don it with cousins in FL a few times, its a load of fun. I also have a fighting belt. I'll be using rope to land them from the beach. We'll be doing strictly catch and release. Thanks for the reply, I knew yours would be good 

[FrogTastic]

Let me start by saying that if you're using pompano to feed sharks instead of feeding yourself, then you're already behind

 

I'd say you only really need "specialized" gear for pier fishing if you're targetting kings, cobia, tarpon, sails, bull reds, stripers, etc.

 

For blues, spanish and ladyfish, you can do some with spoons or gotcha plugs.  For the other ones, just soak some shrimp on the bottom.  And can't hurt to have a rod with a sabiki rig as well.

Believe me, I'll be using any other fish I have before I use the pompano. They're in the top 5 in my book, but they're definitely behind freshwater trout, lobster, snow crabs, and of course blue crabs. I'm from MD, so blue crabs are kinda my specialty when cooking

[SirSnookalot]

Believe me you wouldn't be the first to do this but some species cannot be used for live bait, snapper for example. Don't know the laws in your state.

You have to be very careful with sharks, they can do a 180 and bite, even the small ones can inflict some serious damage.  My partner and I caught 28 one morning over a reef in about 40', nothing bigger than 15#.  I handled them quite carefully.

[OntarioFishingGuy]

No experience shark fishing, but be careful.

[FrogTastic]

Yeah, I'm planning to fish in the Cape Fear River, and if that doesn't work, I'll pack up and head to the beach. I have checked the regulations on using these fish for bait, and they all are allowed to be used for bait. No shark fishing bans, but there are regulations. I plan to do catch and release though. I know that if you flip a shark upside down in the water, it immobilizes it. Might be cool to try, but you probably won't see me doing it for a while . I'll be bringing bolt cutters, as well as wire cutters, in case the hook is bad. I'll bust out my 12 inch needle-nose pliers if the hook isn't too bad in there. but if it's bad, I'm going to bust out some sort of cutters. I'm big on me, everyone fishing with me, and the fish staying safe, so we're all preparing for our first trip in a few years. I will be getting some video footage with the GoPro, so I'll post a link to that video as well.

 

Sorry for such a long response, but I just want everyone to know I've done my homework and I've been preparing for this trip for a while now. 

[smr_hga]

The thing i like about pier fishing is that you can get a variety of fish without even trying. I use live shrimp every time and ive caught Flounder, Sheepshead, Hardhead, and even something ive never seen that turned out to be a lizardfish. Ive also seen others use live shrimp and catch stingray, snapper, mackerel, spadefish, etc. I dont know about sharks and my only advice would be to be careful!