How To Catch Fish From The Surf Off Florida's Atlantic Coast?

[smr_hga]

As mentioned in one of my previous threads i have gotton some surf gear so i can go surf fishing. (12 ft spinning rod w/ 15lb mono.) I just have that fear that i will cast out and leave it sit there forever with no bites because as they say 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. So... Where is that 10% of water? I've researched reading the waves to find sandbars, troughs, cuts, etc. But it seems too simple. I don't like the idea of using lures in the surf so i'll stick to shrimp or squid on the pompano rig. So my questions are where are the fish and how long should i wait before moving to a different spot?

[RoLo]

As mentioned in one of my previous threads i have gotton some surf gear so i can go surf fishing. (12 ft spinning rod w/ 15lb mono.) I just have that fear that i will cast out and leave it sit there forever with no bites because as they say 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. So... Where is that 10% of water? I've researched reading the waves to find sandbars, troughs, cuts, etc. But it seems too simple. I don't like the idea of using lures in the surf so i'll stick to shrimp or squid on the pompano rig. So my questions are where are the fish and how long should i wait before moving to a different spot?

 

To begin with, I really don't consider 12-lb tackle spooled with 15-lb mono as defensive surf gear.

Though more than adequate for pompano, you'd be far under-tackled for blacktip shark, a more desirable gamester.

 

The notion that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish is ideological, but steeped nonetheless in sound logic.

All the same, there's no way an angler can exploit this tidbit of knowledge without a high-precision contour chart.

Given high-precision cartography; YES, pinpointing hotspots is as easy as pinpointing sites with rapid depth change.

For better or worse, the chart survey should always be performed before wetting a line.

 

Roger

[SirSnookalot]

My surf fishing is done south of the nipple, the waters are a bit different, don't really have breakers to speak of.  I've done some bait fishing but I'm really artificial user.  The trough (swash) refers to the gap between waves, fairly close in to shore.  Although pompano can be caught in deeper water, generally they are pretty close to shore.  Not one of your bigger fish but highly sought after for the plate, sand fleas are an excellent bait.  A sand flea is a little crab, you might catch a permit IMO one the great inshore fish.

Using bait off the beach you are still going to need enough lead to hold bottom, the further out the more current and deeper the water.

The 10 % of the water is never constant, it changes with the tide and the bait coming into the area.  I have seen differences in as little a few hundred yards on the same beach.  This is one reason (other than just liking it better) that I use artificial, I'm always walking and looking for fish.  People always talk structure in freshwater, it's on the beach as well, I'd really call it more contour.  I like to find "pockets" of slightly deeper water, they can hold bait and fish, not constant as the tide is always moving.  

I know people have misconceptions about saltwater, it's not always a fish a cast, and fish aren't always big.   Many species school by size, if I'm catching 1-2# fish I'm moving to find bigger fish, it does backfire sometimes I find smaller or no fish.

I know you want to fish bait, I would suggest a rod spike (rod holder), bait almost always produces something.

[HoosierHawgs]

To begin with, I really don't consider 12-lb tackle spooled with 15-lb mono as defensive surf gear.

Though more than adequate for pompano, you'd be far under-tackled for blacktip shark, a more desirable gamester.

The notion that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish is ideological, but steeped nonetheless in sound logic.

All the same, there's no way an angler can exploit this tidbit of knowledge without a high-precision contour chart.

Given high-precision cartography; YES, pinpointing hotspots is as easy as pinpointing sites with rapid depth change.

For better or worse, the chart survey should always be performed before wetting a line.

Roger

A lot of those surf fishing guys go out and just spend a bunch of time looking around at different water levels based on tides and conditions, and they try to pinpoint where stuff is. They are pretty serious, and those are the guys fishing the 10%. As for me, I just take my cart out to the beach and start fishing, usually just casting out some shrimp, because I'm just trying to have a good time, not getting super serious about it when it comes to surf fishing. I'm probably fishing the 90%

[RoLo]

A lot of those surf fishing guys go out and just spend a bunch of time looking around at different water levels based on tides and conditions, and they try to pinpoint where stuff is. They are pretty serious, and those are the guys fishing the 10%. As for me, I just take my cart out to the beach and start fishing, usually just casting out some shrimp, because I'm just trying to have a good time, not getting super serious about it when it comes to surf fishing. I'm probably fishing the 90%

 

The jetty jockeys in Jersey called it "reading the water", and were darn good at it.

They focused on rip currents, back eddies and the slicks between the rips.

All the same, the baitfish in the swash are highly mobile, and a blitz can occur just about anywhere at anytime.

That's when you see the surf anglers grabbing up their gear and running down the beach to meet the gulls  

 

Roger