Beginner surf saltwater fishing - need tips

[m4gnum]

Hello. I am a saltwater fishing beginner. I am usually fishing on Robert Moses (Long Island) bay and open ocean from the shore. Here is what I have - 7' Penn Battle II with Penn Battle II 4000, 10' Penn Fierce with Penn Fierce 8000, 11' Tsunami TSTSS1102H with Penn Fierce 8000 and those which I never used - 12' Shakespeare Alpha, Tackle Industries 8'6 extra heavy, South Bend Condor 585 reel. I usually use 11' for bait fishing with clams or bunkers and spin with 10' and Marathon Diamond Jig with Latex Tail as a lure, all of my rods have 30lb power pro braids and I used 20lb Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, I also have lots of sinkers, swivels and hooks. I just bought a 50lb power pro braid, yellow Gulp swimming mullets, 1/2oz,3/4oz,1oz,2oz bucktails, 2 Ande 50yrd spools 40lb and 50lb for leaders (I dont know if its good) and few pre-made rigs.I am wondering about the Hurricane double bottom drop made from nylon rigs, is it worth anything? So far I caught lots of blue fish (biggest one was 27" so nothing amazing), few striped bass but none takeable , lots of sea rabins and sand sharks, just with using 10 and 11 inch rods spinning and bait. Okay I think I wrote everything about me thats necessary.  
Can you give me any advice? What to change or what to do? Flatties and stripers are the ones that I would mostly want to get, I never seen a porgy so it would be also nice to get it.
I really want to catch flounders and flukes, thats why I bought Battle II combo and other stuff. Do you have any suggestions what to use and what to do? I tried fishfinder rig - 3oz sinker on a three way sinker and a teaser with gulp on the hook (fin strike premade) and a twister rig with a squid strip on each hook and a 3oz sinker. I reeled very slowly with quick stops every few seconds but nothing happened. Can you learn me something? What is "the best" rig and how to make it? What to use and how to do it?
Is it possible to catch a mako or thresher shark with surfcasting in NY? 
I would also like to try topwater fishing as I seen is very effective, is any of my rods good for it?
Thanks in advance for any help.

[bass-akwards]

Hello M4gnum,

I live here on the west coast. I do surfcast also, not much I could tell you other than look into possibly a lighter reel and bucktails. If its stripers your after, you should be casting and reeling in, not a bait n wait type thing. Take a look at this video at YouTube and start there. you can also search for similar, hope it helps

Also, a nice light reel for what your trying to do.

 

 

 

Regards

updated

[Slade House]

Go with a carolina rigged gulp camo sandworm in the 2inch size , its the money setup. use a matsuko red bait holder hook for the win

 

[jbw252]

Looks like you're gathering a lot of tackle, but I don't see anything about bucktails.  Go on YouTube & search for John Skinner videos.  Watch & follow closely, he has sage advice for the fishing you seem to want to do - flatties & stripers.  Good luck.

[Death metal Fishing]

15 hours ago, m4gnum said:

Hello. I am a saltwater fishing beginner. I am usually fishing on Robert Moses (Long Island) bay and open ocean from the shore. Here is what I have - 7' Penn Battle II with Penn Battle II 4000, 10' Penn Fierce with Penn Fierce 8000, 11' Tsunami TSTSS1102H with Penn Fierce 8000 and those which I never used - 12' Shakespeare Alpha, Tackle Industries 8'6 extra heavy, South Bend Condor 585 reel. I usually use 11' for bait fishing with clams or bunkers and spin with 10' and Marathon Diamond Jig with Latex Tail as a lure, all of my rods have 30lb power pro braids and I used 20lb Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, I also have lots of sinkers, swivels and hooks. I just bought a 50lb power pro braid, yellow Gulp swimming mullets, 1/2oz,3/4oz,1oz,2oz bucktails, 2 Ande 50yrd spools 40lb and 50lb for leaders (I dont know if its good) and few pre-made rigs.I am wondering about the Hurricane double bottom drop made from nylon rigs, is it worth anything? So far I caught lots of blue fish (biggest one was 27" so nothing amazing), few striped bass but none takeable , lots of sea rabins and sand sharks, just with using 10 and 11 inch rods spinning and bait. Okay I think I wrote everything about me thats necessary.  
Can you give me any advice? What to change or what to do? Flatties and stripers are the ones that I would mostly want to get, I never seen a porgy so it would be also nice to get it.
I really want to catch flounders and flukes, thats why I bought Battle II combo and other stuff. Do you have any suggestions what to use and what to do? I tried fishfinder rig - 3oz sinker on a three way sinker and a teaser with gulp on the hook (fin strike premade) and a twister rig with a squid strip on each hook and a 3oz sinker. I reeled very slowly with quick stops every few seconds but nothing happened. Can you learn me something? What is "the best" rig and how to make it? What to use and how to do it?
Is it possible to catch a mako or thresher shark with surfcasting in NY? 
I would also like to try topwater fishing as I seen is very effective, is any of my rods good for it?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Send me a message I might be able to help you out, I don't live too far and I have some suggestions for different rigs and lures that would work. I tie all my own rigs im not a huge fan of pretied

[jbw252]

19 hours ago, Death metal Fishing said:

Send me a message I might be able to help you out, I don't live too far and I have some suggestions for different rigs and lures that would work. I tie all my own rigs im not a huge fan of pretied

Nice offer for m4gnum.  Hope he takes you up on it.  Kudos to you.  That's what makes this site one of the best on the web.

[Death metal Fishing]

On 6/7/2016 at 8:11 AM, jbw252 said:

 

Just trying to help 

[JB77]

I like a rod shorter 8-9 ft with a baitcaster reel.  Cabelas makes nice combos that are good for surf fishing.  All of this is specifically for fluke sounds like you are set up pretty good for stripers Blues etc. anyway my 2 go to setups for fluke in the surf are either a buck tail or 1 oz jig head tipped with a plastic of some kind.  For whatever reason pink works great for both fluke and weakfish. You could also tip a buck tail with squid or minnow.  Vary your retrieve and with fish around you can usually pick them up this way.  The other simple thing I use is just a 1-2 oz egg sinker with a swivel, leader and either a fluke or circle hook. Cast and work back with varying retrieves until you hook up. Simply put I have never had much success just hanging a bait in a rod holder and catching fluke on the beach.  Good luck!

[Death metal Fishing]

On 8/6/2016 at 0:13 PM, JB77 said:

I like a rod shorter 8-9 ft with a baitcaster reel.  Cabelas makes nice combos that are good for surf fishing.  All of this is specifically for fluke sounds like you are set up pretty good for stripers Blues etc. anyway my 2 go to setups for fluke in the surf are either a buck tail or 1 oz jig head tipped with a plastic of some kind.  For whatever reason pink works great for both fluke and weakfish. You could also tip a buck tail with squid or minnow.  Vary your retrieve and with fish around you can usually pick them up this way.  The other simple thing I use is just a 1-2 oz egg sinker with a swivel, leader and either a fluke or circle hook. Cast and work back with varying retrieves until you hook up. Simply put I have never had much success just hanging a bait in a rod holder and catching fluke on the beach.  Good luck!

Fluke you need to walk up and down the beach fan casting. Fluke are ambushers, they will hide until you basically hit them on the head with your jig