Surf fishing equipment questions

[Clumsy fisherman]

I am planning on trying surf fishing. I have 2 questions:

  1. I am looking at Ugly Stik surf spinning rods. There is a 9' and a 10', both medium heavy. I would prefer the 10', but I am only 5'7" tall. Which should I get? Specs of each are about the same.

   2. I have a Daiwa 3500 BG spinning reel, which actually is equivalent to a 4000 in other brands. It will hold 240-210 of 30 lb braid, which is what I am planning on using. I caught and reeled in an approximately 20 lb sting ray against the current when fishing from a pier on an inshore creek last summer with this reel and a medium power Ugly Stik inshore rod. Maximum drag of the BG 3500 is 17.6 lbs. I know most surf casting reels are bigger than this, but can I get by with this for starts?

[garroyo130]

I'd get the longer rod. Surf is the one place distance is my top priority since outside of reading current, I'm fishing blindly. 

 

That reel should be fine. Add a good shock leader, some sputnik sinkers or similar, and fish bites and youre good to go. 

[Cbump]

Agreed

[bulldog1935]

I fish an 8' 2-hand rod for lures in the surf - 1/4 to 1 oz, it's very powerful and light in hand.  Not recommending a $350 custom surf rod, but showing the use. 

I fish 11' and 14' rods for spider weights and meat, rated 1-4 and 2-5 oz.  

Tsunami AirWave are excellent surf rods for the price, and offer rods covering both ranges.  

These are two different functions, and if you pick for the heavy stuff, the rod may be no fun for lure fishing.  Many friends use steelhead rods for surf-lure rods, including Tyler, the owner of CorpusFishing website.  

 

When I was younger, caught plenty of fall bull reds on spider weights and meat, simply fishing long bay rods in the surf.  Got spooled a few times - all part of the fun.  

Both summer and winter, seas are calmer, and mean tides lower, allowing you to wade closer to the fish.  Spring and fall have bigger tides, currents, and waves.  

[WRB]

The rod length comes into play keeping line off the surf breakers. Basically you need a surf rod holder that extends the rod length about 3’ after sticky the holder into the sand when bait fishing.

Most surf rod are 2 or 3 pice, op for a longer rod that is lighter in weight. Ugly Sticks are heavy! Casting lures is whole different conversation.

Tom

[GetFishorDieTryin]

It depends what you're fishing for, what you're fishing (bait or lures) where (jetty/seawall, beach, inlet)  what kind of water/structure youre fishing (rocks, pilings, open beach) and how youre going to fish (from the sand, wet wading, off the rocks)

Fishing off or around jettys/bridges you need stout gear to stop the fish before he gets you hung up.  Your not just fighting the fish you're fighting the current as well, which makes a big difference if you're fishing inlets or even close to one.  

Open beach you can get away with lighter gear as long as you have the line capacity to wear the wear the fish out before he spools you.  You don't want to go too light, especially for those bigger breeder fish as the longer the fight is the smaller chance that fish will recover, whether you revive them or not.  

Where im at the beaches are sandy as flat as pancake, but if you know how to read the wash you dont need to cast far at all, whether youre throwing bait or plugs.  I just dont see the need for a rod over 10.5' unless you want to throw more then 4ozs.  Either way, I would urge you to forget an ugly stick and spend another 30$ and get a an Okuma rockaway if you want to go with a Surf rod.  They feel almost as good as my Seauges as far as weight and loading goes, which are more then double the $.  If youre strictly bait fishing, then it doesn't matter as much and a Tsunami Trophy 2 or Airwave are good.  A BG 3500 is a stout reel, you could put it on a 10ft M power if you wanted to.

Honestly, I have the most fun using gear thats comparable to a M or MH 7 or 7.5' FW bass rod with a 3-4k reel.  You can fish for trout a couple days on end and not feel like you just pitched 9 innings on short rest.  You would most likley be throwing 1/4-1/2oz jigheads or slightly heavier plugs/tin under 1oz.  Thats the direction I would advise you go, but thats just me.  Tsunami makes a carbon shield 2 thats about 100$ if you dont want to salt up a nice bass rod. 

 

[thunderblack]

Just depends like GetFishordie stated in what you are fishing for and where. I just bought my first surf setup a couple months back. Bought a Daiwa Emcast 10' MH and a 5000 Daiwa BG. Your reel size will work for medium to small fish but you hook something nice you will probably get spooled. Longer rod will get the bait out farther! I'd even go longer than 10' if I bought another rod. Emcast are really nice buy the way and budget friendly. Good luck on the water!