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Episode-1345- Fishing the Surf and Piers

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A Black Tip Shark - One of the Surf's Many Surprises

A Black Tip Shark – One of the Surf’s Many Surprises

For Dorothy the beach is a place to walk, pick up shells and sit around and do nothing.  While I enjoy much of that, especially with a Jimmy Buffet approved drink in hand, I also love to fish the shore.  There is an excitement about shore and pier and brackish water fishing that to me just doesn’t exist in a lake or a river.  Do a bit of research on any lake or river (fresh water river) and likely there are 6-12 fish if that that are common.  When you look at fish you are likely to catch the number is likely to be closer to 6 than 12.

Now let me remind you of what I caught just in species on the Sanibel island coast, only about 5 of the 10 days I was there was the surf ideal for fishing by the way.

Here is a list of the species I caught while on vacation in the Sanibel Island Surf…

  • Spanish Mackerel
  • Permit
  • Snook
  • Ladyfish
  • Whiting
  • Gafftop Sail Catfish
  • Hard Head Catfish
  • Jack Cravalle
  • Blue Runner
  • Speckled Sea Trout

That is 10 species and I am leaving out some of the little odd bait fish stuff that also managed to get hooked like Pig and Pin fish.  So that alone is a dozen.  We took a quick trip down to the pier as well, we just missed a guy landing a black tip shark and we saw another guy catch a nice nurse shark.  When the surf was clear at one point I found myself surrounded by about a thousand or more (no exaggeration) cow nose rays.  Though I managed to intentionally not catch any.

I have fished the Texas coast many times and while not quite the diversity of Florida’s coast it is also a great deal of fun.  I have often caught red fish, sea trout, whiting, sand trout, croaker, sail cats, hard heads and a lot of other stuff.  I have also managed to catch a few small black tip sharks down there.  I even remember one day when the surf was really clear and I was standing about waste deep on the second sand bar and several of us watched a bull shark that was at least 8 feet cruise by just 10 yards in front of us, while we all backed slowly onto the bars shallower area, no one panicked and the fishing continued.

Join Me Today To Discuss…

  • My basic gear, not much different from lake fishing
    • Medium action spinning rod
    • Snap swivels
    • 10-14 pound premium mono
    • Bait casting sinkers
    • Bait holder hooks #2 – #4/0 generally snelled
    • Cut bait (shrimp, cut whiting, squid, etc)
  • Stepping gear up for bigger fish
    • Medium Heavy to Heavy Action rod and reel
    • Steel leaders
    • Large circle or khale hooks
    • Simply put, bigger bait
    • Paddle boards, surf boards, etc. – not necessary but functional
  • The basics of surf fishing – easy as it gets
    • Guts and bars are your friend, if they are there
    • Tides, high is best but it is not that simple
    • Surf reports, calm water equals better fishing
    • Seasonality – what is there and when
    • Piers – sometimes the only valid option but crowded
    • When wading shuffle – sting rays!
  • Beyond Cut Baits
    • Whitebait, Theadthins, Pinfish, etc.
    • Cast nets
    • Sand Fleas and Small Crabs
    • The DOA shrimp – probably one of the best artificial
    • Live Shrimp
  • A bit on brackish rivers, bays, etc.
    • There is a lot in common, especially on piers
    • Better for crabbing, fun at low tide
    • Fish tend to come in “runs”
    • Boats are great but that is another show
    • In some areas wading can be dangerous – Alligators!
  • Safety and Comfort Gear
    • Needle nose and hemostats – consider a glove
    • Basic first aid kit – have aloe gel on hand
    • Jelly Fish Sting Treatment – Link
    • Good knifes and a cleaning board – if keeping fish
    • Really good cooler, lots of ice
    • Water, water, water, water and water
    • Sun Block – water really fries you
    • Bait buckets for live bait, bait containers (avoid the chomp)
  • Resources for today’s show…

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Comments

Episode-1345- Fishing the Surf and Piers — 19 Comments

  1. Crappy day for fishing down here north of Houston, it’s 65 degrees and windy, this time of year down here it’s usually at least 90 degrees, so much for global warming, I keep hearing how it’s getting hotter globally but this has been some of the colder 2 years that I can remember down here and it’s not like we are having freezing weather but it’s a hell of a lot cooler than it normally is

    • But global warming causes global cooling, that is why it is called “climate change” now. Roll Eyes!

      • On the local cable news the anchor woman started going into the climate change mantra and how NYC may be under water in 100 years . The meteorologist stepped in and talked about how the planet used to be a whole lot hotter than it is now and that 29,000 years ago Long Island was under a glacier. He wasn’t cut off until he said that the climate has always been changing and the temperature goes up and down and it’s part of a natural cycle.

        But “What about the Polar bears?”

        • Funny how they cut him off huh? It saddens me how many times I hear our youth in comments saying, “by then we will likely all be dead” and meaning it, that is how deep the programming goes.

  2. Cool show! One little thing about tides. The moon causes one high tide and one low everyday. For places that that two high two low a day its normally because of the shape of the land and the amount of time it takes the tide “wave” to flow and refract in and around the land. Just check for a tide chart for your location!

      • There are dozens of factors other than the moon, the next biggest being the sun for overall force. Land shape/depth/profiles are what cause most of the stranger tides though. Just based on the moon you get two high two low in a 24hr 50min period coming 50mins later each day.

    • Actually you are both right. In general most of the world is semidiurnal and has 4 Tides (2 high and 2 low) and in general the gulf of mexico is diurnal and has 2 tide (1 high and 1 low). But just like everything in permaculture it depends. And it all depends on the timing of the moon, specifically its rising and setting. High tides occur when the moon is directly overhead and directly behind and low tides when the moon is perpendicular or at 90 from the location. As an example you might have the moon rise at around 10:00 AM and it may not set until after 12:00 AM the NEXT day. This could cause perhaps only 1 single tide. But as the moon rotates around the earth going through its phases it might rise in late evening say around 3 or 4 PM and not set until 3 or 4 AM the next day. This could cause up to 4 tides in the gulf region. It all just depends on the moons timings. This why surfers and meteorologist (ok maybe the surfers just use magicseaweed.com) can predict tide times with a great deal of accuracy weeks and months in advance.

  4. You have to have your head on a swivel when fishing from a pier sometimes.
    Years ago a “kid”, i.e. teenager, decided to do a large back swing from the pier. When he felt resistance and couldn’t swing the rod forward he pulled harder setting the diamond jigs hook firmly in another fisherman’s face.

    My dad and I had to cut the barb off so we could get the hook out so my dad could patch him up and get him off to the emergency room.

    What a mess.

  5. Hello All:

    The thing to remember from the history segment for 1345 is that the Republic of Genoa was a massive enterprise at the time. They practically bought the south of Crimea and they owned major ports all the way west to Morocco, Spain and Flanders. They would also stop in England but they didn’t own a port there. The King of France was hiring Genoan mercenaries to fight his wars so there was no major presence for Genoa in England, France’s main adversary. The Black Death will get to England a little later but only a little later.

  6. So when is the Texas gulf fishing trip!? It’s been to long since I’ve been ocean fishing.

    • I too am interested in the coast fishing trip. Sounds like a heck of a good time.

  8. I loved the running gag in the episode:

    Stingrays wont kill you, unless you act like steve irwin.
    Stingrays wont attack you, unless you try to ride them like steve irwin….

    ROFLMAO

  10. Is this the episode that talked about how to get the stink out of an ice chest? I remember jack talking about it, but it doesn’t show up in a search.

    • I don’t remember but the method is simple and been mentioned a few time.

      1. Fill half way with water

      2. Add 4 cups or more (if really skanky or big) of bleach

      3. Put in back of pick up truck

      4. Drive truck for about a week

      Cooler will be as good as it can be based on prior treatment after a week of typical driving, if you don’t drive much add a bit more bleach and go two weeks.

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