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Thread: Surf Fishing & THE RUN

  1. #1
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    Apr 2011
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    Default Surf Fishing & THE RUN

    Wife bought me one of them fancy fishing carts for my birthday. Been tied up shooting birds, so this weekend was our first trip back to the beach. Decided to leave the boat at home and try my hand at surf fishing. The in-laws and wife went to some festival Saturday morning, so I used my time to sit on the dock at the house and patiently wait on a menhaden school to roll by. One throw and I had all I would be able to keep alive in a yeti bucket (the only decent use I have found for these things). Unfortunately, there's no sign of shrimp in our canal, so I was stuck with the frozen skrimps from the bait shop across the street. Load up my stuff in the cart about the same time they get back and off we go to the beach.

    Getting everything set up, my FIL, who is no outdoorsman, wants a lesson in what I am doing. I show him how to tie a chicken rig for fishing the shrimp, and a knocker rig for the live menhaden. I didn't have high hopes of catching much, but I don't "sit" on the beach well. I keep my niece occupied going back and forth in the surf dumping saltwater in the yeti bucket to keep the menhaden alive. Also, did I mention that I don't have the right setup for surf fishing? Currently using two penn 2500 spinning reels with #30 braid paired with #25 fluoro topshot (no cable, don't want to pull a shark on the beach) both on 8' Fenwick HMG medium rods...not exactly an ideal surf setup.

    5 minutes into the whole ordeal, I land a decent sized blue on the shrimp. Discussion with the FIL about the fish and back in the water he goes. Re-bait and back out. As I'm setting the rod back in the rod holder on the cart, I feel another bite. This one just feels like the fish is holding the bait...yep, I think i know what that is. I finish my beer (+- 30 secs) and set the hook. In comes about a nice fat 20" flounder. Unfortunately, the wonderful leaders of NC feel that the recs are the ones putting a hurt on their flounder populations, so back in the water he goes, much to the dismay of the faithful crew on the beach. Re-bait and back out the shrimps go. Still no sniff on my live bait.

    At this point, the group sitting 50 yards down from me with about $800 worth of surf fishing gear comes walking down to see how and what I am fishing with, as I have almost no time invested in this and they've been there since daylight and haven't done any good. We are all having a good laugh at my setup when the shrimp pole starts dancing. In comes a medium sized pompano. Those fish actually put up a good fight on the smaller rods I have, I love catching those. I didn't feel like fooling with just one fish, and I knew the wife wasn't going for fish in the beer cooler, so I passed him off to our neighbors. Re-bait and back to fishing we go.

    After 15 minutes of no love, I begin to contemplate the extreme need to use the restroom against the cool temperature of the water. I decide that I should wade out further in the water with the live bait pole, cast into deeper water, and relieve myself, which gives me a positive reason to wade into the cool water. As I am reeling in the shrimp pole to begin this endeavor, the menhaden pole starts screaming. I have never heard anything inshore start peeling line off of a reel that fast. I've witnessed it offshore many times over the years, but never anything like this inshore. I pick up the rod and slam down on the drag as much as the line will allow. The fish makes an enormous first run and has most of my line out before I turn him. I gain back about half of the line, then he makes THE RUN. You all know THE RUN. It's the run that when it starts, you know you're outmatched. Your tackle isn't designed to keep up with it. You know there's nothing you're going to be able to do. The run that everyone watching you doesn't know what's going on. The run that you'll be contemplating what you had on the end of the line. The run that when you had to put your hand on the bail to keep from losing all your line, it burns your fingers and breaks at the reel (complete re-spool required), not at the leader. Yep, THAT run. I turn around, and my FIL is standing there, asking what was that...well, it could've been anything from a shark (unlikely to me as I don't fish wire/cable, and with a small circle hook I think he would've cut the line), a BIG red, cobia, tarpon, etc. Who knows. After that run though, I lost my desire for surf fishing with small tackle.

    Lessons have been learned. Gear will be upgraded. THE RUN will happen again, and when it does, hopefully I'll be better prepared. Been a little scarce in here with reports besides ECU burning up the trout and reds. Not my typical type of fishing but figured we could use some entertainment in here. Tight lines fellas.

  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    Ah, yes, forgot to include that one as well. Haven't had a problem turning one of those ladies though, but you probably know more about surf fishing than I do.

  4. #4
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    We always catch a few sharks in the surf, some close to the 100 lb mark. The biggest ones we catch are Lemons. I run a BG60 on 11' Penn surf rod, 8/0 circle hook and 12"-18" 60lb Fluorocarbon leader. Very seldom is this not enough to land these sharks.
    Last edited by JOHNSON; 10-28-2019 at 08:43 AM.

  5. #5
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    I was just remembering one that pulled me from Goat Island over to the marina. Damn line would not break. The last time I ever put braid on any reel I own...

  6. #6
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    Yeah, it can be a bitch to bust off.

  7. #7
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    A big ray can be near impossible to turn. I'm hard pressed to fish a NE wind at the OBX due to the likely hood of hooking into one of those things.

  8. #8
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    Coulda been a big king
    867-5309

  9. #9
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    Either way, coulda been about anything. Bottom line is I need to upgrade to some appropriate gear if I'm gonna surf fish. Rods I have now are good for shrimp, sand fleas, etc., but what would be a quality setup to handle a heavy red (what I would prefer to land over a shark/ray)?

    Relentlous, if it would've been a king, and I had managed to get him to shore, them guys beside me probably would've thrown a damn party.

  10. #10
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    keep thinking it was a good fish bc its just more fun and nobody can prove you wrong.

    (it was still likely a ray or shark)

    Nice rod, Johnson.
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  11. #11
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    Conventional setup I like a Penn Squall 15, has a built in magnetic brake for casting ease. Will hold almost 400 yards of 30lb braid, that's what I put on mine. I have mine on a 12' Heavy action Penn Prevail, there are better rods but I haven't had an issue with this one.

    Spinning setup I like a Penn Spinfisher 6500-8500. Pair that with a 10-12' Penn Battalion (next step up from the Prevail) and I think you have a great setup.

    I've got 3 setups that are good for big reds you can borrow anytime.
    Quote Originally Posted by Birddawg View Post
    I dont know how it was done. For all I know that weird bastard that determined it's gender licked it.

  12. #12
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    Great post, really enjoyed reading that. What beach were you on?

    My bet is a shark or a big channel bass if it was just screaming drag. I've found those big ole rays in the surf just go on steady, bruising, hard pulls and then suction to the bottom in shin deep water when they know they've been whipped.

  13. #13
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    Y'all need to get to know Nutz. if presented with the opportunity, which is almost an impossibility

  14. #14
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    Someone was talking the other day about the traffic being bad when Trump was in columbia. I didnt notice. Then, we started talking about that one time the Pope came here. I kinda remember that.

    You wanna talk about the first time I met Nutz? I remember everything about that day.....
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    You wanna talk about the first time I met Nutz? I remember everything about that day.....
    Same
    Nutz and I were standing by our trucks talking basically out in the middle of nowhere and
    a Messican came rolling by in a really nice big lifted up truck and the Messican's wheels
    fell off his truck (yes, just fell right off) right damn in front of us.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by EveryDay View Post
    Great post, really enjoyed reading that. What beach were you on?

    My bet is a shark or a big channel bass if it was just screaming drag. I've found those big ole rays in the surf just go on steady, bruising, hard pulls and then suction to the bottom in shin deep water when they know they've been whipped.
    Fishing up at Holden Beach. The in-laws bought a house up there in March. Surf fishing appears to be a big deal up there, this was my first attempt as I’ve been trying to figure out quality fishing spots via boat. I can say though, I caught more on my first attempt than I saw get caught by others all summer. So even though I got buttwhipped by a bruiser of some sorts, I can still be more successful than others up there. Like that area though, lotta Trump flags flying on houses and nobody talks shit about my tiger paw sticker...

  17. #17
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    You probably already know this, and it’s a given, but if you didn’t know, the best place to fish in the surf is gullys and right outside of shore break
    867-5309

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Relentlous View Post
    You probably already know this, and it’s a given, but if you didn’t know, the best place to fish in the surf is gullys and right outside of shore break
    I had a general idea, but thanks for the advice. Just happened that the specific spot we stopped at on the beach had a gully to the right of me within casting distance, and my other rod was just beyond the breakers.

  19. #19
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    probably just a monster whiting!
    Jeremy A.

  20. #20
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    I agree with Jab. We caught one at Edisto a few years ago surf fishing. We "chased" it with me on the back of a jet ski. Finally got it to surface one time and it was huge. It made another run and we tighten the drag and let the line break. I was whooped.

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