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Hey folks I am coming down the week of July 1st. Last year we did some surf fishing and fished in LL with a little success. I would like to fish off the pier some this year and would also like to fish the pass for Flounder. Would anyone be so kind as to give me some tips. Last year in the surf we used a pyramid weight with fresh dead shrimp and all we seemed to catch was those blame hard head catfish. I would love to catch something edible. Any tips on equipment and spots would be appreciated.
I'd fish for whiting. You can usually catch them. This has been explained countless times before, as you might imagine and you really should check previous posts on the subject using the "SEARCH" box. Use a carolina rig with about 3/8 - 1/2 oz egg sinker, but the weight depends on the wind and the current. Use about 18 inches of fluorocarbon leader, 10 - 12 lb test. Here's what's critical to fishing for whiting: Use a SMALL hook (think "bream sized", not bass-sized). I use a small "mosquito" circle hook and start reeling when I feel the tap-tap. Get fresh dead shrimp from J & M. I use either fresh dead (if they have any available) or live shrimp that become dead when I cut them into small pieces and peel them. The size shrimp piece is about the size of the last digit of your pinkie. With this set-up, I catch mostly whiting, but also black drum, slot redfish, and pompano. If the water is clear, you can see whiting on the bottom. Cast past the school, which is often linear in shape, and just bring it into the general vicinity and let them find it. For flounder, use bull minnows instead of shrimp.
Since you said you'd like to catch something edible, you may want to consider fishing for spadefish underneath a weighted float. Rig like you would for whiting, just replace the egg sinker with a float. Sometimes spadefish want only a SMALL piece of SHRIMP (yes, I realize the irony of making small and shrimp bigger). Sometimes they prefer a small piece of "FishBites". They are fun to catch, good to eat, easy to clean and you can catch a bunch of them if they're around. They travel in schools and sometimes hang out around the end of the octi. Just do your best to stay out of the way of the other fishermen and you can often catch some big ones. So what else is edible? Almost everything is good to eat. I'm no fan of hardhead catfish or ladyfish, but I enjoy sailcats with absolutely ALL the dark lateral line removed and hardtails, bluefish, and remoras (the really big ones) are fine to eat.
The bottom line is that you have to target what you want to catch and if nothing is biting where you are, move, change your target species, refine/adapt your technique and try that for awhile. You can usually catch something to take home to eat.
Well, eym, that's exactly what I was thinking to say, 'cept you beat me to it.
Thank you sir!
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Originally Posted by eym_sirius