Thread: bubble rig in surf

Dumb question, but I've never fished a bubble rig (never heard of them until this site actually). Can I fish one from the beach or do they generally work better at the pier where you are past the breakers? I would be using a 10' rod with a Penn 7500SS reel, so it should be able to handle the weight of the bubble w/water. Usually I will throw big plugs/poppers and tins but I haven't ever had any luck with those as of yet. My fear is that the bar in front of our rental house is just too far out for anything like what I'm throwing out there to catching anything other than catfish (it's just a very gradual slope from the beach all the way out until it drops off, but that is like 100+ yards offshore)

If bubble rigs do work in the surf, does anyone have any good pre-made ones they recommend that could be bought online? I most likely won't be able to make it to J&M.

If the Spanish, blues and lady fish come close they will work just fine.

You may catch bluefish and ladyfish regularly in the trough but I seldom catch any Spanish from the beach in GS/OB. I have caught Spanish when conditions allowed me to walk out to the bar and cast into deeper water but not consistently. In hindsight this was probably not too smart since the local blacktips have a "sweet tooth" for mackerel and I'm pretty sure who would win a race back to the beach. Also the weight of a 10' rod would wear me out pretty quick slinging a bubble rig. A 7' medium or medium/heavy rod would do just as good with a bubble rig. Good luck!