# Fishing from the sand 9-19; The weed trimmer edtion, lol!



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

edjman and I went down to the beach to catch bull reds from the sand today.
Evan does not have many days off so we go when we can.
Conditions were okay, we got there just as high tide was starting to fall.
Mullet were thick so after netting a few we put lines out.
It didn't take long before I got a really good one and fought it for a long time, only to have it break my main line in the wade gut.

Soon Evan had a good one on and landed it. Then it was one about every half hour. Action was never fast, but would come in short flurries.

We both caught some outstanding bull reds that were heavy and terrific fighters.
I weighed two that were 27#. 
I have weighed a lot of bull reds from the surf in the past and even when they look giant and fight like panthers, they rarely weigh over twenty two pounds. We caught five a piece and only two were less 40" long.

The fish today were not hammering the bait at all, if you didn't pay attention and they made a run on the rod and you didn't tighten up on them, they would drop it and not return.
Most of the fish we landed were barely hooked, the barb not even penetrating on a couple, and we both lost a few fish that just got off during the fight, probably they were barley hooked.
man it was great to get sand between my toes and catch bull reds from the surf.
it was a beautiful day at the beach, some cloud cover off and on, and the breeze was enough when it turned to the south to blow the biting flies away. 
This morning with the north wind they were bad.
If that's the only complaint, then it was a great day fishing from the sand.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

Great report and nice looking reds. It's funny you mentioned losing fish and not getting good hook ups, because I posted on the leader thread today one of the main reasons that happens. Next time you go try one of my leaders with the weight on bottom and smaller hooks, I'd be willing to bet a case of beer that you would get more hook ups and not lose any fish.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

sharkchum said:


> Great report and nice looking reds. It's funny you mentioned losing fish and not getting good hook ups, because I posted on the leader thread today one of the main reasons that happens. Next time you go try one of my leaders with the weight on bottom and smaller hooks, I'd be willing to bet a case of beer that you would get more hook ups and not lose any fish.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


I thought seriously about making a sharkchum leader, weed trimmer edition, today. 
Not for that reason, but I can see where it would help with that particular fish behavior and hooking up.
I was going make some and give them a try to see if I liked the cast and feel of them.
It would have taken looking for the three way swivels i bought and on and on, so I blew it off. I am gonna make some for the next trip.

All of the bites came from wading 80 steps out or more today, a long frigging way for an old man, because you have to go back too!
So I was swinging for the bleachers on my casts looking for distance.
Nothing we cast shallow today caught a fish, and we soon gave up and made the journey to have a chance at a bite.
Wouldn't you say Mr Chum that fish bite that way, hesitantly and not taking it aggressive under a couple of conditions, full moon effect(coupla days either side of the full moon it can happen) and in freshwater high pressure. Maybe the saltwater version is low tide movement?


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

Sure, there are a lot of reasons for a less aggressive bit, full moon, high pressure, week tides, and calm water. The fish we caught this weekend didn't even hit, we just noticed the line slack up, all we did was reel up the slack and the fish were already hooked. That's one of the reasons I like using the smaller lighter wire circle hooks, all the have to do is look at the bait and they get hooked. You were probably catching the fish farther out because it was so calm and the guts weren't as deep as they would have been with bigger waves.

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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Basically there were slight humps, no guts or bars to speak of. At high tide it was pretty deep for where we were at 80 steps out. 
The mullet were very thick, so I kept putting fresh on and made sure it was juicy!


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## waltmeda (Jul 9, 2013)

I prefer a rough surf over a calm one. Much better fishing.


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## waltmeda (Jul 9, 2013)

By the way, nice fish and great report!!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I have had banner days when the surf was rough and dirty, and I has really happy that today worked out as well as it did with knee high surf.


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## gigem87 (May 19, 2006)

One day I sure would like to do this type of surf fishing with someone who knows what they are doing!


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## hate23putt (Aug 27, 2016)

Would love to know where you guys were fishing and what kind of rod/reel set up you were using! Great fish and pics. Thanks for sharing.


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## ryanrhodes993 (Jul 22, 2016)

Nice!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

We were fishing the upper coast, one of the best places on earth to catch big bull red fish. Cut mullet for bait, edjman uses Fin Nor spinning reels on okuma rods.
I use 12' ugly sticks and 4/0 bait casting reels.
I use mono main line and Evan uses braid, we both use weed trimmer homemade leaders with 10/0 to 14/0 circle hooks and 2 oz to 4 oz spider weights.


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## edjman (Aug 13, 2013)

hate23putt said:


> Would love to know where you guys were fishing and what kind of rod/reel set up you were using! Great fish and pics. Thanks for sharing.


I use Fin Nor sportfisher spinning reels for surf fishing. I have a size 40,70, and two 80s so I obviously like them. It is a good brand and they are making more models now.
I have them paired with Okuma longitude and Penn pursuit rods.
I have other reels but these are my best by far. You can get them on eBay for a reasonable price.
I know there are many Penn purists on these forums so let's start a fight by saying THESE ARE BETTER  Lol
:work::work::work::work:
Biting flies


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## jpdarby2 (Aug 17, 2016)

Those are some solid fish! I also noticed I had to get my bait out much further to get any bites this weekend. Thanks for the report.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

We baited for big fish only and did not get that many bites. I missed three on the bite and lost one on the fight and had the first one break my line.
Well I broke my line by tightening the drag, "just a little" after a very long fight on a Tiger Ugly Stick and a Triton 200, the first time I ever had caught a big fish on the rig and I was not used to the feel.
The surf was not roiled up and there were no bars and guts to speak of.

The trump is the time of year, the surf is full of shrimp, mullet, etc... and that draws the sand trout, croaker, whiting, and then the big fish to eat them. 
This is a great time of year to catch bull reds from the beach and it will be getting better fast for the next two months, peaking in mid to late October or so it seems to me.
This time of year they are always hungry as they get fat for the spawn and winter.
One funny thing about yesterday was the lack of whiting, croaker, etc..we didn't catch anything, but I think it was the muddy water and that most of the fish were up high in the water column chasing shrimp, and not on bottom where we were fishing for bait.
Shrimp were everywhere, when I went out to catch mullet, a throw with no mullet had at least three shrimp in it, fish were following the cast net and snapping up the shrimp as they fell out of the net when I lifted it. Right at my waist, it was strange.


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