Surf Wade 7/23

[karstopo]

Drove out to Bryan beach about 2 pm. Cruised on down to about 1/2 mile from MOB, but water was very muddy the whole stretch and no sign of anything going on, so I never even got wet. Headed over to Surfside and hit the surf just left of where the bridge comes down. Water was clean green, but didn’t see much if any real bait activity. Decided to fish anyway between the sparse bathers and caught a nice big whiting that I was going to keep, but dropped on the way in. Fish was in the first gut that was about waist deep there.

Moved around and scouted some from the pay beach to the beginning of the free beach. Never saw anything really happening with the bait. Stopped and fished a couple more spots just because and finished up on the pedestrian beach. Ended up with 4 whiting and a ladyfish, nothing big even for those dinky fish except for that first whiting. Saw someone soaking shrimp on the bottom catch an undersized flounder and nothing else bending any of the few rods out. Was done before 5. Wind started NNE and freshened later. First whiting came on a rusty orange colored shrimp fly and the other fish on a tan Borski Slider.

Hadn’t fished the surf at all or anywhere salty this summer, one sole marsh trip where I had plenty of chances at some nice redfish, but got only one all the way into the kayak, so I made myself go, just to get back into the swing of things. Negative inertia is a thing and I’m not sure this trip did anything to get the ball rolling. The water was pleasant to wade in and I think I’ll try to get out some other morning if the surf lays down. Breakers weren’t bad at all yesterday afternoon, but surf cams look rough this morning.

[SWFinatic]

Thanks for the report. I heard several reports of guys hitting the surf yesterday in various locations. With the north wind I'm sure it was awesome.

[Chubs]

Thanks for the report. I posted mine from the weekend up on the Facebook page for SLP/ Freeport/ Surfside group, but to summarize here since I'm feeling lazy and it wasn't a kayak trip-

Me and 4 other people fished the beach Saturday most all day from around 7AM to 5PM. Nothing exciting was caught with live shrimp, which turned to dead shrimp, which turned to lures (baby hardheads!).
All except for at the end of the day, I caught a 17" sheepshead around 5 PM on dead shrimp under a cork, ON THE BEACH!?!

I never knew sheepshead were possible in the surf, and it was my 1st one to boot lol.

I also caught a mess of large sand trout at the lights at the SLP campground, that was fun.

[bones72]

I've had several slow days around here lately too; maybe its the heat. Jealous you got down that way. Think I'm gonna try heading down sometime next week if conditions allow. Would like to stay overnight to hit some fish under the lights. Sand trout, whiting whatever I don't care. Catching a mess of crabs would be good too.

[karstopo]

Back when I lived in Surfside Beach, I had some crab traps and would sometimes bring along a couple when I hit the marsh in the kayak. I could normally catch about a dozen good sized keeper blue crabs in the traps by the time I was done fishing.

I’m not too worried about any slow fishing. I go out and look for sign and fish and just enjoy the process. I know that if I don’t find anything super this or that trip, I will get more on them on some future outing. I’m actually excited to get whiting. I never really got them much if any until last year I think it was. Whiting are tasty and pretty good fighters when they get around a foot long. I’m still trying to hone in on the right presentation for whiting and just where I need to make my casts. They aren’t randomly distributed in the surf, but seem to like the zone a little seaward of the break. A controlled drift of the fly seems best with some little strips mixed in, but the timing of it all is something I’m still working out. The eat is easy to miss and I miss more than I should.

[bones72]

We had whiting back in Va too. Lots of people used them as bait for bluefish and rockfish (striper) such but I muched preferred to put anything over 10 inches on the stringer. Thanks for the info on how to get them on the fly. Tied up some #6 mole crabs with 1/2 in Puglisi tarantula leg bush in hopes of targeting them.

[Dandydon]

You shoulda seen the Galveston Seawall & W. Bay beaches this morning! Oh my. Blue to the beach with NO waves!
Shoffer & I were going home after a good night's (& morning's) fishing at Sea Isle. When we saw the calm blue surf, we AMOST stopped to wadefish it. We heard at daybreak there were hundreds of surf fishermen out there.
Am hoping to see some surf fishing reports tonight & tomorrow. It's hard to beat catching powerful "tiderunner" specks in a calm surf.


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[karstopo]

My sources said it’s been good, at least a little earlier in the week. Trying to decide if I want to roll out of bed and go this morning, the bed sure feels good. Heard a few reports about yesterday that the water was too clear, bluefish and such, Yada, yada...dang it, I’m going. Seeing the sunrise over the gulf is worth it on its own.

[Drifting Yak]

I’m still trying to hone in on the right presentation for whiting and just where I need to make my casts. They aren’t randomly distributed in the surf, but seem to like the zone a little seaward of the break. A controlled drift of the fly seems best with some little strips mixed in, but the timing of it all is something I’m still working out. The eat is easy to miss and I miss more than I should.

One of the things we've done when fishing for Whiting is to use a rig that floats or suspends the hooks. We simply take a 3' length of mono, tie a swivel on one end (goes to the tag end of your rod), tie a snap swivel to the other end (for adding a pyramid type weight) and then tie two dropper loops in the middle spaced about 1 foot apart. We then add a small piece of cork and a hook to each dropper loop (adding a bead as shown in the pic is optional). We've found that long shank, size 1 hooks work well. Also use as little weight as possible (1 to 2 oz is good but use more if needed to hold the rig in the surf ). Add a small bit of fresh dead or frozen shrimp to each hook and you're in business. As for a rod, no need to go heavy. Medium light to medium with a fast tip will allow the fish to suck in and keep the bait which will improve hook up ratios.

[karstopo]

No whiting this morning. Caught about 10 specks and 4 sand trout. Kept the one for sure keeper speck, had another good one on.

Went to Bryan/Quintana beaches. Water was sandy up close and full of shrimp. Key was to find shrimp being harassed and cast into that. Pretty much got an instant hook up.

Trouble was finding that type of sign. I drove around some looking and would stop if I saw anything popping. No shrimp sign, no fish. Water improved as the morning progressed but shrimp sign all but disappeared. Not much water movement, just a little as the sun got a bit higher.

The shrimp taken from trout stomach next to the fly I got most of the fish on. The tan Borski was the other pattern that worked. Tried a baitfish pattern with zero takes.

Big mullet could not have been more relaxed. Foul hooked a 3" shad and those weren't getting too much trouble from the predators. It was a shrimp show.

[Dandydon]

Good info-packed surf report, Karstopo! I used to hit that Bolivar surf hard in the Summer: the legendary Boyt Rd. beach cut.
Had many heavy 10-trout stringers there. Seems like I caught most of them on silver Johnson Sprite spoons & red-headed nose-eye Mirrorlures. Those surf trout usually fight harder than their Bay cousins--almost like a different, hardier specie. I want some!

But now I have my yak & leave all that wave-pounding & reel-soaking fun to youngsters like you. Hello.
Keep up the good work.


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