is this a silly idea? (surf fishing in Florida)

I fish the surf on the west coast of Florida.
Here's my take on your questions.

1) Spoons: mine are the "weedless" type. Is that also ok in the surf
Sure. You don't need the weed guards, but they won't hurt.

2) Spoons & weight: which size spoon should I choose? I mean - the
heavier, the further I can cast it, in particular in a windy day, but
heavier is also bigger, which might end up being too big for the fish.
The lures should be selected to match the rod you have. You want the whole
setup to be comfortable to use. You will be doing a lot of casting

Can I add weight to the leader by adding a couple of splint shot
sinkers or is the entire beach going to choke to death while laughing
at me :-)
Not a good idea. Use the right weight lure.

3) a little off-topic here, but I still want to ask you. Is is really
that bad to fish with a swivel/snap when using a lure? I use Yo-Zuri
and Rapala Original Floating lures and while I do notice a difference
in behavior (it takes less pull to have them go deeper) it is slight.
I was under the impression that the problem with a swivel/snap is that
it is too *visible* for the fish, but my (maybe mistaken) commen sense
tells me that a fish seeing a lure with a lure on leader with a
swivel/snap will think that the lure is "chasing" the rest of the
hardware, I mean - this is a fish, not a PhD student from MIT, I am
trying to catch - I am really mistaken here?

I use a snap swivel almost all the time. Those fish out there are predators.
They attack things that trigger some signal that says "eat that". If they
will attack a metal spoon, they will not be put off by a little extra metal.
I know that some will argue with that. Don't bother. I have discussed this
with several fish that I have landed and they agree with me.

On one hand, my only fishing book (-: unsurprizingly and adequately
called "Fishing for Dummies" :-) says that "some anglers use snaps for
changing lures or baits as well. This technique is a lazy person's way
out, and is definitely NOT the way to get the best action out of your
lure" while, on the other hand, local fishermen had told me that this
is simply "techno-snobism from purists" (and quote here). What do you
think?
PS: please let me know if I should maybe get another type of spoon/lure!

When you are out there fishing and some one is catching and you are not,
just go up to the guy or gal and after you say "Hi" ask " What are they
hitting today?" 99% of the folks out there will be happy to help.

Best of luck.

Charlie

Charlie Bress wrote:
When you are out there fishing and some one is catching and you are
not,
just go up to the guy or gal and after you say "Hi" ask " What are
they
hitting today?" 99% of the folks out there will be happy to help.

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for the advice. The only problem over here (in the New Smyrna
Beach, Volusia County, area) is that 99.99999% of the people fishing in
the surf are using live bait whereas I am *only* interested in using
artificial lures (I probably dont' want to troll here explaining why).

Most books are about bass fishing or fly fishing and most people use
some kind of boats. Fishing with artificials, from the beach with a 6
foot spinning rod does not seem very popular around here :-((

I have also been looking for anyone willing to show me how to fish in
the Intercoastal River, but the prices are simply beyond my means: they
are all one day boat charters, and nobody seems to be giving lessons
from the river banks, fishing piers, docks, etc.

Lastly, I try fishing off my kayak, which very few people seem to be
doing around here either. So again - I do trial and error - most of
which seems to be in the "error" category judging by the meager results
(although the weather here has been so cold and windy that this might
(maybe) explain why fish are not too tempted by my clumsy efforts...)

Pretty much everybody here is on boats with live bait whether on the
StJohns River, the Intercoastal River, the docks or the beach.

Anyway - while I still enjoy myself tremendously every time (-: yes, it
is called "fishing" not "catching" :-) making all the newbie's first
steps without much advice is not easy... [sigh]

Any ideas?

Cheers,

TN

if you try the soft plastics in various sizes from your kayak, you will
do ok with
your 6 ft rod.

problem from the surf down there is that you need to find structure and
cuts, I don't know
your area specifically but from Jacksonville down through St.
Augustine, the regular
ocean front is flat making it very tough for artificials because you
can't place the
lure in a good feeding lane.

the other thing for trout/weakies/specs or whatever you know them by,
early
morning (meaning first light) is best in the shallows. And they
typically need to
be ambushed by some structure unless you are just going to drift and
jig.

with a kayak, there is no reason why you can't fish the backwaters and
hit
some fish. for flyfishing try rec.outdoors.fishing.fly for some
suggestions.

Here on the Pacific Coast, we use short spinners and small grubs for surf
perch. They run up to 3#. You do not cast out that far.
Bill

wrote in message
oups.com...
Charlie Bress wrote:
When you are out there fishing and some one is catching and you are
not,
just go up to the guy or gal and after you say "Hi" ask " What are
they
hitting today?" 99% of the folks out there will be happy to help.

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for the advice. The only problem over here (in the New Smyrna
Beach, Volusia County, area) is that 99.99999% of the people fishing in
the surf are using live bait whereas I am *only* interested in using
artificial lures (I probably dont' want to troll here explaining why).

Most books are about bass fishing or fly fishing and most people use
some kind of boats. Fishing with artificials, from the beach with a 6
foot spinning rod does not seem very popular around here :-((

I have also been looking for anyone willing to show me how to fish in
the Intercoastal River, but the prices are simply beyond my means: they
are all one day boat charters, and nobody seems to be giving lessons
from the river banks, fishing piers, docks, etc.

Lastly, I try fishing off my kayak, which very few people seem to be
doing around here either. So again - I do trial and error - most of
which seems to be in the "error" category judging by the meager results
(although the weather here has been so cold and windy that this might
(maybe) explain why fish are not too tempted by my clumsy efforts...)

Pretty much everybody here is on boats with live bait whether on the
StJohns River, the Intercoastal River, the docks or the beach.

Anyway - while I still enjoy myself tremendously every time (-: yes, it
is called "fishing" not "catching" :-) making all the newbie's first
steps without much advice is not easy... [sigh]

Any ideas?

Cheers,

TN

Calif Bill wrote:
Here on the Pacific Coast, we use short spinners and small grubs for
surf
perch. They run up to 3#. You do not cast out that far.
Bill


a guy in a shop around here reccommended to me the following lures for
surf fishing:

1) Nemire Red Ripper Lure (silver color)
2) Nemire Spoon Buzzer Sr 5/8 ounce lure

Any opinions on these two?

Thanks!

wrote in message
oups.com...
Calif Bill wrote:
Here on the Pacific Coast, we use short spinners and small grubs for
surf
perch. They run up to 3#. You do not cast out that far.
Bill


a guy in a shop around here reccommended to me the following lures for
surf fishing:

1) Nemire Red Ripper Lure (silver color)
2) Nemire Spoon Buzzer Sr 5/8 ounce lure

Any opinions on these two?

Thanks!


Not familiar with either one.
Bill

In article .com,
wrote:

a guy in a shop around here reccommended to me the following lures for
surf fishing:

1) Nemire Red Ripper Lure (silver color)
2) Nemire Spoon Buzzer Sr 5/8 ounce lure

Any opinions on these two?

Someone local would probably know more than I; I have used the Nemire,
they look great.

Never caught anything on them and they have a premium price.

There are similar lures cheaper I think. It is surprising how many bass
lures are showing up in sal****er. I have used some of the big bladed
spinner type lures and caught nice redfish.

Would probably not hurt to buy one and try it.

I noted you also have a kayak; you should definitely look at using that
in the intercoastal. I am not familiar specifically with that area but
there should be some spots that fish target bait on tide flows.

I went out with a kayak guide up (down for me) in Jacksonville/St.
Augustine to get some ideas of what I was doing wrong (could always
catch fish in Tampa flats). I had used some of the right techniques and
even hit some spots correctly but when we went it was a much lower tide
than I had expected. What was a large, grass spotted area was a maze of
small creeks when we fished it. Where the 'creeks' joined typcially were
deeper holes that held fish. Also, where there as a point and a fast
current reds were hanging out for bait to be washed through.

Try the 'paddle-fishing.com' site http://www.paddle-fishing.com to see
if there is anyone there in your area.

Good Fihsin'

atljoe
--
"Atlanta Joe" aka Joe Webb
Flats fishing is Flat Fun!
Visit my site at http://flatsfisher.com