anyone know anything about surf casting
 

I was thinking about trying my luck at surf casting. But I never fished before

it looks like a good way to waste a few hours

but I am sort of afraid of catching a blue fish

how do you get the hook out of its mouth without gettin bit

what do i need
what dont i need

I haven't actually done it myself but when I lived in Hawaii one of my friends use to go out and I would jog the beach while he fished. He relay enjoyed it. :)

As far as taking the hook out of anything that looks scary carry a pair of long nose needle pliers. They work when I go catfishing :D

You whack the fish on the head, above the eyes, with a billy, a little weighted club or a short piece of pipe.

Then you use one of those long nose vicegrips to grab the shaft of the hook and extract it.

If the fish is too nasty, you just cut the wire leader off, or snap it off if you are using the quikrelease type.

Sometimes you need on of those foot long hook extractors, for hooks that are in really deep.

You carnivorous folks scare me

So you will fish for them, but will not eat them?

Yes, I like to fish, but I don't like eating them. I usually give them to people I know or release them.

I thought you had a dislike for Mississippi catfish cooked at "Po Folks". I did not not realize it was all fish

I like Po Folks :D I don't like fish |sad|

See what happens when you stop chatting on ICQ you forget these things. lol

Surf Fishing can be lots of fun :) Worry more about the sharks then the blue fish LOL Check out your local bait shop they should have all the tips and tricks you will need :)

I used to do surf fishing in a former life and I never heard of anyone catching a blue fish from the beach. I think they prefer deeper water then you can normally can't hit from the beach.

However, MML is right as usual. It was pretty common to catch small sharks.

Tommy, you're wrong. Spending a few hours surf fishing is not a waste ;)

Did you know that the South Carlonia coast boast some of the best fishing in the USA? I'll be checking out that out now that it's not 100 degrees outside. :)

Once upon a lifetime ago, I worked on a small red snapper boat out of Charleston. Though the experience was short-lived, it was incredible. Nothing like sitting on a deck, riding calm seas, and eating a fish you had hauled out of the ocean depths some hours earlier. My only complaint with that was that the captain had the only power reel. I had to hand crank, and it was a *bitch*.


I never surf fished, but go if you get the chance, Tommy. To hell with that, make the chance. I agree with Sir Moby. It definetly won't be a waste of time. And you'll return to the day-to-day stuff with a fresher outlook.

~hands you a pole and nudges you to the sea~

I watch them sometimes
they seem to catch A LOT of blue fish

some stripers and a little bass (I think its bass)

I actually had to go search google to find out what blue fish are :D

I liked a quote on this page http://scsc.essortment.com/bluefish_ryir.htm

Have fun Tommy :D

You can catch tons of blues off Long Island. The trick to getting the hook out isuse a pair of pliers. It's an essential tool for fishing in this area. You can get some that come with a holster for your belt and make it easy to access. You should also have some gloves and a few towels to wipe things down with after. There's no trick to catching blues or snappers, if they are there, you will catch them. You should try to go for stripers since they eat a lot better and have no teeth to worry about :)

Tommy, you should get a Shimano Bait Runner if you haven't bought a reel yet. Nothing is more exciting than hearing your reel tear ass out of nowhere cause you got some lunker that just swallowed your hook :D

what kind of bait do you use to catch stripers

should I have ice or water in a cooler ????

Actually - I normally have a 12 pack of a good light beer |jester|

You can use sand worms for smaller stripers, bunker, clams or for lunkers, eels. I don't think it's easy to get worms in the Island, so you may have to resort to the others. Personally I like worms since you can catch flounder or fluke as well as bass and even blues on them. I usually use 2 different poles also, 1 with worms and a flounder hook (when in season) and one with a larger hook and either clams (which are popular on the Island) or bunker (or even mackeral).
Chipped salt water ice is the best thing for the cooler, but you'll have to stop by a fish packing plant to find that. If you can't get some crushed ice. You should bury the fish in ice right away completely. Keep in mind though that a big striper isn't likely to fit into a regular cooler, and it's not partical to get one that will fit since they are huge. In this case, you might want to head, gut and tail the fish, and if that still is to big, cut it in half. You should consider having a knife with you (a breaking knife is my choice 8-10") and some shears to cut with if need be.
Man it sounds like you are in for some fun!

A small striper caught a few years ago:
http://uberlibertine.com/jim/striper.jpg
I haven't gone out since june this year, and I got skunked :(