Thread: I need help choosing some line.

I will be coming down the 4th of October and staying until the 12th. I will be fishing the pier, little lagoon, some surf and the jetty at Orange beach. The setup that I will be using for my small species (specs, small reds, Spanish, flounder, etc...) is a Shimano Stradic ci4+ 2500fe and a Falcon Coastal XGS 7'6" med action rated for 10-20lb line. I will be using a flouro leader most of the time and plan on spooling my reel with Sufix 832 braid. My 2 questions are which lb rating (10 or 20) and what color (Hi-vis yellow, moss green, or camo) would you all recommend? Thanks in advance for your input.

For the species you mentioned, 8-10lbs clear mono. You could go lighter though if you wanted.

@Snake Should I purchase a pier net or just winch them up. I have saw you post a lot of responses. What do you think about my gear selection? What do you use for the pier? Should it have a heavier rod and larger reel?

Your gear setup is spot-on, unless you're wanting to target kings, bigger reds, etc. Try the search bar at the top right for what you need if you want to king fish or stop in a the local tackle shops and tell them what you want to fish for-J&M is the preferred one.

I use a pier net, most people on the end have a gaff and I rarely king fish anymore. You asked my set-ups,

7' light action custom rod w/ Penn Fierce 3000 for flounder, whiting, pompano...really fun for slot reds.

7' Med-light custom rod w/ Penn Slammer 3000 for spanish, slot reds, trout, sheepshead, etc.

and numerous other Shimano and Penn pairings.

I sold all my high dollar king rods...

h_h, a pier net is not mandatory, but handy to have if the flounder are there, whiting and small Spanish are the only thing I winch up.
There are usually some pier regulars around with a net and most are more than happy to net a fish for ya. But at times, I have been there and had the only net around. The downside is that they aren't much use other than pier or bridge fishing.
I guess you could always hang it on the wall and decorate it with fake starfish, crabs and seashells; mine stay in the garage though.
I would go with the +/- 10# mono as Snake recommended. You set up should work fine for the fish you mentioned, but you may want to add a 4000 or 5000 size combo to your arsenal in case of a red run or a stay king.

I keep a net AND a pier gaff and anyone is welcome to use either. I winch up most spanish, whiting, etc. and net large spanish, sheepshead, reds, trout, flounder and black drum. Winching up a big fish is hard on the reel and doesn't do the rod any favors, either!

But mostly, I bring a pier net as a way of being a good pier-citizen/neighbor. I appreciate it whenever someone gaffs a king for me or nets a fish for me. Having equipment for others is just my way of reciprocating or paying-forward!

Thanks guys. I always frequent J&M when I am down. It has been a few years since I have made the trip and was hoping to be a little more prepared this time. I will be there with my 8 year old son and my wife's friends husband. I have a bass pro brand offshore anger inshore extreme that is a 50/5000 series reel that I will probably put on an older fenwick legacy 7' mh rated for up to 20 lbs for the larger stuff. I wasn't really planning on targeting but it the big fishies are biting I may just have to give it a try.

Lighter line=more bites. Most everything you catch from the pier is under 5lbs. The exceptions are kings, bull reds and jacks. They are usually caught from the mid section to the octi. They are fun to catch but bites are slow. Your 8 year old will get bored really quickly between hook ups on the octi. I love the thrill of hearing my drag screaming and my line making a rooster tail across the surface when a king takes off with a bait but there are days when 50+ people fish the end and only 5 or 6 kings are hooked up and only 2 or 3 actually landed. I would bring an ultralight setup with a Carolina rig(size 2 hook) and bait it with small pieces of fresh dead shrimp. This will keep the young man busy and may put some tasty groceries in the cooler.