Thread: Surf fishing gear questions

So it's the time of year for me in NW Arkansas to start putting my fishing gear up for the winter and planning some new builds for my trips down to Gulf Shores next year. After my last trip down (my wedding and fishing honeymoon) i wasnt able to fish the pier as much as i would have liked but i did get to do a lot of surf fishing in front of the house we were staying at. I never got into any big fish but the quality and quantity was perfect with us landing plenty of 14-16in flounder a few good pompano and a rat red or 2. Plus my wife and everyone could relax and enjoy the beach unlike the pier when it gets crowded and a run is going on. I wasn't at all rigged and ready for surf fishing but we managed with a few of my lighter pier rods and had a blast fighting fish on light tackle.

So my question/ concerns are.......

I have 2 9ft rods that i use for bank catfishing here which i think will be plenty for pompano, flounder etc. I know i would be better off with a longer rod but they'll just have to work for now.

I want build at least 2 rods for bull reds. Ill be fishing around ft morgan. I can get my hands on 11ft 2 piece blanks for pretty cheap but don't know enough about surf fishing for big bull reds to decide which one to get. I can get a 11', 15-40 line, 3-8 oz, mod-fast, heavy. Or a 11', 20-50 line, 4-10 oz, mod-fast and X-heavy. I like to fish as light as possible but at the same time dont want to be over matched. For the few of you that do a lot of surf fishing, which would you choose? What size line and weights do you usually use for good/ decent weather conditions? Do you like plate reel seats on your surf rods or just regular ones? Whats the shortest/longest blank you'd buy? Sorry for the long read and so many questions. Just dont want to buy something i wont enjoy. Thanks, James .

I surf fish 20 to 30 times a year for Pompano, whiting and reds. I use rods 9' 10' and 11' lengths that I have built. IMHO, 11' in the 3 to 8 oz. is over kill. If you need over 4 oz. to hold bottom, it's too rough to fish. Most of the time I use a 2 oz or 3 oz. weight max. Let me state I'm talking spinning tackle. Although, I fish a 11' rod, I have become partial to 10' rods. Not near as tiring to cast and still can reach where you need to be. Also, many times a 9' rod that will handle a 1 to 2 oz. weight is all you need. It makes a good rig to walk along the beach searching for fish.

You don't need a big rig and heavy line to land a bull red. If you spool 30 lb. braid, you wouldn't need a shock leader and you should have no trouble handling a red fish.

Oh, I have both plate seats and regular. I prefer the regular.

Mobilebayfisher, these will be spinning rods. What style guides did you go with? Im still not use to catching bull reds not in the Sebastian inlet in Florida. We use 65-80lbs braid and have to horse them in out of the channel.

I have started to go with single foot guides for all the running guides. I use a double foot for the first two guides in front of the reel seat and single foot guides from there out. I use the NGC method to layout the guide spacing. It will give you a different look compared to old style surf rods and will put more guides on the rod. On the single foot guides, I use a locking wrap to prevent pullout. I have never had a problem.
As to blanks, I built my last rod on a Pac Bay PBX II X2GSU100M-2 10’ 15- 30 medium blank that I bought at the Rod Room. Awesome!!

Thanks for the info. I build my personal king rods with 2 double foot guides followed by singles. Ive never had a problem either.

You answered your own question.....if you like lighter tackle ,go with the ligher blank, that I think will still be plenty.....I don't fish the beach (sand).....your 9 fter's should be enough ,if you have tall rod holders in the sand.....after USA'sposts on whiting slaying,and I know he did real good last year for flounder......I may have to give it a try in the future

Still really new to surf fishing and just not sure what size/style weights for the bigger reds. I was using 1oz egg weights for the pompano and flounder. Im not a huge fan of walking in the water to the sandbar. Just wanting to be able to put a big chuck of mullet or a crab out 100 yards off the beach without walking out to the bar. Thats why i thought a 3 or 4oz bank weight with some 20lbs line would get me out that far.

compressed air bait launcher ....similar to a potato gun
no roll sinker

I can get away with a lot but i really dont think my new bride would let me have a bait launcher. Took me 2 weeks to buid up the courage to show her my golf ball launcher for my AR15. She still gives me crap every time i come home with a bucket of range golf balls.

the one I saw wasn't like this.....but anything similar would work