# rod/reel combo for surf fishing in March for Blues Whiting



## hugehail (May 25, 2013)

I will be spending the entire month of March 2015 pier/surf fishing along the Florida east coast from Saint Augustine to Sebastian Inlet. I will be based out of Flagler Beach. I have pier fished since the mid to late 1970s, but have never really done much in the way of surf fishing. Which beaches are steep so that I don't need to cast very far? I hear there is a difference in the composition of the beach along the coast, with some areas being more coquina and some more sandy. Are the beaches near Flagler beach good for surf fishing with casts 100 yds or less? I assume that for Bluefish you need a longer cast? 
Is it reasonable to try to catch Blues in the surf with a stingsilver, or should I stick to a bottom rig? The fish I will be targeting are mainly Blues and Whiting,
but any fish will do, including pomps. 

Can anyone recommend a rod/reel setup for me that would meet what I am trying to accomplish? How many feet should the rod be given that I have no experience surf casting? What pound line should I use? 


jf


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## surf-a-fish (Feb 1, 2006)

Greetings JF,

March is a wonderful time to fish the Flagler area. I'm certain you will enjoy your time here. I have lived and fished this area for almost 20 years and will be glad to share what i know and what works for me.

First, it will help to know what fishing you do at home and what tackle you prefer there. Do you prefer spin or casting tackle? Are you a Fly guy? Stuff like that.

Glad to help.

JM


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## OHMatt (May 8, 2014)

I'm new to this as well. I have a thread "Sea Noob / Veteran Fresh - help for Naples."

I've received a lot of great surf and fly fishing advice, if you can add pier advice I would appreciate it. I think you need to ask yourself outside of this trip how often you will be hitting the surf. Some folks will say a $150 Lamiglass is a minimal starter surf rod. That doesn't make sense for my use on one trip. It's not that I am cheap, Last year I upgraded to a Sage One for my 3# fly rod because I use it most often. Usage frequency matters.

Here is what I, the owner of over 20 rods am purchasing-based upon my research:
2 of Bass Pro shop's "Offshore Angler Power Plus Trophy Class" rods, one 12' and one 15'. That will set me back only $70 total, and I'll use existing reels. I suspect your pier reels might work and you just need to pick up new rods for them. I respooled some existing reels with heavier braid. I will have 25# on one reel and 40# on the other. Those reels have 20# and 24# drag pressure respectively, and enough capacity hopefully to not get spooled. I understand you should use 10x breaking strength of the weight of sinker weight; so I can use up to 2oz on the 25# and 4oz on the 40# line. I have read you can put heavy shock leaders on lighter line to allow for the heavy sinkers to cast and hit the water safely if you don't want to respool.

If you don't have a Bass Pro nearby another inexpensive option would be Okuma Tundra rods, also under $35 and very well reviewed on Amazon. I'm sure there will be other great advice to come.

- Matt -


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## hugehail (May 25, 2013)

Thanks for the responses surf-a-fish and OHMatt. 

I use a spinning reel on the pier with small rods with 8 pd line that will fling a gotcha a long ways with minimal effort. I try to use a slightly longer rod for bottom fishing. We use St Croix and G Lumis. Heavier rods with heavier line will not cast a gotcha plug well at all and you tend to get worn out after awhile. So anyway, as you can see, I am not used to using a big fishing rod. We have never targeted big fish. We make our leaders
using 40 lb Fluoro and we don't lose many lures that way.

When I salt water fish, I like to target Blues/Spanish with gotcha-like plugs in the mornings and evenings. I say Gotcha-like and not gotcha, because my father made all of the lures I use from scratch with basic materials as well as making molds, pouring lead and use a lathe. His plugs are actually much better and last longer than the ones you buy. In my experience, Blues start the bite at around 63F surf temperature, with water that is at least has a little clarity (doesn't need to be clear). I also like to target Whiting when the WT reaches to about 58F. The interesting thing is that Flagler is located near the southern end of the migration, so that if you go not very far south, you can catch Blues/Whiting all winter. And Ive been told that in warm winters, these species bite all winter. But I am open to targeting other species too. I found in my research that the Pomps/Spanish arrive in late March into Flagler. 

I would like to know how to read the surf and fish holes. Thats why I would like to at least give surf fishing a try. Who knows, at the rate we are going wood piers will be a thing of the past soon.
If additional piers are made, they will be like the government pier called Jennettes in Nags Head NC.


Im glad I found that house in Flagler that is only 1400 for the month. I was going to stay 2 weeks but all the rentals were used up and the only option was a whole month. But Ive noticed that in march,
you can have a cold front that wrecks the fishing environment for a whole week at a time. So a month should guarantee that I get at least 2 good fishing weeks, I think.

I will study those suggestions you have me OHMatt.

How is Ponce Inlet? Is it worth a try?


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## OHMatt (May 8, 2014)

hugehail said:


> I would like to know how to read the surf and fish holes. Thats why I would like to at least give surf fishing a try. Who knows, at the rate we are going wood piers will be a thing of the past soon.


I'm not sure about external link rules here, so let me suggest you search google for "reading the water, again" and that should put you onto some great information with pictures, diagrams, and the works.

- Matt -


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## surf-a-fish (Feb 1, 2006)

JF,


Bring your favorite Got-cha rig and another rig around 11ft with lots of 12# mono, and Ill show you plenty of Blues, Pompanos, Whiting, Trout and (maybe) some Spanish within 45 min of Flagler next March. Do not bother with anything over 11ft. (IMHO) 

Plan on lots of fish and good times... March is great here and Ill fire up the ol' smoker for a little Smoked Bluefish to go with some beers. 

Any Questions... give a shout. Been chasin fish between Flagler and Crescent Beach long enough to know a spot or two or three or .... be sure to bring some of your Dads lures and a few sting silvers as well... Matazas Inlet( a little north of Flagler ) on a falling tide in March can be Fantastic!! Blues, Trout and Drum!..


Cheers,

JM


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## hugehail (May 25, 2013)

Sounds good. Give me a shout sometime. 620-253-3157


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## surf-a-fish (Feb 1, 2006)

Go to YouTube and look up the work of 311POPE, most everything youll need to know for your visit is covered beautifully in his work. Also take a look at Matanzas Inlet on google maps. In addition to the beach fishing, this inlet will be red hot for Blues in the spring and a great spot for fishing sting silvers and gotchas.

When you come Ill be happy to show you around if you like. Ill post some public beach access locations between Flagler and St Augustine Beach later.

JM


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## hugehail (May 25, 2013)

*Matanzas*

I actually wanted to go March 10 to april 10, but I had to do it by the month. But at least the whiting should be in the in early march provided there is no big storm. The blues may not show until
March 10-15 although in the very warmest years they appear earlier or dont go away at all during the winter.

I heard about Matanzas Inlet in my research. I just looked on google maps and I see a pier and a bridge. 



surf-a-fish said:


> Go to YouTube and look up the work of 311POPE, most everything youll need to know for your visit is covered beautifully in his work. Also take a look at Matanzas Inlet on google maps. In addition to the beach fishing, this inlet will be red hot for Blues in the spring and a great spot for fishing sting silvers and gotchas.
> 
> When you come Ill be happy to show you around if you like. Ill post some public beach access locations between Flagler and St Augustine Beach later.
> 
> JM


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## DANtheJDMan (Aug 29, 2012)

You need to hook up with Solid7.
He lives in Melbourne Beach. I went fishing with him in Dec and he was catching nice pomps but he was using a crazy long 16 ft rod and reaching the bar. 

There are still a lot of fish up close but the pomps and big whiting seemed to be way out there. There is a tackle place there called Black Dog the guy was really nice. We were fishing just down from there. You can reach the bar but its a long cast there anyway.


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## hugehail (May 25, 2013)

Not sure what you mean by reaching the bar. I thought the fish were in the slough between the bars? Do you mean the 2nd gut?


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