# Surf Fishing Tips & Advice for a Newbie - Tybee Island



## Guest (May 9, 2017)

Hi, I'll be vacationing next month at Tybee Island and would like advice and tips on surf fishing there. My only experience surf fishing was last October near Panama City Beach. I did some online searching and did alright for my first time - caught 6 fish over three days. This is just for fun so not too worried about catching buckets of fish but would like to do better this time. 
My gear includes a Hurricane Blue Fin combo, homemade sand spike (pvc and garden stake), pompano rigs, pyramid weights. For bait, I used sand fleas that I caught but they seemed scarce so I purchased frozen sand fleas and frozen shrimp. I can't really say if the live fleas did better than frozen but they for sure did better than the shrimp. However, I did catch the biggest fish with a large, live sand flea! The shrimp just wouldn't stay on the hook for anything. 

So, what advice and tips can the experienced folks here provided? Anything different I should be doing? Bait recommendations? I've read a lot of reviews on the Gulp Alive peeler crabs, shrimp, and fleas as well as the Fishbites strips (available in calm, shrimp, flea, and crab). Would those be better than frozen bait to use on the pompano rig while I scavenge the beach for live fleas? 

Pics from the first trip. Red drum, whiting, and I do not know what the last one is. Can someone ID? 






Thanks in advance!


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

There is so much info in the South Carolina/Georgia Forum on this subject. Search in the forum for threads by 
my self (I know little but asked a lot of questions) and Fatback - he lives there and knows a lot about the fishing. I would post links but I don't want to anger the forum anti-thread nazi's


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## Guest (May 10, 2017)

spydermn said:


> There is so much info in the South Carolina/Georgia Forum on this subject. Search in the forum for threads by
> my self (I know little but asked a lot of questions) and Fatback - he lives there and knows a lot about the fishing. I would post links but I don't want to anger the forum anti-thread nazi's


Thanks!


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

southern kingfish and northern kingfish
both whiting. aka sea mullet, roundhead, VA mullet
and everybody's favorite: SAMMICH!


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

They make a killer Fish Taco too


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

Dr. Bubba said:


> southern kingfish and northern kingfish
> both whiting. aka sea mullet, roundhead, VA mullet
> and everybody's favorite: SAMMICH!


Thanks for the info. This helps as I've read a lot on here about whiting, kingfish, and mullet but was unaware that they were the same thing!


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

Jollymon said:


> They make a killer Fish Taco too


Mmm, fish taco.


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

Jollymon said:


> They make a killer Fish Taco too


Oh Yeah!:beer:


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## Guest (May 12, 2017)

While researching baits and Tybee Island, I've seen it mentioned by Fatback on another forum that there are no sand fleas on Tybee. This makes me wonder, would using sand fleas as bait be beneficial since it is scarce in the area or would the fish not be accustomed to it therefore preferring another such as shrimp? I'm overthinking it, however, I really get into the "science" of what bait works when and where.


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## Ajv5148 (Mar 3, 2017)

I've never seen a chartreuse fish and that color is popular, I've never seen chicken livers floating down the river but they catch catfish. I think a lot has to do with mimicking what they're feeding on, but sometimes fish are just downright hungry and that's all that really matters.


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## Guest (May 12, 2017)

Ajv5148 said:


> I've never seen chicken livers floating down the river but they catch catfish.


This made my LOL. Good point though.


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## Ajv5148 (Mar 3, 2017)

Glad you didn't take that the wrong way dgaplin. Some people on here can't take a joke anymore!


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## pmcdaniel (Nov 13, 2013)

First off, never use frozen "bait shrimp" - it's overpriced crap that wasn't good enough to make the grade to sell for human consumption. If you can't get fresh shrimp from a good source, just get food grade frozen raw shrimp from the frozen seafood aisle. Grab a box of mortons kosher salt off the spice aisle for a few bucks and use it to salt your thawed shrimp the day before you go fishing, use enough to give them a good coating, and throw them in the fridge. The shrimp will be much tougher, stay on the hook better, and will stay fresh longer.


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## Guest (May 19, 2017)

pmcdaniel said:


> First off, never use frozen "bait shrimp" - it's overpriced crap that wasn't good enough to make the grade to sell for human consumption. If you can't get fresh shrimp from a good source, just get food grade frozen raw shrimp from the frozen seafood aisle. Grab a box of mortons kosher salt off the spice aisle for a few bucks and use it to salt your thawed shrimp the day before you go fishing, use enough to give them a good coating, and throw them in the fridge. The shrimp will be much tougher, stay on the hook better, and will stay fresh longer.


Thanks for the advice!


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