Good evening all. One of the things I want to do with this subreddit is to make it as informative as possible to people at all levels of the hobby. To that end, I am using this post to kick off what I hope to turn into a recurring series of Species Spotlights, where we can discuss specific sportfish species frequently targeted from shore, tactics, recipes, etc.

Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis)

The striped bass is arguably the most sought after gamefish on the east coast of the United States. It is regularly targeted in bays, rivers, the surf, and the open ocean, with a wide variety of tackle and techniques. Obviously, we will be focusing on surf techniques here. Being highly migratory, the striped bass is targeted heavily at different points along the coast at different times of year. During the cold winter months, they reside to the south, along the Carolinas and Virginia. In the spring, they begin moving north to New England for the summer before moving back down in the fall.

Tackle

Standard surf gear is recommended. If fishing bait, a 10-12' rod with a 5000-7000 size reel is best. The bait used will determine hook size and style, and ocean conditions will determine the weight of your sinker. If fishing artificials (my favorite), I prefer a 10' rod paired with a 5500 size reel. I rarely spool anything heavier than 40lb braid, and use a monofilament leader ranging from 30-60lbs and 2-4' in length.

Tactical Angler or similar clips are, in my opinion, essential for plugging. The ability to change lures rapidly and almost without looking is simply too useful to overlook. Hardware for bait soaking will include appropriately sized swivels, sinker clips, and weights.

Bait and Lures

Striped bass are predatory fish. They consume a wide variety of prey items, and understanding what they are eating, why, and how is essential to targeting them efficiently. Many fishermen like to keep fishing journals over the years so that they can reference what the fish were eating on a given date and under particular conditions later.

Common prey of the striped bass include the infamous menhaden or bunker, sand eels, mullet, sand crabs (sometimes called sand fleas), peanut bunker, and surf clams. Over time, you will begin to notice patterns in what the fish tend to be feeding on. For instance, here in New Jersey, it is fairly common for the fish to be keyed in on large schools of small sand eels in the fall and early winter. When these fish choose a food source, they are well known to be extremely picky, and will often turn away from other bait, even when presented easily.

Fresh bait is excellent, but what about those of us that like lures? There are a wide range of options out there made to mimic bait, sometimes generally, sometimes very specifically. Some common and productive lures include: bucktails, minnow style swimmers (SP Minnow, Hydro Minnow), pencil poppers, little neck poppers, rubber shads/swimbaits, darters, glide baits, and metal lip swimmers. This list is most definitely not exhaustive; there are literal books written on this subject, and we have a finite space here.

When it comes to lure selection, try to match the hatch. If the fish are feeding on adult bunker, choose a large profile swimmer, like a metal lip or minnow style. For smaller forage, like peanut bunker, a Mag Darter or bucktail may be more efficient. That sand eel bite I mentioned earlier? During those, you will see hundreds of people lined up on the beach, all throwing the same thing: a metal diamon jig with a colored latex tube on the hook, with a small fly/teaser above it. When it comes to colors, you can stress yourself out as much as you like, but just a few colors will cover 95% of your bases: White/bone, black/blurple, yellow, and pink. You will see some variations on these, like the pattern known as "chicken scratch," but even plainly colored plugs in these colors will do the job nicely.

Tactics and Techniques

When it comes to stripers, the night time is the right time. They like to hunt from just before dusk until just after dawn. Follow the same rules you do for all surf species: Look for structure, select your bait carefully, and be patient. If you choose to fish at night, there are some precautions you should take. Keep a headlamp on you, preferably one with a red light. Red light does not travel as far, and bright artificial lights are known to kill even the best bite for a while. Be cautious with where you are standing. It does not take much for a wave to knock you down and drag you to a slow, terrifying death. As one redditor put it: The ocean is not actively trying to kill you, but it is aggressively indifferent to your survival.

When you have picked your real estate, whether it be a hole in a sand bar or the wreckage of an old pier, get to work. Bait is easy enough; put it where you think the fish are and wait. Lures require a bit more finesse. Stripers generally do not want to expend any more energy than they have to; life in the ocean is hard, and food may not come back around anytime soon, so conservation of energy is vital. They like slow moving, erratic baits. The slow part goes quadruple for nighttime; if you think you are cranking slow enough, slow down some more. Random, non-patterned jerks and pops of the bait will often trigger a bite.

Conservation and Table far

Striped bass conservation on the east coast is a...touchy subject. There is a growing number of people in the community who are deeply concerned for the future of the species, as population numbers and quality seem to be drooping in recent decades. The causes for this are hotly debated by everyone.

As fishermen, it is our duty to act as stewards of the resources we use for our entertainment. If we want to continue to enjoy fishing for these animals, we must ensure that they stick around long enough for that to happen. Many people enjoy keeping fish often, and I know that many of those people do so without care for size or bag limits. It is an unfortunate reality of the world we live in. However, I strongly encourage everyone to consider their personal impact on the environment and living things around them before doing so. Their conservation status is also reflected in the techniques used to target them, how many fish can be kept, what size fish, etc. For example, some states only allow bait fishing with circle hooks to help reduce post-release mortality. Check your local regulations before setting out.

Like the reasons for their decline, the quality of striped bass as a food species is also debatable. Many people, especially older people, grew up keeping and eating them often, and will loudly proclaim that there is no better eating fish in the ocean. Others will tell you that, yes, they taste fine, but there are far better options out there. One thing to consider is that like all animals, they will take on some of the flavor of what they have been eating, so choose wisely.

I hope everyone finds this informative. I will pin it for a while; please add or ask anything you like in the comments.

I put some details below but honestly I'm open to all recommendations and cool bags!

Specifically, I'm looking for a a bag to set up for general surf/shore fishing in saltwater. I'd like something that's good for either hiking and scrambling from parking to a remote rocky point or for carrying gear from my car to the sand and using it as a "base station" while I manage rods. I've been using a small dry bag with a shoulder strap, but I'm outgrowing it and looking for something with more tackle storage. My ideal bag would have:

• A truly waterproof compartment for phone at minimum, better if it fits more like lunch and a hoodie, etc..

• Room for tackle box/tray storage. Doesn't need to be racks just enough space. I use mostly Plano 3600 size so that's probably the minimum width I'd want.

• Backpack preferred but open to shoulder bags

• Bonus points for:

  • insulated drink storage
  • Somewhere to strap on a collapsed rod
  • Access to tackle without opening waterproof compartment
  • tough material to survive rocks and brush
  • MOLLE webbing

I know a lot of y’all up north throw bucktails and other lures into the surf, as well as gulf coast fisherman. I’m around the space coast and i don’t ever really see people doing that, and i’ve never had much luck myself. Are some beaches just not suited to that approach, or am I just not trying hard enough?

Anyone been out recently? Any luck?

I want to use this post to address some common questions and concerns people have had about the sport. The surf fishing community is fairly small, especially when you compare it to fly fishing or LMB fishing. And the equipment we use is often specialized, and made by smaller operations.

Can I use my freshwater gear for surf fishing?

You can, but I would recommend against it. Saltwater fish, generally speaking, are larger and stronger than their freshwater counterparts. The rod and reel that let you enjoy the fight of a chain pickerel will be severely outgunned by a cocktail bluefish, if you can even get your bait out fair enough with it. Further, saltwater destroys everything. It will eat away at freshwater gear in short order, often even with proper rinsing.

So what is the gear I have to have to get going?

At minimum, you will need a rod, reel, line, and bait of some kind. If you are fishing with bait, you will need leader material, hooks, sinkers, and your bait of choice. If you are fishing with plugs (artificial lures), you will need leader material and the lures in question.

But what about all of the other stuff people carry?

There are lots of things that are good to have, but not technically necessary. I would strongly recommend also getting the following items: waders (climate dependent), aluminum or titanium pliers with braid cutters, a knife, fish grips or Boga grip, polarized sunglasses if you fish during the day, a surf belt and plug bag if you walk the beach with artificials, one handed bolt cutters. This will be en evolving list.

Can you recommend specific gear for ______ fishery?

Sort of. The kind of fish you are targeting, and the place you intend to do it, will heavily affect what gear you use. I mostly fish for striped bass and bluefish in the mid-Atlantic region. My gear will be very different from someone targeting GTs in Australia. But here are some general guidelines:

• Surf rods are generally 8-12' long. A properly set up 12' rod will generally get you more casting distance than its shorter counterparts, but that is often not as big a concern as people think. I mostly fish a 10' rod, rated for lures 3/4-4oz. It gets me the distance I need without anything extraneous. For species closer to the shoreline, like fluke, an 8' rod would be more appropriate. Penn and Tsunami make some good starter surf rods. When you are ready to upgrade, higher end Tsunamis like the Airwave Elite, or ODM's DNA line are great choices.

• Your surf reel should definitely be a saltwater ready one. Ideally, it will have rubber gaskets at entry points to prevent water and sand from getting inside; this is particularly important for plugging, as you WILL be getting hit with waves. Most of the big name brands make good options, and you will want to size the reel to match the rod. Different brands size their equipment differently, but generally speaking, a 4000-4500 size reel will do well on an 8-9' rod, a 5000-6000 size reel will do well on a 10' rod, and 6000-8000 size reels will be for big 12' or larger rods. Again, this is all generalization, and dependent upon application. The Penn Spinfisher line, Shimano Saragossa and Spheros lines, and the Daiwa BG line are all great places to start.

• We can fight all day about who makes the best line. Most of us prefer braid for its strength to diameter ratio, as well as its almost nonexistent stretch. Power Pro, Spiderwire, and Daiwa J Braid are some of the heavy hitters in the line business.

• Hooks. So many hooks. Again, you want to tune these to your application. Fluke fishing? You want a bucktail and some baitholders for your Gulp! mullets. Soaking bait chunks? Circle hooks are the way to go. Swapping out the trebles on your SP Minnow? Inlines. When lookin at a pack of hooks, you will often see a size (0, 1, 2, 2/0, 3/0, etc) and a strength rating (1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, etc). The kind of fish and size of your bait will determine what size you need; if the hook and bait are too big, the fish will not get them in their mouths. Too small, and you will not get a good hookset. I tend to get the strongest hooks I can, because we have all lost fish due to bent out hooks. I prefer Owner hooks; they tend to last the longest for me. VMC is also extremely popular, but I find that they rust out on me.

• Lures. There are too many options to list in this post. We will rely on future participation and posts to list viable options for the different fisheries around the world.

How do I know where to fish?

Google Earth is your best friend here. Use it to scope out prospective locations, and visit them are various times. High tide, low tide, morning, evening, middle of the night. Become familiar with their layout so that you can find your preferred spots easily later. Fish tend to orient on structure, so look for jetties/groins, sandbars, wrecks, anything that bait will hide in, and focus your efforts there. There are lots of YouTube videos about how to 'read the beach,' and this is an extremely important skill to have.

Can I eat this fish?

Probably? Check your local regulations. Let us know how it was if you do.

This post is just a starting point, and will evolve as the subreddit grows and discussions take place. If anything is not clear, please feel free to let me know or make a post.

Welcome to r/surf_fishing! The subreddit is brand new, though I hope it takes off and we can all find a comfortable home here for the sport we all love. My hope is that we can avoid unnecessary drama, and stick to fishing discussions. Surf fishing is a small community, and I see no reason to make it smaller by being assholes to each other about irrelevant topics.

Given how new the sub is, please post here or message me with anything you would like to see implemented, including flair suggestions for more specific locations or topics than what I have applied.