Duckman's beach report?
 

Give it up, man. We know you hit the beach last weekend. My son is pressing me to schedule the next trip and we're thinking about the tradeoffs between da beach and da boat. How'd y'all do?

Not worth a dang bro. Had to fish a different place. Our beach is barricaded off now. One 25" red in 4 hours. We pulled the plug at noon and headed north. West wind was nonstop and kept building all morning. It was 10/12mph constant when we left. Good luck and be safe on your next trip bro. Y'all go hamma them. We left em there for you.lol

Sorry to hear that. Is all of the newly made beach barricaded, or just the western edge where there is active work in progress?

Y'all fish Rutherford or somewhere else?

Thanks for the report. We'll bring the boat, it definitely gives us more options. We'll give you a heads up when we have dates.

The entire stretch is barricaded man. We just shifted a bit to the west of holly and set up. We still had a good time. Cant spank em every trip. Good luck too you guys and I hope your boxes are full.

That area looked great to us on google maps with the rock lines, but when we've looked in person it just seems too shallow, esp. during the colder months. If we end up fishing a beach, hopefully the barricades or down, or else we'll hit Rutherford. We may or may not have the pneumatic bait launcher put together yet. Been too busy with research and homeschool and other recreational activities to put it together. Planning on a 2" barrel with a 4" air chamber and a 2" ball valve, if I can find one that big without breaking the bank.

Its really shallow down that way man. I could wade out 50-75 yards and was still mid thigh to waist deep.

I've never done well in shallow water.

skip the ball valve and go with a modified sprinkler valve. Much quicker air release. Here is a link on how to modify/build the valve.
http://www.spudgundepot.com/videos.html

Go to rutherford! Always done better there on reds vs holly beach area.

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Can you recommend any rental camps on that side? We focus on the west side because we have a few camps we like to stay at on that side. We wouldn't mind driving down from the Heberts neighborhood, but man those rentals are pricey. We usually pay $400-$500 a week on the west side for good sized homes. I guess we could just drive down the Holly Beach side and take the ferry over.

We've always done well on the Holly Beach side since Duckman showed us the ropes. (Thanks Duckman!) The children also like the beach, just hanging out, chilling, looking for shells, making sandcastles, the usual beach stuff. The restored beach is very nice for people to play on and enjoy while waiting for a rod to bend. Strictly speaking, our preferred spots are a bit east of Holly Beach proper, about half way between Holly Beach proper and the channel, where the Gulf used to come right up to the road, but now the beach has been extended to about 250 feet from the road. The beach is also easier on my back (chilling in my fold up camp chair) than boat fishing.

Also, where do actually park to fish Rutherford? Can you actually drive onto the beach like you can over on the west side, or do you have to park on one of the nearby streets?

No idea about housing since i live only 40 mins away... But i just drive down the beach towards the west n find a spot...

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Thanks for the info and recommendations. I think we'll give 'er a try next trip that way if conditions are right. Probably in mid-Feb.

What size weight are yall using fishing the surf? I fished rutherford last year and could not keep the line tight with a 1 oz weight.

Fishing the surf on the Holly Beach side, I don't think we've thrown anything out less than 3 oz and nothing ever moved without a fish causing it. I know we used 4 oz egg sinkers on the new 12' Ugly Stiks, and no adjustments were needed. Our 8 ft poles are usually rigged with 1 oz egg sinkers, but the children were adding 2 oz pyramids from the tackle box.

When we fish outside the cut by the jetties, we sometimes need more than the 1 oz egg sinker that all the boat rods are rigged with. My daughter (in the front of the boat by the anchor line) likes to add 2 oz pyramid sinkers to her rigs for increased casting distance and to be sure any current that comes up doesn't push her baits back to the boat into her brothers' lines. Crab can catch a lot of current. I'm in the back of the boat in these deals, and I think it's an advantage for the current to move my bait along the bottom, so I cast out more to the sides, and the baits slowly drift to more the back with 1/2 to 1 oz egg sinkers.

Thanks for the info....carolina rig or dropshot?

Neither really, but closer to a carolina rig. The braid main line is threaded through the egg sinker and tied to a big snap swivel rated at 100-125 lbs. Then we use 3-4 feet of 80 lb mono leader tied to a swivel attached to the big snap swivel. This allows a fish to take the bait and pull line out (drags are loose) without feeling the egg sinker. If extra weight is needed, we attach a pyramid sinker to the big snap swivel. We keep steel leaders on hand if things get sharky. We also have some lighter leaders handy if needed.

In addition to adding weight easily, this set up allows for quick leader changes. I keep 5-10 extra leaders in clear plastic bags. When fish swallow the hook, we just disconnect the leader and put it in the ice chest with the fish. The whole rig is easily recovered by pulling it backwards through the stomach after the fish is filleted. Getting swallowed hooks out frontwards is way too much work. Released fish are released with any hooks they swallowed, as we reckon they have a better chance getting back in quick with a swallowed hook than surviving hook removal.

We tried some drop shot rigs once or twice inside the jetties. It was a mess. Snag city and tangles. The rigs described above work well enough inside the jetties as long as you reel them up a bit right after they hit bottom or use a line counter reel to let them down and keep them just above the bottom. People in the front of the boat (up current) use the heaviest weights and are closest to straight down. People in the back of the boat use lighter weights to get close to the bottom, but the baits are actually a good distance behind the boat in a strong current. It works well enough with some practice, but the bottom still takes a few hooks, leaders, and sinkers.