New here Lots of Questions on Surf Fishing

[TXBBQDUDE]

Hey everyone I have been lurking for a bit and finally joined up. I am a transplant here to LA from South Texas. I grew up Hunting and fishing been all over (ex Army) but work brings me to this great State. First of all I have fallen in love with the people and places in South West Louisiana i have never meet a nicer bunch of people in my life. The family and I love it here. We had access to bay fishing in the Corpus Christi area and love Reds, Trou,t and Flounder but especially those reds. Don't have easy access to a boat here so I will probably get a guide a couple times a year but would really like to get the kids and wife into surf fishing. The problem is I have bay fished and I have bass fished but I have never surf fished. I will eventually get myself a kayak but I really want to surf fish think it would be a ton of fun for the family. Any and all advice on locations, tackle, bait, ect would be welcomed. I would not even know where to start asking. I am in the Sulphur area so Holly Beach is where I would guess is a good place to start. But being from Texas I am use to traveling to fish if needed.

[sparkyc4]

Holly Beach is a good start. Wait for calm seas or a north wind for a day or two to clean up the water. If you have 12" of vis or better, you should do well on trout, any less and target reds in the muddy areas. Bay and beach tackle is interchangeable for the most part. Throw top water if the waves are small (Top dogs and she dogs) until 7:30 or 8 am, then switch to Norton Sand eels with a 1/4 red jig head. If the water isn't right, MOVE WEST. Hope this helps.

[TXBBQDUDE]

Day and night fishing about the same? How far out do I need to get the bait? Any particular rig?

[Roy123]

If its an incoming tide and the water against the sand is green with bait, then the trout will be in the first sandbar trough. If the tide is outgoing i like to fish the second trough. Sometimes you have to kind of do what the fish tell you too.

[TroutSupport.com]

Originally Posted by TXBBQDUDE

Day and night fishing about the same? How far out do I need to get the bait? Any particular rig?

And don't forget about the rock groins at Holly Beach.. Redfish will be right up against the rocks, and trout on the outer edge usually. But they also roam the area like said above and if there is bait on the edge of a trough, then they can be there as well. These were methods similar to what we did on a trip with HackBerry Rod and Gun in Hackberry. The Stansel brothers and crew at the lodge are great people and definitely worth a trip with. See if you can round up some of your work buddies and split a trip with them.

You can use lures if you have casting or spinning rods that are light enough,.. med light, med, or med heavy. (The medium in 6'6 to 7' is probably the best all around rod for this). Med heavy is good for chunking live or cut bait under a popping cork.

Lures,... small topwater will get the job done for sure... any small walk the dog lure will work. Spook junior in bone or chrome or any white, chrome, bone, gold and chartreuse combination will be fine. The other is casting a soft plastic under a small cork (albeit harder to cast into the wind). Casting soft plastic like a Hackberry Hustler (TTF) with a 1/8th oz jig head if you can either by itself or under a mauler or cigar click cork like the cajun thunder (actually the cajun thunder cast pretty well). Silver spoon cast great into the wind when a little windier.

[reelguy1]

Everything that SparkyC4 said is spot on. This time of year you can catch specks near the tide breakers at Holly Beach in the morning. If you have a cast net and know how to throw it, try catching some live finger mullet or cocahoe minnows beforehand and keep them in a floating bait bucket tethered to your belt. These types of bait fish will usually catch bigger trout than live shrimp. Pogies and small croakers are also good. If you are fishing near the rocks you may want to use a rattling cork so that you don't get hung up. You can also catch reds there by getting on the rocks and throwing out into the Gulf with a bottom rigged bait.

If you like to catch redfish, the Cameron jetty area is a good spot. There's a parking lot and boat launch at the end of Davis Rd. Find yourself a spot on the rocks near the boat launch and carolina rig your line with a fresh piece of cut mullet. You should be able to catch some bull reds there. I've also caught flounder and specks there as well.

Try doing this first before spending hundreds of dollars on a guide.

[Whodat671]

Just got back from holly beach. Surf fished most of the day but would hit the canals from the road when the tide would start falling. Caught some nice reds and flounder from the rocks towards Johnson bayou and found a limit of specks off the road where the water was bringing the bait out at falling tide. Fun weekend

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[TXBBQDUDE]

Used many a popping cork at Baffin Bay so that is an easy method most of the takle I got is med to light. I will eventually get some heavier stuff thanks for the point I the right direction.

[Pat Babaz]

check out this video. This is pretty much the standard way of catching bull reds at holly beach. Also, welcome to Salty Cajun and southwest LA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9s-MmGzXiA

[TXBBQDUDE]

Plan to hit the beaches hard starting next month.