General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

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Soke
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General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

Post by Soke » Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:20 pm

Hello, I live in Florida and want to get my feet wet doing some surf fishing. I'm looking for a general use setup under $250.

It'll be for throwing bait. From the research I've done, I think I'd be happiest with an 11' 2-8oz MH fast action rod but I'm not sure exactly what models I should consider. For the reel, something along the line of a daiwa bg saltwater 5000 or fin nor lt80/lt100 seems like it would suit my needs. I plan to use #20 mono. How does this sound, any recommendations?

Thank you

Cristo
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Re: General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

Post by Cristo » Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:34 am

Can you give us a little more Intel as far as species you may encounter Etc? I do a lot of shore fishing in California and when I started I got away with my bassing gear and still do :big grin: If you throwing bait you definitely will want to research Phenix. I have had great experience with their equipment. Their bass series will work well as well as their salt series. Out in Cali from shore or jettys I have run into spots, croakers, smaller Bonito, and hali using lures. Most guys when tossing cut bait from shore are targeting big Hali. Anyway try to get us some more detail and I'm sure one of us to help you out as I stated earlier don't be afraid to try bass gear. When I started I used a 1/4oz-1oz fast Phenix Maxim, also used OG Omen Blacks in similar ranges with shimano 51e reels all with 10lb floro. Those worked very well for me ;)

ScoobyDoo
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Re: General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

Post by ScoobyDoo » Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:25 am

WHen it comes to surf rods, Especially in that weight range. You reaaaaalllly should handle them in person.

A surf stick rated to 8 ounces could be a broom stick

8 ounces is a pretty heavy payload. what kind of baits are you throwing.

And with 6 ounces using 20lb mono. You may need to tie in a shock leader. Unless you go with something like 50lb braid.
The rule of thumb is 10lbs of line strength for ever ounce of weight.
If i'm throwing heavy payloads on a spinner, i either use a breakaway cannon (google it) or glove or tape up my finger.

I think the reel is a good choice and size as there are sharks to contend with.

But you may want to consider braid and if your not familiar with how braid handles.

If you are soaking bait a good entry level setup would be the Bass Pro ocean master rod. Paired to a baitrunner from shimano.
I prefer braid and haven't touched mono in the surf in 20 years.

If you can throw a conventional reel. An abu 7000 would be a great starter reel that you can grow with

Soke
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Re: General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

Post by Soke » Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:47 am

Cristo wrote:Can you give us a little more Intel as far as species you may encounter Etc? I do a lot of shore fishing in California and when I started I got away with my bassing gear and still do :big grin: If you throwing bait you definitely will want to research Phenix. I have had great experience with their equipment. Their bass series will work well as well as their salt series. Out in Cali from shore or jettys I have run into spots, croakers, smaller Bonito, and hali using lures. Most guys when tossing cut bait from shore are targeting big Hali. Anyway try to get us some more detail and I'm sure one of us to help you out as I stated earlier don't be afraid to try bass gear. When I started I used a 1/4oz-1oz fast Phenix Maxim, also used OG Omen Blacks in similar ranges with shimano 51e reels all with 10lb floro. Those worked very well for me ;)

Lets see: Bluefish, Reds, Snook, Tarpon, Blacktips, Jacks(Amber/Crevalle). That's interesting about using bass gear, it didn't cross my mind.
ScoobyDoo wrote:WHen it comes to surf rods, Especially in that weight range. You reaaaaalllly should handle them in person.

A surf stick rated to 8 ounces could be a broom stick

8 ounces is a pretty heavy payload. what kind of baits are you throwing.

And with 6 ounces using 20lb mono. You may need to tie in a shock leader. Unless you go with something like 50lb braid.
The rule of thumb is 10lbs of line strength for ever ounce of weight.
If i'm throwing heavy payloads on a spinner, i either use a breakaway cannon (google it) or glove or tape up my finger.

I think the reel is a good choice and size as there are sharks to contend with.

But you may want to consider braid and if your not familiar with how braid handles.

If you are soaking bait a good entry level setup would be the Bass Pro ocean master rod. Paired to a baitrunner from shimano.
I prefer braid and haven't touched mono in the surf in 20 years.

If you can throw a conventional reel. An abu 7000 would be a great starter reel that you can grow with
I don't even know if its necessarily to have a rod that can handle 8 ounces. From your response it sounds like that's on the heavier side of things. I'm going to BPS to handle their surf rods and get an idea of a weight preference. That said I'm not married to using #20 mono. I use #20 braid on my freshwater rod so I'm very familiar with braid. if it would be better for me then I'd use it instead. I'd like to use a variety of baits as I want to see what I prefer: so basically cut bait, shrimp, small live bait. I have very little experience with conventionals which is why I'd like to go with a spinner.


Thanks for the responses

NormanD
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Re: General purpose surf/beachcasting setup?

Post by NormanD » Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:53 pm

I fish in FL on the beach a lot and I only use bass gear. I am only throwing lures, but most of the better bait fisherman are fishing smaller rigs than you are talking about. I always recommend going MH bass rod. You want be able to land everything that you might encounter, but the average fish is going to be way more fun to catch.

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