Surf Fishing, Shark Fishing, and Stingray fishing Basics

nikolasbarrios · 08-26-2010, 04:37 AM

Im looking for ANY information related to stingray, surf, and shark fishing.

Im primarily fishing for sharks but I currentely have cheap gear.
$30 Tiger pole and reel setup from walmart with 60lb mono, 3 foot steel leaders, circle and J hooks, pyrimid and slider weights.

HELP!
Im currentely having trouble keeping my line straight it seems that the surf is causing me to get a lot of slack.

How do I catch stingrays?

When should I begin fishing for stingrays and sharks?

Thanks Everyone.

Orangebeach28 · 08-26-2010, 10:05 AM

don't worry about the cheap gear man - you can still get bites...

What kind of reel is it? You can keep a fish on with weak drag as long as you got enough backing. That 60 lb mono is damn heavy unless you got it on a big Senator. I go after blacktips with 30lb braid mounted on Ebay bought Peen 750's. That's all I need, I just have to let em' run. With braid, I got the 300 yds to play with. I'm worried that you don't have the backing to hold a shark's first run if you're using 60lb test??

3 foot steel leaders are a little short. Even a small shark can tail whip that mono. It helps that it's 60lb test, but if you hook into a 6 foot bull, he's gone.

You're good on the slide pyramid weights. However, be sure you have enough weight to reel down tight on that bait. This will help prevent slack. However, don't use so much that a shark could feel it when it picks up the bait. If you have to use more than 10 oz, the surf might be a little too big anyway.

As far as the slack in your line - 2 tips

1, get a tall rod holder and long pole (I use a 10 foot med heavy)
This will help get your line out and over the surf break that constantly drags on your line, your bait, and eventually causes slack

2, get that bait further out
Buy a cheap inflatable and get that bait way out (at least 100 yds). Remember, mono stretches like crazy. The further your line is out, the more it can stretch in the current without moving your bait. If you've got the money, buy a kayak, obviously that's a little more security when you're paddling bloody fish out at dusk! I use the inflatable cuz' I'm cheap... If you switch to braid, you won't get any stretch, so make sure you rod tip has little flex to compensate (med heavy vs heavy).

Hope that helps

Catching sting rays is hit or miss. I tend to catch em' on sandfleas in the surf. I hate them, but they're great for sharks (they don't fall apart).

nikolasbarrios · 08-26-2010, 03:15 PM

Hey thanks man thats a lot of good information.

Im using 60lb cajun line from walmart its the smallest in diameter with the least stretch and the most yardage.
An open faced reel attached to an 8ft medium-heavy
Should I make my own leaders or can I buy 6 foot ones?
Can someone please show me a pic of how to setup my pole for surf fishing (hooks, weights, leader, swivels...)?

Dont call me crazy yet lol.
I have an extra spool to fit my pole that is spooled up with 30lb mono. This is just incase I hook on to something bigger than I plan for (**it happens). I leave a small tail with a loop in the end so that I can put my secondary line through the eyes and connect to my original line with a clip. After clipping the two lines together I remove my original spool, connect my secondary spool, and continue to fight. This allows me to have 700yrds. Thats all I should need for navarre or destin. Feel free to call me stupid if you must but fact is my tackle combined probably cost less than most peoples hooks and im fine with that till I get some money saved up. lol

Orangebeach28 · 08-26-2010, 03:44 PM

I make my own leaders. Since I'm not casting my bait at all, I make my leaders 8 ft. I crimp 80 lb coated wire to 200 pound swivels. Go to any bait shop and they can show how to get the right sleeves and wire. I use anywhere from a 9 ot to an 11 ot circle hook. I put a slider rig above my leader with a 5 oz weight. I like a lady or a blue fish cut in half for bait.

I like your idea for clipping the secondary line, but I've never heard of someone actually pulling something like that off. I think that shark will be in Cuba before you get that secondary spool attached....But if you got the guts to try it, let me know if it works!

nikolasbarrios · 08-26-2010, 03:54 PM

lol im gunna have to make it work if I wanna land that monster. Thanks for the info.

captainblack · 08-26-2010, 09:02 PM

i dont want to put doubt into you, but trying to switch spools and do the line clipping thing while fighting a shark, just seems a little hard to impossible. I mean its a neat idea, but in practice i see it being VERY VERY difficult, the fish on the other end of that line might stop running and give you enough time to do this, but then again it might stop for a second, then decide to put the jets back on and take off

if i can give you a tip on a cheap reel that has worked really well for me, shakespeare has some cheaper conventional reels, i got an arsenal trolling reel, it cost me like 33 dollars and then another 25 filling it with 300 yards of 50# braid then some 40# mono on top to finish filling it and add a little mono in case of getting broken on the bottom id lose mono not braid

cost 55 to 60 bucks for the reel to be ready to go but has handled quite a few 4 to 6 foot blacktips like a charm for quite a while, my other setup for anything bigger though is a penn 6/0 on a 6ft boat rod thats got alot of backbone

if youre gonna tackle a monster the right equipment pays off for sure, im on a tight budget so i know its a pain but you dont need 400 dollars worth to get by cheap works but there is a point where its a little better to try to get a little better setup (if you have your reel smoked and ruined, or just get spooled every hookup, eventually youll be losing line often enough or replacing the reel if its got plastic parts in the drag and getting fed up)

as far as stingrays, you can work with what you got now for sure, i always use cutbait on the bottom or sometimes sand fleas work, they fight really hard and a 2ft wide ray will fight like a beast from hell and will be very fun (theyre not bad eatin either)

if you have problems with line drifting in the wave action, if you cant get a longer rod, try to get a piece of pvc pipe of diameter that fit the rod butt in it, cut the bottom at an angle to where its got a point, cut it about 4 to 5 feet long that way you can really push or bury it down a foot to a foot and a half deep and still have a good 3 1/2 to 4 feet sticking up to put the rod in, it will lift your rod tip and line to 12 feet giving you a little more room to keep your line above the waves

also make sure youre sinker pulling the line and therefor bait as well beyond the wave action far enough to keep youre line a little more out of the currents and action and also get your bait where the feeding is happening. if its for rays, on a calm day this time of year, around sunset you can cast real close to shore for them, youll even see them come right up to your feet at the shoreline which you probably have seen before if youve been to the beaches in the fall in florida

stingray leaders i like to use 3 or 4 feet of 60# wire, shark leaders for blacktips ill use 100-200# coated wire 3ft-3ft of weed eater line, or just a 6ft wire leader, ill use cirlce hooks from 7/0 to 10/0 or 8/0 to 10/0 J hooks(i prefer circles)

if you upgrade to some heavier gear to handle a big bull or a hammer or something, you would want to go with 200# or more steel leader, i use either 8ft steel wire or 4ft wire/4 to 6ft of weed eater line (the weedeater line wont get tail slapped and broke like mono, and only the first few feet of the leader will be in danger of bite offs)

if your question of when to catch them means what time of year, any time, if you mean what time of day, really any time, but they tend to feed more early morning or late evening and i usually go overnight

hope some of this info helps

Sailor50 · 08-27-2010, 11:13 AM

Not into shark fishing yet but found this web site awhile ago and would probably be helpful if you dont have it already. Click on the Shark Handbook at the top of the page

Index page - TEXAS SHARK FISHING

mdrobe2 · 08-27-2010, 10:51 PM

you sound like you need some advice and what you are trying to accomplish shoiuld not be that tough. if i were you i would try around galvez landing. ditch your mono, or if you have to use it tie a leader with a sinker above it. use wire for sharks, but rays fall for mono. there are more sharks and rays than you can count in the intracoastal.

jdhkingfisher · 08-27-2010, 11:00 PM

captian black writin a novel up there. thats why he is considered a pro

nikolasbarrios · 08-28-2010, 01:04 AM

Ok first of all thanks for the great info everyone.
Secondly i've upgraded my tackle a little bit I now own 16ft of wire and a handful of clanps. Also I bought some ryno tuff weed eater line and some heavy duty swivels and hooks. Also I bought a 15ft pole to get my line way over the surf.
How should I rig it up?

08-26-2010, 04:37 AM	#1
nikolasbarrios Junior Member Cigar Minnow Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Mary Ester Florida Posts: 10	Surf Fishing, Shark Fishing, and Stingray fishing Basics Im looking for ANY information related to stingray, surf, and shark fishing. Im primarily fishing for sharks but I currentely have cheap gear. $30 Tiger pole and reel setup from walmart with 60lb mono, 3 foot steel leaders, circle and J hooks, pyrimid and slider weights. HELP! Im currentely having trouble keeping my line straight it seems that the surf is causing me to get a lot of slack. How do I catch stingrays? When should I begin fishing for stingrays and sharks? Thanks Everyone.

08-26-2010, 09:02 PM	#6
captainblack Senior Member Trigger Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Pensacola, FL. Posts: 355	i dont want to put doubt into you, but trying to switch spools and do the line clipping thing while fighting a shark, just seems a little hard to impossible. I mean its a neat idea, but in practice i see it being VERY VERY difficult, the fish on the other end of that line might stop running and give you enough time to do this, but then again it might stop for a second, then decide to put the jets back on and take off if i can give you a tip on a cheap reel that has worked really well for me, shakespeare has some cheaper conventional reels, i got an arsenal trolling reel, it cost me like 33 dollars and then another 25 filling it with 300 yards of 50# braid then some 40# mono on top to finish filling it and add a little mono in case of getting broken on the bottom id lose mono not braid cost 55 to 60 bucks for the reel to be ready to go but has handled quite a few 4 to 6 foot blacktips like a charm for quite a while, my other setup for anything bigger though is a penn 6/0 on a 6ft boat rod thats got alot of backbone if youre gonna tackle a monster the right equipment pays off for sure, im on a tight budget so i know its a pain but you dont need 400 dollars worth to get by cheap works but there is a point where its a little better to try to get a little better setup (if you have your reel smoked and ruined, or just get spooled every hookup, eventually youll be losing line often enough or replacing the reel if its got plastic parts in the drag and getting fed up) as far as stingrays, you can work with what you got now for sure, i always use cutbait on the bottom or sometimes sand fleas work, they fight really hard and a 2ft wide ray will fight like a beast from hell and will be very fun (theyre not bad eatin either) if you have problems with line drifting in the wave action, if you cant get a longer rod, try to get a piece of pvc pipe of diameter that fit the rod butt in it, cut the bottom at an angle to where its got a point, cut it about 4 to 5 feet long that way you can really push or bury it down a foot to a foot and a half deep and still have a good 3 1/2 to 4 feet sticking up to put the rod in, it will lift your rod tip and line to 12 feet giving you a little more room to keep your line above the waves also make sure youre sinker pulling the line and therefor bait as well beyond the wave action far enough to keep youre line a little more out of the currents and action and also get your bait where the feeding is happening. if its for rays, on a calm day this time of year, around sunset you can cast real close to shore for them, youll even see them come right up to your feet at the shoreline which you probably have seen before if youve been to the beaches in the fall in florida stingray leaders i like to use 3 or 4 feet of 60# wire, shark leaders for blacktips ill use 100-200# coated wire 3ft-3ft of weed eater line, or just a 6ft wire leader, ill use cirlce hooks from 7/0 to 10/0 or 8/0 to 10/0 J hooks(i prefer circles) if you upgrade to some heavier gear to handle a big bull or a hammer or something, you would want to go with 200# or more steel leader, i use either 8ft steel wire or 4ft wire/4 to 6ft of weed eater line (the weedeater line wont get tail slapped and broke like mono, and only the first few feet of the leader will be in danger of bite offs) if your question of when to catch them means what time of year, any time, if you mean what time of day, really any time, but they tend to feed more early morning or late evening and i usually go overnight hope some of this info helps __________________ cheers drinktank

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08-26-2010, 10:05 AM	#2
Orangebeach28 Senior Member Trigger Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Daphne, fish out of OB Posts: 251	don't worry about the cheap gear man - you can still get bites... What kind of reel is it? You can keep a fish on with weak drag as long as you got enough backing. That 60 lb mono is damn heavy unless you got it on a big Senator. I go after blacktips with 30lb braid mounted on Ebay bought Peen 750's. That's all I need, I just have to let em' run. With braid, I got the 300 yds to play with. I'm worried that you don't have the backing to hold a shark's first run if you're using 60lb test?? 3 foot steel leaders are a little short. Even a small shark can tail whip that mono. It helps that it's 60lb test, but if you hook into a 6 foot bull, he's gone. You're good on the slide pyramid weights. However, be sure you have enough weight to reel down tight on that bait. This will help prevent slack. However, don't use so much that a shark could feel it when it picks up the bait. If you have to use more than 10 oz, the surf might be a little too big anyway. As far as the slack in your line - 2 tips 1, get a tall rod holder and long pole (I use a 10 foot med heavy) This will help get your line out and over the surf break that constantly drags on your line, your bait, and eventually causes slack 2, get that bait further out Buy a cheap inflatable and get that bait way out (at least 100 yds). Remember, mono stretches like crazy. The further your line is out, the more it can stretch in the current without moving your bait. If you've got the money, buy a kayak, obviously that's a little more security when you're paddling bloody fish out at dusk! I use the inflatable cuz' I'm cheap... If you switch to braid, you won't get any stretch, so make sure you rod tip has little flex to compensate (med heavy vs heavy). Hope that helps Catching sting rays is hit or miss. I tend to catch em' on sandfleas in the surf. I hate them, but they're great for sharks (they don't fall apart).

08-26-2010, 03:15 PM	#3
nikolasbarrios Junior Member Cigar Minnow Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Mary Ester Florida Posts: 10	Hey thanks man thats a lot of good information. Im using 60lb cajun line from walmart its the smallest in diameter with the least stretch and the most yardage. An open faced reel attached to an 8ft medium-heavy Should I make my own leaders or can I buy 6 foot ones? Can someone please show me a pic of how to setup my pole for surf fishing (hooks, weights, leader, swivels...)? Dont call me crazy yet lol. I have an extra spool to fit my pole that is spooled up with 30lb mono. This is just incase I hook on to something bigger than I plan for (**it happens). I leave a small tail with a loop in the end so that I can put my secondary line through the eyes and connect to my original line with a clip. After clipping the two lines together I remove my original spool, connect my secondary spool, and continue to fight. This allows me to have 700yrds. Thats all I should need for navarre or destin. Feel free to call me stupid if you must but fact is my tackle combined probably cost less than most peoples hooks and im fine with that till I get some money saved up. lol

08-26-2010, 03:44 PM	#4
Orangebeach28 Senior Member Trigger Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Daphne, fish out of OB Posts: 251	I make my own leaders. Since I'm not casting my bait at all, I make my leaders 8 ft. I crimp 80 lb coated wire to 200 pound swivels. Go to any bait shop and they can show how to get the right sleeves and wire. I use anywhere from a 9 ot to an 11 ot circle hook. I put a slider rig above my leader with a 5 oz weight. I like a lady or a blue fish cut in half for bait. I like your idea for clipping the secondary line, but I've never heard of someone actually pulling something like that off. I think that shark will be in Cuba before you get that secondary spool attached....But if you got the guts to try it, let me know if it works!

08-26-2010, 03:54 PM	#5
nikolasbarrios Junior Member Cigar Minnow Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Mary Ester Florida Posts: 10	lol im gunna have to make it work if I wanna land that monster. Thanks for the info.

08-27-2010, 11:13 AM	#7
Sailor50 Senior Member Trigger Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Destin, Fl Posts: 257	Not into shark fishing yet but found this web site awhile ago and would probably be helpful if you dont have it already. Click on the Shark Handbook at the top of the page Index page - TEXAS SHARK FISHING

08-27-2010, 10:51 PM	#8
mdrobe2 Senior Member Sailfish Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Innerarity Point Posts: 1,220	you sound like you need some advice and what you are trying to accomplish shoiuld not be that tough. if i were you i would try around galvez landing. ditch your mono, or if you have to use it tie a leader with a sinker above it. use wire for sharks, but rays fall for mono. there are more sharks and rays than you can count in the intracoastal.

08-27-2010, 11:00 PM	#9
jdhkingfisher healthinspector Sailfish Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Pensacola Posts: 1,586	captian black writin a novel up there. thats why he is considered a pro

08-28-2010, 01:04 AM	#10
nikolasbarrios Junior Member Cigar Minnow Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Mary Ester Florida Posts: 10	Ok first of all thanks for the great info everyone. Secondly i've upgraded my tackle a little bit I now own 16ft of wire and a handful of clanps. Also I bought some ryno tuff weed eater line and some heavy duty swivels and hooks. Also I bought a 15ft pole to get my line way over the surf. How should I rig it up?

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