Bring a generous supply of hydrogen peroxide. Apply liberally to hands every time you get out of the water. You end up getting lots of little cuts from handling the fish / line / hooks / etc and the bacteria in the water will turn your hands to crab claws if you don't. Leave any extra that's left over for the next guy.
I've been 4x. Always had my best fishing wading. The specs for me are usually on the surf side. Wade out past the breakers, hold your rod above your head till you get to the second sand bar. Cast back to the beach from the second sandbar. Hard to fish that quietly from a skiff, the surf is usually dragging you off anchor.
Early morning fish top water, walking the dog - gaudy shiny iridescent silver w/ red, pink and/or blue trim. Top water bite usually doesn't last much past dawn, but most of my bigger fish were caught that way. Plastic Cochahoes on a lead head slow rolled on the bottom with the usual variation in tempo, pauses and twitches till you find what they want. If the bite slows try rigging tandem Cochahoes. Normally not worth the aggravation surf fishing, but can help trigger a bite sometimes.
Spool your reel with braid, but use about a 6' mono leader, no more than 12# test. Check your drag frequently - it tends to get sticky fishing the surf. Cut and retie every 4 or 5 fish to prevent losses dur to abraided leader.
Use a floating fish basket not a stringer. Lots of folks have been "nibbled" by bull sharks trying to get trout on a stringer wrapped around the fisherman's ankles.
HTH
David
Last edited by Canazes9; 07/27/16.
