[sfdragon]

every year from june till september i hit the beaches from pacifica to fulton street in search of them stripers...

i usually use an assortment of lures with occasional luck.

recently... i went with a friend and after having him ask me to show him how to fish the beaches with lures...

i figured out i actually don't know the proper techniques!

i have just been tossing lures out as far as i can and then varying my reeling back in of my lure.

basically relying on luck!

so my question is what is the proper techniques for reeling in lures?

i understand each lure is used differently...

any responses hopefully will help me or anyone else when they fish the beaches.

an example might be when using hair raisers... should the pole be held up or at a low angle?

and should the retrieval be constant or herky jerky?

or when the lure hits the water... should you wait for it to sink? or should you start reeling in at various speeds?

these simple answers can be very helpful to us if indeed there is a proper technique?

reading beaches and knowing which lures to use can be figured out with lots of practice and experience gained from hours of fishing but... learning proper technique will greatly enhance the fishing experience i believe... (^__^)

[sfdragon]

or maybe someone has a few helpful websites that offer tips?

[pinfish]

i have deduced that right now its early so the stripers are gathering sand crabs and ambushing perch up and down the beach hitting holes and troughs during the tidal changes. thus you want a lure that hugs the bottom.

with the waves you'd have to consider the weight of these lures otherwise they're not sinking

later when there are schools of baitfish like anchovies the bass are midwater and topwater. And later in the year the baitfish are bigger. so your lure sizes and placement changes

so to answer your question i just believe its matching the hatch and placement of such lures in their strike zone

Basically its placing the lure in front of their faces if you can find them.

anyways i'm no seasoned veteran to this type of fishing but i am a seasoned veteran of fishing in general

[sfdragon]

thanks pinfish... your advice is greatly appreciated!

what do you think of retrieval methods?

letting the lure stay out there longer or bringing it back fast or slow?

my experience has been the fish usually strikes soon after the lure hits the water.

so i'm guessing the lure has found a hole or i hit the fish on his head... lol

just pure luck on my part i guess...?

but, when retrieving a lure i seldom get a hit... that's why i'm wondering if there s a proper method for retrieving each kind of lure?

[pinfish]

I think those wood lure are the only ones that need such attention.

I have a popper and a darter. The darter you let sink and pull it, sink, pull, sink. The popper you stick the pole on your hip or between your legs and wiggle. It gurgles and spits on the surface in between wave sets. I don't have the right rod to execute these tasks properly so it gets tiring.

[sfdragon]

did some tossing today with a wide variety of lures... noticed a few regulars throwing and retrieving with different methods each throw.

decided to ask them... they told me they didn't have one specific style.

but, that their many years of fishing the beach has shown them that finding holes and beach reading is much more important than how you retrieve your line.

i guess that makes sense.

but, i still wonder if how you retrieve your line can help improve your chances?

no luck today but, i saw a couple brought in.

[dreamfly]

Can you describe what kind of lures you guys are using? How heavy? What kind of rod? Line #. Thanks!

[sfdragon]

i'm using a 10ft diawa sealine-x with a diawa emblem 5500t spooled with 25lb pline and a 40lb shock leader... tossing an assortment of 2 ounce mikeys/hair raisers//swim baits and big hammers.

mostly i see alot of 2-3 ounce mikeys being used.

as well as chartuese hair raisers.

but, lately i noticed quite a few poppers landing fish.

[kaleo]

Some reasons to hold your rod low on the retrieve:
keeping a low angle on the line to keep the lure running deeper;
leaving lots of room to set the hook;
keeping the line down out of the wind.

Some reasons to hold your rod high on the retrieve:
keeping a high angle on the line to keep the lure at the surface;
getting a little better sensitivity to feel subtle strikes or bottom structure;
keeping the line up out of the waves.

Learn to read structure (holes, rips, troughs, etc), its probably the most important skill to have. Grubbing for surfperch will improve your eye for structure and can improve your success with stripers dramatically.

For "heavy" plugging I prefer 15 lb orig pline with my 11' Cosmotech (obsolete) for throwing 1oz to 2.5oz. I like Krocs over Mikis, a 1.5oz chrome/prism tape Kroc is my secret weapon when anchovies are in, pulled in mid-water to just sub-surface on a moderately fast retrieve. Truthfully I haven't busted out that rod in awhile now.

For medium plugging I like 12 lb orig pline with a 9' Cabelas tourney trail imx rod, its good for throwing 1/2oz to 1-1/2oz. I'm addicted to this combo and have done reasonably well on it over the past couple of years. It was the legendary Cayucos Jack who originally recommended the rod.

For light plugging (mostly grubbing) I use 10 lb fireline or 8 lb orig pline with a 7' rod that's good for 3/8oz to 1oz. Especially with the fireline, its light enough to respect the fight in a perch.

Other PFICers will have better suggestions, this is just stuff that has worked for me.

[calrat]

10 foot ron arra (super surf series anyone?)
Van Staal

Topwater rules!

[pinfish]

[1014]

[fish4keep]

[sfdragon]

i see there's lots of helpful information posted for beach fisherman today...

thanks for the great info...



and i'll gladly take one of those rod/reel combo's calrat is (graciously) offering... thanks good buddy (O___O)

[norcalkat]

this is some great info,

i am headed out tomorrow, just not sure if its gonna be pacifica area or half moon bay, or even south of santa cruz.