Surf rods

[Carl L]

Thanks Carl. The 12 weight poles must be like pool cues?

If you want pool cues, drop over and I'll show you my old salt water meat stick.? ?Rated 80#, 8 feet long, and with sufficent backbone to cast a 2# chrome jig.? ?Great ling cod stick.? ?But you better use a shock leader lest you see your jig flying free down to the water 200 feet away.? ?(BTW the reel is a Penn 113H)? ;D

 

[Tom]

LOL Carl, I have a couple of those surf rods.

 

[Carl L]

LOL Carl, I have a couple of those surf rods.

Not a surf rod.  It is a boat rod.  I use it on party boats out of LA.  Used to be great as a deep water yo-yo rod back in the dear old days when you could rock cod.  My surf rod is 13 feet but not nearly so beefy.  I would not want to toss more than 2-3 oz on 20# line.

 

[Tom]

Oops, meant to say heavy boat rod. I haven't owned a surf rod since I fished the beaches in the UK, so I don't own a surf rod any more..

 

[Tom]

My surf rod is 13 feet but not nearly so beefy. I would not want to toss more than 2-3 oz on 20# line.

Since reading your message I've been researching some of my old photos. They bring back memories of fond days fishing the surf from a beach in South Wales. They have a 40 foot tide, and, with a shallow slope to the beach, we'd be constantly moving up the beach as the tide came in. We'd usually time our start around low tide and it would be a long walk to the surf.

I couldn't find any digital pics of that beach that illustrate the tidal effect, but here's a couple I took a few years ago of a place called Tenby, a short way around the coast, not quite at low tide. Those boats in the harbor really do float at high tide 

I now recall my surf rod was 11'6" long with a reverse-taper butt that produced a great action for tossing a 6oz lead into the surf. I sold the rod when we moved to CA and haven't seen another like it. OTOH I haven't done any surf fishing in the last 25 years 

 

[caltex]

Tom
I still have my surf rod from my days fishing Cape Hatteras thirty years ago.  12 foot long, so not a big one as surf rods go, but it caught a lot of stripers and blues from the beach.  It?s now recycled as a catfish rod, I use it off my dock to get out to the deeper channels.
Robert

 

[Tom]

A couple more examples of a beach at low tide, this one at Oxwich, on the Gower Peninsula. The second photo shows what happened when a couple of unsuspecting RVers/campers visiting this area left their toys "just outside the surf" and the tide continued to go out  ;D

 

[Tom]

I use it off my dock to get out to the deeper channels.

Didn't realize you used anything but the trot line for catfish at the lake.

 

[caltex]

Tom

The trot line is still sitting on the dock, so I am improvising.

Robert

 

[Carl L]

I now recall my surf rod was 11'6" long with a reverse-taper butt that produced a great action for tossing a 6oz lead into the surf. I sold the rod when we moved to CA and haven't seen another like it. OTOH I haven't done any surf fishing in the last 25 years?

Brit surf fishermen are sort of famous in surf lore for their long, long casts and windmill casting techique.  With that tidal range one could see how they would need radical technique for long casts.

Another surf group, more infamous than famous, are the shark fishers of Padre Island, TX.  Evidently their surf rig consist of roller tipped rods, wire leaders, 6/0 reels, and big trebles.  They are fishing for white shark!  The clowns throw a rotten meat bait out into the surf on the treble hooks by hand at low tide, and then walk back to the rods and sit down waiting for the flood tide whilst killing a six pack of Lone Star.    When a white hits the bait these clowns then set the hook and procede to fight the white in the surf.  The angler is trying to drag the white on shore, the white is trying to drag the angler into the Gulf.  Whoever, wins, gets dinner.  The general social class of these lads is redneck biker.

 

[Tom]

LOL Carl, I don't know what a windmill cast is, but the mind conjures up something really strange. The reverse tapered butt on my surf rod provided one great spring action for a straightforward cast.

BTW you and Caltex are giving me an inferiority complex with your 12' and 13' poles.

You made the one about the shark fishing up, right?  ;D