Do any of you fellows surfcast?

by Otony, Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 19:03 (2384 days ago)
edited by Otony, Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 19:11

I always wanted to as a kid when we would go to the shore Back East. However, family and friends dissuaded me, citing cost of equipment.

In my 20s and 30s I was a trout, bass, and catfish, crazy fool, but I was still interested in surfcasting. Again, my more knowledgeable fishermen friends kept me from it with talk of spendy tackle. A shame, really, because I was only about 45 minutes from the Pacific.

Now I'm living further from the ocean than at anytime in my life, and naturally I've decided to take it up.

There is a Cambodian fellow living over in Corvallis by the name of PK Yi, who espouses fishing the breakers for perch with relatively light tackle, 20lb braided line, 9.5' to 10.5' rods, and a maximum of a 2 ounce weight, with a pair of #2 hooks baited with artificial sand worms. His concept is to cast often and retrieve fairly fast. Cast 5 times, or for 5 minutes. No bites? Move down the beach.

He has well over 50 videos on YouTube, and is quite obviously enjoying the heck out of fishing. So much so that it is infectious, and I'm putting gear together to sally forth and do battle.

Turns out I already have a couple of 9.5' casting rods that meet his criteria, and I bought a 10' spinning rod to make sure my quiver is full. Reels? Don't ask, don't tell, right? Let's just say yeah, old Tony has a few extra reels stashed away.

So I have more than enough appropriate rods and reels to cover myself and probably the rest of the tribe in a pinch. I've ordered in some line and sinkers, and hit the local Sportsmans Warehouse for hooks. Gonna prepare some prebuilt leaders and get wet.

Haven't been excited about fishing for awhile, but darned if this hasn't fired me all up. Talked about it with a friend this morning, and it turns out he has access to some prime private river property, so we are going out for some bass here right quick. The fever just might be back!

Otony