What to look for to find fish in the surf?

[CAS]

So my question is what optimal conditions do you look for when trying to find fish in the surf?

My understanding was tides and lunar movement both play a pretty big part in this so I had been focusing on these aspects.

I went wading at Surfside Beach on June 9th and caught my limit of trout by 8am. I went again yesterday July 7th with almost the same exact conditions and could not even catch a single keeper (caught a few dinks but that was it).

Is there another big factor I am missing out on? The winds both days were very calm. Bait used the first time was live shrimp on a cork and the second time we weren't able to find live shrimp and had to settle with dead. I don't think it was the bait because the first time around you could visibly see specs feeding everywhere in the surf and the next time the only things feeding were sharks and dolphins.

Here are some pictures of the two days side by side:

[SWFinatic]

the next time the only things feeding were sharks and dolphins.

This could have been the reason. Many times I've been wade fishing and catching keeper trout then the bite stops and a dolphin shows himself. Anytime I see a dolphin in the area I'll move on.

[CAS]

In my experience dolphins will move through the area and once they are out the fish come back. We saw them later in the morning around 8:30 but in the early morning there still were only trash fish in the surf and dinks.

Out of all 10 waders to our left and right we could see one with a keeper trout everybody else also had an empty stringer...

[Ron Mc]

I'd start by reading the sticky threads on corpusfishing.com forum - that's where the surf fishermen hang.
http://www.corpusfishing.com/messageboa ... um.php?f=1

[Neumie]

Don't really the surf, but a couple things could have been a factor. The current could have been moving differently or not as fast. How close was the blue water to the beach? Water temps were slightly warmer from the first trip to the second.

Just spitballing.

Also, look at the actual water and weather data rom the day. Forecast sites such as tides4fishing are great or planning, but what actually happens the day you're fishing could be drastically different. worth a look.

[mwatson71]

I fish the surf about as often as I fish the bay but would still not consider myself an expert at either.

First, I agree that the dolphins could have played a significant part in the lack of trout. Yes, the trout may move back in after the dolphins have left, but there will be fewer. Second, live shrimp will almost always catch more trout than dead shrimp. Back when I would use bait, live shrimp ALWAYS outperformed dead shrimp on trout. Finally, water color in the surf seems to be a pretty big deal during daylight hours (less so fishing the pier lights but still a factor). I always look for trout green water, small waves, and decent tidal movement. Throw a tandem rig or swim bait into the cut between the second and third sandbar on a day like that and your chances are good.

[Ron Mc]

If you run out of mullet steaks, sting-ray wing is the next best bull-red bait, and nothing can steal it from the hook.

In places like Arroyo dock fishing, I've caught limits of trout right on the tails of dolphins.
But it places like Long Reef in a power boat, a dolphin can shut down the fishing for an hour - the power boat probably helps.

Just about any lure will catch trout ahead of dead shrimp, and live shrimp will catch trout ahead of most lures, but lures don't get stolen by trash fish.

[CAS]

A lot of great info on here thanks everyone for the responses!!

Will definitely be looking at water temp and clarity as well as past water data not prediction sights as y'all mentioned.

And for the dead shrimp that was my first time trying with them we didn't bring any lures because our tackle was all in our kayaks in storage

I'll definitely bring some gulp and some spoons to toss into the surf next time if they don't have shrimp. We were in surfside at 5:15am so we were expecting to find live shrimp!

[Ron Mc]

if you didn't make it to this link on corpusfishing,
Beach structure and currents affect surf fishing just like they affect bay fishing - you're looking for natural mechanisms that concentrate bait and draw gamefish.
https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk ... ter-again/

[CAS]

I just read through it and its a lot of great information thanks!

Kinda funny how this one comment aged: "I know what you are thinking...what surf fisherman has an airplane to scout out rip currents?"

Seems like a pretty easy thing to do with a drone now lol Might have to invest in one!

[Ron Mc]

My surf fishing was at Cedar Bayou in the 80s-90s - long boat ride, but the formula there was always simple.
On a falling tide, fish the cut for specs. On a rising tide, fish the surf for bull reds.
The couple of times we hit blackwater, it was calm, low tide, and you could easily wade to the 2nd gut.
Of course sharks were there, too.
One of those blackwater days, every wave crest carried a daisy chain of specs nose-to-tail. With a fly rod, didn't even have to cast, just daub a mullet-looking fly in front of them.

[TroutSupport.com]

I've seen times when we went right on catching trout with the dolphins in near proximity. Of course if they blow through the school its going to shut them down a little while and they'll move as well. it was likely the lack of live shrimp, trout will eat dead but when you have a live one on he's out there working his little heart out so you can get bit.. the dead ones.. not so much

Also, sounds like this was your first lesson in 'don't fish spots'. Trout move a lot in the surf and I can't tell you how many times even I've been on fish only to show up the next morning with them gone, gone, GONE!. You have to be able to learn to read the water (not just reading the surf) to relocate those fish. Many on this board thought the Trout Support videos helped quite a bit with that learning curve... many still say they are the best educational tool for the texas and gulf coast. They actually show you, train your eyes what to look for as compared to reading threads about it.