my surf fishing bait isn't working. Any suggestions?

[darkfall]

I haven't been surf fishing in awhile but went the other day and no go. They were biting because a few guys down the beach were doing pretty well. I was using squid and sand fleas. But like i said not much gonig on with this. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Also how about the lure type. I got me one of those lures suggested by a fellow here to catch snook. I'm going to try it out next weekend. And see what happens.

[gottaflylee]

darkfall, first hing I would have done is ask what the other guys were fishing with...cut bait, maybe...
Next thing to remember is location, location, location. You may not have been where you need to be and they were, I have seen and been in this situation. Some times moving as much or little as 50 to 100' can make the diffrence in fishiing and catching...

[darkfall]

I WAS GOING TO ASK THEM BUT THEY WERE DRINKING PRETTY HEAVY BY EVIDENCE OF ALL OF THE BEER CANS. AND THEY WERE BEING KINDA LOUD AND DIDN'T SEEM TO FRIENDLY. BUT I DO THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS. AND YOU ARE RIGHT. WHEN i'M FISHING ANYWERE ELSE AND I DON'T HAVE ANY THING GOING ON WHAT DO I DO? MOVE! DUH I JUST FELT MY I.Q. DROP BY 10 POINTS RLOL.

[Jer]

You could try shrimp also and different hook sizes... and walk the beach. In my first surf fishing trips I was using rigs with 1/0 wide gap hooks and casting very close. Unless a snook was around, all I could catch were catfish because of their large mouths.

I've only caught a small fish other than catfish from the surf, but at least I know the reason I wasn't catching was not the big hooks

[Jer]

Good luck next week when you try the lures for snook and please post a report (and pictures if possible)

[darkfall]

Thank you fellows. I had a great time surf fishing this past week I tried some of your suggestions and WOW. I didn't have my camera but next time I go I'll take it with me. Also I went and got a new lure or two to try for snook. I'm hoping they work but like i said in my other post I've never had much luck with them. But I'm open to new ideas so what the hey!

[sushi42]

Hey Darkfall,
I'm a little late on this reply but I think this will be worthy info. I've fished that stretch of real estate a lot in the past and yes those species of fish that run the beaches down there can drive a man to do bad things, i.e. dynamite! Anyway, when the snook are chasing finger mullet I have found that a simple crokodile knockoff is worth it's weight in gold. They use to cost a buck apiece, I'm sure they must run atleast two to three bucks now. On the flip side of techniques fresh bait is essential and I mean fresh. Again mullet obviously, or pinfish and even pigfish work excellent for the native species. I read one of your replies calling out for chunkbait and he's right on but it has to be fresh. These fish CAN tell the difference between a fresh chunk(that days bait) or a bait that was bought in a bait store and has been frozen. We have live bait pots in the river at all times so we don't have to look to far for our fresh baitfish. Happy fishin'. Hope this reply helps.