So your a fisherman and you know what brought that giant smile to your face once ago and so you want to take your children, family or Friends fishing and pass along a feeling of contentment, joy and the pure clean adrenaline rush of getting in that fish. Oh how I remember and still experience that feeling every time I catch a fish or have caught one. Its incredible and empowering. I have successfully caught and can feed myself or my family from the ocean and that I skillfully managed that fish onto my hook and into my cooler as Bruce Willis say’s Yippee kiyaa.

I get these questions a lot and thought this would be the best way to answer this now and in the future with this article.

I Just need to catch something and would prefer it to be edible
where and how do I catch some fish for my Family and or them catch fish??????

OKie Dokie.

Location:
Well Freshwater is not the best around me, Its contaminated so I suggest Saltwater, but even then there is still environmental issues you should make yourself aware of, most coastline seafood has levels of not so good chemicals so check with Florida State for your area.

Beach is my choice, you will have an array of fish to go for using a simple rig and Combo, most will be pan fish ranging from 1/4 of a pound to 3 pounds and bigger sometimes.

What might you catch, Edibles Croakers, Whiting, Grunts, Jack crevale, Blue runner, Snapper, Hog Fish. Seasonal Edibles, Pompano, Bluefish, Flounder, Red Fish. Not so Edible Lizardfish, Ladyfish.Bonefish. Assorted Sting rays, I am sure a few others.

Medium Rod and Reel or a 9 foot to 12 foot Surf Rod and reel, fully lined with 15lb or 20lb test minimum, you need pompano rigs with Circle or Khale 4, 2, 1/0, I like to have all three, you can also make your own Chicken rig, drop loop rig or pompano rig what ever you want to call it, use pyramid weight you will hold bottom better, you will also need sand spikes for your rods.

How to make your RIG:

Dropper Loop Rig

The sinker and hooks are attached by looping them through the eyes and around to form a slip knot around each eye. The finished rig should look like the image below. If you want floats or beads on your rig just slip them on the loops before looping them around the hooks

My favorite bait and is always a for sure bet if fish are around fresh shrimp dead or as close to fresh as I can get and the larger the better, I like to cut into large pieces pierce the hook through the largest section of the bait to get a good hook in it, also it does help to peel the shrimp fish seem to like it better.

Economical bait, stop by Publix and go to there seafood section and they should have White Shrimp on ice in the showcase, a pound is normally around $4.99 and it is twice as much for what you get at a bait shop for around the same price and is thicker and firmer and can be cut into nice size pieces and what you don’t use you can cook and eat, most frozen bait shrimp is very soft and will come off the hook very easy, the only way around this is smaller pieces so the fish takes it in one bite, stand close to your rod or hold it.

I am a believer in cast as far as you can get and sometimes you need to get wet to get out there, so walk into the water and make your cast, its not a good idea to have bait in your pockets so remember to remove all fish products from yourself, you do not want a big fish smelling you and want to try a taste by accident “it does happen”.

You should also try the first trough 15 feet out or so, I will sometimes and do get fish and nice ones at that, I do like the water a little murky to fish the trough, I don’t care what the clarity is when I am fishing out as far as I can cast, I just like to have current it means dinner time to every sea creatures.

I like to use 2 hook rigs and so I cast out,set my drag so it pulls out easy and put the rod in the rod holder spikes and chill, if its sunrise I will throw a fish like lure “Rapella, Yousuri” or a Silver spoon, gotcha or Jigs tipped with shrimp on a light rod and catch Jacks, Blue runners, Mackerel, Snook, Barracuda while waiting on the surf pole, Oh by the way I use Silver spoons in SE Florida and work best – but everywhere else Brass or Gold can out fish the silver.

Now I like the smallest of J hooks 4s and even 6, Old china dude told me along time ago Little Hooks catch everything and Big Hooks only catch Big things, just remember drag if you are using drag you will not pull the hook and that is what I find to be the number one loss of fish when reeling them in.

If you are with the kids just use a number 6 J hook and they should be cranking in fish after fish,and you will see them get a 2lb to 3lb fish and that is going to light them up with a smile that time can’t even take away.