Thread: Headed to Surfside Beach in June - Recommendations?

Well you have a pier at Surfside and at Garden City. I've always fished the one at Garden City but I've learned to just fish off the beach. I caught more off the beach than the pier. You will catch alot of little sharks and I either fished early in the morning or late in the afternoon when most people left. I've caught sharks,croakers, blues, flounder, stingrays, spots and conchs to name a few. I used a 8 to 9 ft surf rod with open face reel using 12 to 14lb test line. I used the rig with 2 hooks and used i believe a 4oz weight(pyramid). You will need a rod holder to push in sand, I always used a mallet to help getting it in the sand. Let me tell you though, if you start catching those little sharks people will flock to you right quick. They got to see it and got to touch it. lol Oh yeah buy your bait at a bait store NOT on the pier(cost more with less bait). They have a bait shop in Murrells Inlet. You can also get a cast net and catch bait over one of the bridges you cross over to Surfside or Garden City. Maybe Thumper, Ray or one of the other guys will chime in. Y'all will have a blast doing it, just have a couple of chairs with you and some light. Heck sometimes I was fishing until 11 that night and I've had my line broke several times. I've had the hooks straighten out as well. Good Luck when you go!

I use a big Penn spinning reel that will hold a lot of line and a 12FT penn surf rod for pier and surf fishing. You need a lot of line and the long rod for casting ability and if you catch some decent fish so they won't spool your reel. You can find bottom rigs at the local bait and tackle stores if there is any around. I also use a sabiki rig for catching live bait off the piers. You can find out whats biting from the bait stores and people that work at the pier and buy tackle accordingly.
The reason why I bought Penn equipment is for the salt and the quality. I bought my wife a cheap surf rod and reel and wished I would have went ahead and bought her Penn. Be sure to wash your eguipment out after each use and when you get home and re-oil.
Good Luck

Wow that was fast! Thanks so much for the info. Are gloves a necessity for the sharks? Any other dangerous species I should know about?

My dad and brother have a little experience with ocean fishing. I think I can at least borrow their poles and some terminal tackle. I have a cast net and drop net plus a bait bucket and some pole holders. A little lantern a plus?


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Gloves are not necessary they are not that big maybe a foot long, biggest one was around 3ft but you will catch a bunch of them. A lantern would be a plus(on the beach not on pier). The reel I use is a Daiwa and do what Striperking said wash it off after every use.

If you really want to have some fun, go rent you a BIG ROD and REEL, then go down to where the fishing boats come in and get them to give you a bonita fish, they are real bloody and not good to eat. Go out to the pier about a hour before dark and find you a young local boy with a kayak and tell him to row out to the end of the pier and meet you. Cut off about a 3 to 4 pound piece of that bonita and put it on a real big hook on that big rod and reel and lower it down to him and tell him to take it out about 150 to 200 yards and drop it. Attach that big rod and reel to the rail that goes around the pier with a rachet strap and set the clicker to come on. Sit down in your chair with a cooler of drinks and a sandwich and wait. If everything goes right,which it usually does, be ready after a couple of hours and see what picks that bait up and eats it. Just be ready for a 3 or 4 hour fight and when you get that 8 or 9 FT shark in take pics and cut the line. Then try to get your wife and kids to go swimming in the ocean the next day Trust me it works, that is why my wife won't go in the ocean anymore,she has seen me and others do it and has seen what lurks around out there in the dark.

That would be fun but don't do that there, they will fine you big time. They use to have a sign no fishing for sharks on the pier. I don't know if it's still there.

Wow that sounds like fun! After looking around it seems like it might be cost prohibitive to fish the pier though. We have a place right on the beach so I could spend a few hours each day fishing on the cheap. Dads's dropping off some equipment today.


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Looking at some websites for the area and see that Surfside pier was damaged in October in the hurricane. Has it been repaired?