Surf fishing

The basic idea of most surfcasting is to cast a bait or lure as far out into the water as is necessary to reach the target fish from the shore.

The snood rig's versatility makes it ideal for adapting to different surf conditions and fish behaviors, ensuring anglers have a better chance of success in catching a variety of species from the shore.

Reels and other equipment need to be constructed so they resist the corrosive and abrasive effects of salt and sand.

Surf fishermen who use artificial lures, cast and retrieve them to entice a bite from the target species.

There are hundreds of different lures effective for surf fishing, such as spoons, plugs, soft plastics and jigs.

Several other items of equipment are commonly used by surf fisherman and surfcasters to improve comfort, convenience, and effectiveness.

Full length, chest-high waders are most popular, in order to provide a measure of protection against a pounding surf that could easily swamp hip-length wading boots.

Many surf fishermen add items such as flashlights, headlamps, light sticks and other gear to facilitate night fishing.

Skishers swim sometimes hundreds of yards from shore to water well over their heads, with their flippers and buoyancy of their wetsuits keeping them afloat.

This form of surfcasting has long attracted highly particular personalities: cranks, combat veterans, and adrenaline junkies and is thought to have been pioneered in the mid 1900s in Montauk, NY by anglers such as Jack Yee and Fred Kalkstein.

In recent years an increase in local shark populations and encounters, has added another dynamic to the extreme sport.

The beachcaster will stand on a beach or shoreline and cast out to sea with either a water filled float, or a lead weight weighing between 120g and 200g.

It is a common pastime in coastal areas of Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland and often results in the capture of large specimens of many species of fish, including: flatfish, bass, cod, whiting, pollack, black bream, dogfish, smooth hound, bull huss, rays, and tope.

Besides the equipment and the cast techniques, the other component that makes a beach caster successful is what can be called sea interpretation.

This action uncovers from the sandy bed small marine beings and carry them away across channels to deeper points, where they settle in for the joy of fish.

PFD's (personal flotation devices) should be considered especially when fishing alone in big surf or on jetties.

This species can be fished from shore and ranges in weight from a few pounds to the world record 78.5 lb (35.6 kg).

From North Carolina south the redfish (red drum) is one of the most targeted fish by surf anglers.

The overfished status of this fish for many years due to the blackened redfish craze of the 1980s led to strict recreational size and creel limits, however, so surf anglers must learn the local rules.

Although the term "beach buggy" may be applied to special vehicles for transportation on sand, 4x4 trucks and SUV's with deflated tires are more often used in surf fishing.