Saltwater fishing tips for a beginner

[Spineyman]

Listen, use the kiss principle. It is not brain surgery and the fish will be hitting anything that swims. A 15 pound rod and any size reel will handle just about anything you will encounter. Full size Zara's are incredible, as are the super spook jr's. I personally like the silver glitter myself. If you have any shadow rap shad in your bassin stuff, by all means bring them. They are deadly, but you will need to switch the rings and hooks to salt water extra strength. Grab a couple of the Rapala twitchin minnows as well. If they come with single hooks by all means switch them out to trebles too. I personally net my fish so I can subdue them without trebles flying everywhere. I unhook the fish, snap a pic or two and release or bag. Then I unhook the lure out of the net.

 

[swamp hunter]

You sure don't need a Depth finder in your way.
You will be able to see any Drop off's or little Channels...

 

[Bubba_1122]

Caught 7 reds yesterday in Apalachicola Bay using Gulp jerk shads (camo color and watermelon with red flake). Using 1/8 or 1/16 Owner twist lock hooks. Yes - the tails got eaten off of quite a few Gulps, but had pretty consistent action. Also a few trout mixed in. It was a very good day for me.

On Friday had as many strikes but was using Slayer twist lock style hooks. All pulled except one. Have retired the Slayer hooks and content and confident in the Owner hooks.

Do a Google search for Salt Strong and see what you think. Some decent info from some pretty good fishermen in there.

BTW, went to a flats fishing seminar couple of years ago and guy said we over complicate this flats fishing thing. He said we're fishing in 4' or less of water - we can fish on top, in the middle and on the bottom. Also, he said there's only 2 colors: dark and light. That gives us basically 6 choices to make.

That's probably an oversimplification, but we do tend to over-complicate this shallow water fishing. The guy was primarily fishing out of a kayak, and said he carried everything he needed for a day of fishing in a nylon briefcase.

His comments helped me greatly simplify my approach (I carry 4 or 5 types of lures, not many colors and generally only fish 2 or at most 3 during a trip out).