[camaro8484]

hey guys, going down to corolla this saturday the 20th to the 27th. i live up in Pa.

So heres my questions. im going to buy one of the poles down at walmart when i get there just one of those surf/pier starter kit poles.

so i have some questions.
what kind of rig do i need to fish the pier i wanna fish bottom. do i need to put the weight before my hooks or after?
whats the best kind of bait to use?
I guess ill just cast our short not very far?

im not concered about catching huge fish if i caught one the size of pa trout id be tickled pink. never caught a ocean fish before so i just wanna catch a couple on my vacation. thanks fellas!

 

[sundrop]

Honestly, you might be better off to just rent the rod from the pier, they will provide the bottom rig, hooks weight etc and replace them if you lose one. They also will know what's best for the day in question but call ahead and make sure the pier you plan to use rents rods. Don't worry about casting far, those fish are using that pier for habitat and stay close for the most part, just an under hand pitch is plenty to catch many species.

 

[RouseD]

The sinker should go below the hooks. Pre made rigs can be bought with snaps for the hooks you choose. I'd get size 8, 6, and 4 hooks, depending on what is biting. An inexpensive combo wouldn't be a bad choice for one trip unless you do other types of fishing. Be sure to rinse your combo off well after use in the salt. You will need a rod that will handle the size sinkers you'll be using. Sinker size will depend on how rough the water is. I recommend getting 2, 3, and maybe 4 oz sinkers. Use either fresh shrimp or blood worms for bait, or a bag of Fish Bites (shrimp or blood worm flavor). Not sure how fresh the shrimp on the piers is these days. I would think most would be frozen. Casting distance will depend on where the fish are. An underhand cast is good if you haven't done a lot of casting and you can get your bait out far enough with that method, and if you're using spinning gear.
Hope this helps a bit, and hope others will chime in to correct me or to give other advice.
Welcome to NC.

 

[h2ohhh]

I would chime in that the Walmart Special is fine. You don't want a 'surf' rod for the pier. 7 footer of so is perfect with a decent size (3000-4000 series) reel. 15 pound mono. As far as the rigs...the pier shop will know what's biting best and will provide you with the right rig and bait for what's being caught. You pay a couple bucks more this way but you're not buying a variety of stuff that you won't use trying to guess what's going to work. I will say this though...you're going in the summer and if you are willing to be out on the pier at sunrise you have a good chance for Spanish Mackeral or Blues. For that you want to buy a Gotcha plug at Walmart. It's a topwater plug that you cast and retrieve with your rod pointed down off the side of the pier. There will be others doing this so you can watch and learn. An absolute thrill to see a Spanish or Blue nail it. If you get cut off you can buy another at the Pier shop. I'd go red and white though other colors will work too. Have fun.

 

[camaro8484]

Hey guys. Thanks for the info. Only reason I'm buying one and not renting is I'm going to sc next month as well and plan on fishing down there.
I read about those gotcha plugs and I think I'm going to try it to see if I can get a blue or a mackerel.
i plan on being out at the pier at 5am and fishing till about 8-9 the going to the beach with the wife and inlaws all day
then fishing the pier from about 9 to early am see what it's all about! Thanks for the info fellas!

 

[Jay]

Hey I'm originally from PA but have been living down here for about 12 years now. The Walmart "surf" (I put that in quotes because its just a heavier spinning rod, not the big rigs they use to heave way past all the bars in the surf) rod special is fine - that's what I first started using at the beach. However, if you have any sort of old rod you use for bass or catfish in PA then that would work just fine off of the pier. The one thing about the heavier spinning rods like the "surf" rod is that if you decide to try plugging with a Gotcha plug (you'll see them, no doubt, when you go on the pier, especially in the morning), that heavier rod is going to wear you out. A lighter rod would work really well for that. You might think too that the lighter rod isn't compatible with the heavy sinkers, and that's sort of true, but off the pier you don't really need to cast that style rig. Just sort of flip or toss it out there and you'll be fine. No matter what you bring, be sure to rinse the reel with freshwater thoroughly every time you are done. The guides on the rod as well.

As for what rigs to tie on, any of the pier shops will have those metal rigs you attach 2 hooks and sinkers to. They should even have ones tied with mono or fluoro. You can always learn to tie your own to avoid the metal, but the metal works just fine when just starting out. If you will be here an extended period you can always refine your approach with better rigs.

One final thing to a fellow PA fisherman - get to know the fish species beforehand. You might catch a lot of mullet/Virginia mullet/whiting/kingfish. That species of fish has all kinds of names, and then those names are shared by completely different species of fish around the country. In NC they call them sea mullets. Also not to be confused with the baitfish down here that they also call mullet. When I first came here I thought they looked like a cleaner-looking version of river suckers so I assumed they were trash fish and threw them back. DUH, they are absolutely not trash fish, they are some of the best eating fish you'll catch close to shore.