Summer visit to Houston area gave me and my 9yr old son reason to hit Surfside Beach TX. Made a trial surf fishing run two afternoons prior to shake down gear before a sunrise effort. Yesterday we made our earnest effort and arrived at Surfside at first light 5:50AM, about 1hr before high tide. As we drove on to the beach, I again explained that we were looking for cuts in the sand bar where the wave breaks were flat. First obvious choice was camped on over night by two nice surf truck rigs, second spot was being waded. We saw what looked like a decent hole and decided to not waste time. Parked and got my son rigged up with a self tied two drop rig, #1 circle hooks and 2oz pyramid with shrimp and crab fishbites and a sand spike. I cast him out to that hole just in front of 2nd sand bar and he immediately hooked up a tank of a whiting. Then he repeated the feat with another hoss of a Whiting, then followed by a hardhead. He's 9 and it was only his 2nd day surf fishing with very limited fish handling before so I'm helping land these fish(we live in Dallas). It's now 6:20 and I've only got his one line in the water. I'm putting my rod together and then I hear him yell with excitement, he's on another fish but it's bigger. Look over and his new Daiwa 8' Emcast is doubled over hard. He'd hooked a small Black Tip shark. Get the shark to the sand. Got lucky that the line didn't cut off. Quick pic, set up again and get him back out. Now about 6:30AM… bam a second black tip shark(he got cut off by two more sharks that day).
That was the pattern of the morning. Me trying to get my line in the water while my son keeps hooking fish… Whiting, catfish, sharks, small black drum, croakers, and baby Redfish for the full day. By the time I'd finally got a line wet, he'd landed seven fish. I finally got rigged and started landing Whiting, slimey catfish, small Redfish (rat reds), and eventually my bonus small Pompano (for scale that's a 1/0 circle hook in pic). Threw the Pompano back to grow some more. As we were about ready to call it a late morning, a guy offered us his remaining live shrimp just as the cut bait was exhausted. The shrimp extended our day and catches. In total, my son out fished me 2:1 and landed at least +22 fish we lost count. The hole I set him up on and the first cut were holding fish(not just catfish) that morning. Just 10-15yards over and my action was much slower. My son finished the day cutting and hooking his own bait, casting his new rod with decent form (thanks to 3 seasons of lacrosse), landing and unhooking his own fish, and returning the fish to the water. If he'd only caught zero fish it'd been worth the effort and a memory made because that's fishing, but the extra fish gave him reps and confidence to do everything himself… and I got to end the day a proud dad with my own first rare TX Pompano.
Final kid gear note: Circle hooks are the way to go for kids. Read that on this sub and it was golden advice. Only one foul hook from a greedy catfish all day with an inexperienced fisherkid.
During the shake down run, it was clear that a 7' Daiwa Beefstick was going to cast well for my son. I'd considered a second 9'-10' rod, but felt it would be too heavy and fast for a 9yr old. Found a Daiwa Emcast MHF at Fishing Tackle Unlimited for $80. More than I wanted to spend, and there are better surf rods for the money, but the minimal grip size on the two piece made the rod light weight and a perfect fit for smaller youth hands. Loaded with 2oz weight and light bait, it readily loaded and cast well. The 8' MHF Emcast balanced perfectly with my Penn Pursuit III 4000 reel with 20# braid. There's no way a heavier weight budget surf rod was going to work for my son. He'd have been tired out way earlier. The lighter weight extended this kids fishing day.
Posted by Texicans73