John had done his homework. He was going to be at the beach for a week, so he scouted the entire beach at low tide on the day he arrived, marking the areas we have been talking about. He said he had tried three other likely spots along the beach before he found the school of fish. That’s a good thing to remember. You can mark the spots where the fish should be, but it does not guarantee that the fish will be there.
John was using a seven-foot spinning rod and reel because he was specifically targeting whiting. The other anglers with more typical surf fishing gear could just as easily have caught whiting had they set their terminal tackle up properly, used the right bait, and fished in the right spots!
The terminal tackle that John was using consisted of a three-ounce pyramid sinker, 2/0 hook, and leader rigged in a “fish finder” configuration. This is the standard surf fishing bottom rig with the pyramid sinker at the end of the leader. That pyramid sinker actually digs into the sandy bottom and helps hold your bait in place under the moving surf. Up the leader twelve to eighteen inches from the sinker an eight-inch loop goes to the hook. A variation of this rig has two and sometimes three loops and hooks. We found, as did John, that the two and three hook rigs tend to waste bait. It’s really tough to leave the rig on the bottom after hooking one fish to wait for another fish to bite. Generally, we would end up reeling in the one fish, wasting the bait on the other hook(s).
An alternative bottom rig uses an egg sinker above the swivel and eighteen inch leader. This rig is best for calmer waters, but it does have one advantage over the fish finder rig. The egg sinker is a slip sinker. When the whiting takes your bait and moves off with it, the line slips through the sinker. You feel the bite, but the fish does not feel the weight of the sinker and is less likely to shy from your bait. In a heavier surf condition, slip sinkers will roll and move with the water and eventually end up back on the beach with the angler. In these conditions, revert to that pyramid sinker.
Because John was fishing what could be called slack water, away from the breakers, he did not need a long surf rod. Surf rods are made long to enable longer casts out and over breaking waves. They are great for redfish, but unnecessary for whiting.
We said before that whiting will populate a given area looking for food. Anyone who has played in the surf has seen or caught sand fleas. These small members of the crab family that resemble oversized fleas (hence the name) are easy to catch. Look for them burrowing back into the sand as the water from a big wave retreats. Then simply dig down with your hands or a small shovel and pick them up!
While sand fleas will work as whiting bait, the all time favorite bait is fresh dead shrimp. The key to catching more whiting is to make sure the shrimp on your hook is peeled. Remember those barbels on the chin of a whiting? They are sensing organs, and the peeled shrimp gives off more odor and smell in the water for the whiting to find. A 2/0 hook and a small, peeled piece of shrimp will catch whiting better than any other bait.
Jekyll Island is where we found John fishing, but there are other Georgia beaches where whiting can be caught. Tybee Island and the Golden Isles of Sea, St Simons, and Jekyll are the predominant destinations for beach anglers.
Cumberland Island, although it has restrictive access requirements, has miles of beach to fish. This island has gentle sloping beaches that remain shallow for a good distance out into the Atlantic. Although anglers do fish Cumberland, the shallow water there is not as appealing to any particular kind of fish, including the whiting. Other Islands are more productive because of the deeper water closer to the shore, and thus are more heavily fished.
The beach at Tybee Island has designated areas for fishing. This helps keep the swimmers and anglers from disturbing each other. Walk the beach at low tide and look for the run outs, pools or sandbars in the fishing areas. Over a given summer, with the lack of really strong northeast winds, these areas will remain fairly stable, so once you find them, they will likely be there all summer.
The Golden Isles – Jekyll, St Simons and Sea Islands – all have several good beach access points. At East Beach on St Simons, it is an easy walk north to Gould’s Inlet. The cuts and passes in the sandbars change over time and with each passing storm, but they all will hold fish. Inspect the area at low tide to locate the cuts and run outs. Then return on a high outgoing tide.
Fishing from all these beaches will be good from high tide all the way down to low tide. You may have to relocate or move to another run out or cut, but the fish will stay in the area as long as there is sufficient water depth, and as long as the wave action continues to move food their way.
The cuts around the sandbars at Gould’s Inlet will have a surprising amount of current running through them on an outgoing tide. These are ideal places to find fish. Whiting don’t mind the current. Their body structure and feeding habits keep them right on the bottom, scooting along under the current looking for food.
With a heavy current situation, it is easier to walk the sand alongside one of the cuts and fish at an angle to the current rather than trying to fish perpendicular to the current. For one thing, your sinker will hold better, but more importantly you will feel the fish bite far easier fishing with the current as opposed to fishing across it.
All these barrier islands are relatively easy to access for the shore bound angler. Other barrier islands, like Sapello, St Catherine, Ossabaw and Wassaw are not void of fish. They simply can’t be easily reached!
