How to Read the Beach for Surf Fishing
How to Read the Beach for Surf Fishing By Joe Malat
Rookie surf casters, as they gaze into the churning mix of breaking
waves and vast expanse of open ocean are often intimidated. They have
no clue about where to cast their baits and lures. “It all looks the
same,” I often hear. But it doesn’t. Each section of beach has a
combination of obvious and subtle characteristics that may determine the
presence of fish. The key to reading the beach is being able to locate
sections of beach that are most likely to attract fish.
A slough is a deep trough that runs parallel to the beach, bordered
by a sand bar on one side and the beach on the other. The distance from
the beach to the bar will determine the width of the slough. Fish
travel up and down this trough and look for food such small fish, crabs,
and sandworms. On the Outer Banks, under normal conditions, we have
approximately a two-foot difference in water depth along the ocean beach
between low and high tides, and it's easier to locate a slough at low
tide, when the sand bars are easily visible.
When the water depth decreases suddenly in a short distance, such
as in the case of a sandbar, the incoming waves will break on top of
that bar. In the case of a gently sloping beach, with no outer bar, the
waves will gradually spill over, and continue to do so until they
eventually break on the beach. This what experienced surf fishers call
a flat beach.
Beach sand can also be a tip-off about the contour of the ocean
bottom. Very fine, tightly packed sand is often found on a beach with a
gradual slope. Coarse sand, or small gravel, is typically found on a
steep sloping beach. Sometimes this coarse, large sand is often darker
than the fine grain sand, and it's not unusual to find various types of
sand over several miles of beach.
The width of a slough may also be critical. On the Outer Banks,
big fish such as red drum tend to prefer the wider, deeper sloughs, with
some shallow, shoal water at either end. Speckled trout, flounder and
sea mullet can be caught in narrow sloughs where the bar may be as close
as fifteen to twenty yards off the beach, but the water between the
beach and the bar is several feet deep.
Once you locate a promising slough, it's time to take the
investigation one step further. Fish may travel this ocean "highway",
but they need a way to get on the road. They can do this through a
break in the outer bar, easily discovered after watching the waves for
several minutes. If there is a break in the bar, a wave will pass over
the bar, but will not crest. If the occurrence consistently repeats,
that indicates a cut in the bar. Fast moving, rippling, or discolored
water may also be seen at these breaks or “outsucks” when the tide is
falling. Not only will wandering fish come into the sloughs through
these breaks, the fast moving water around these breaks will often form
rip currents that send food swirling past the predator fish as they line
up in front of the baitfish buffet.
Sloughs are not the only beach formations that attract fish.
Currents and winds may
scallop out the beach and form points. Frequently, the water is deep on
one side of a point, a perfect location for fish to congregate. A well
defined point on an open beach may attract fish the same way a piece of
structure will hold fish on an otherwise featureless ocean floor. The
key is to concentrate your efforts in a location that is just a bit
different from the rest of the topography.
Hard structures such as jetties, piers, bridges, or inlets are also
locations that encourage fish to stop and congregate. Usually these
don't change, but the beaches around them will change regularly. Inlets
can be incredibly productive locations to fish the surf. On a falling
tide, the small baitfish and other sources of food are swept out of the
inlet, providing a natural chum line that will attract fish from miles
away.
Beach formations are constantly appearing, moving, rearranging or
disappearing, as the winds, currents, and waves change. A perfect
speckled trout hole can appear then vanish in a few days, or even
migrate up and down the beach during the course of several weeks. Keep
that in mind as you scan the surf line, looking for that ideal slough or
perfect point.
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