Daytime surf fishing for large......why bother?

[Striperhound]

When I used to fish Long Island and I did this on Nantucket as well. I would fish whole clams on the bottom as a family day at the beach. Mid day, full sun, swimmers in the water splashing around. My two biggest fish caught this way were caught under these condition. 38lbs. Lots of tourists and swimmers did not get back in the water after seeing me land these fish. I remember a 64 lb fish caught on Long Island the same way noon with full sun and swimmers around.

[numbskull]

Anyone who has sightfished for striped bass can attest to the numbers of quality fish that are available in less than 3 feet of water, within 50 feet (and often 10 feet) of shore, in the middle of the day. They are not easy to take, however. Find sand flats near rocks and they will be there.

[Pete_G]

Good topic. My biggest fish last year from shore was during the day, with bluebird skies and I've had some other nice catches over the years too.

I do like some whitewater and really I'd prefer some cloud cover. Big spooks, Pencils, sometimes Dannys. Needlefish. It all still works. White and yellow over white are my usual daytime colors. Herring too.

I do think your spot choices need to be looked at, some spots I fish are reliably capable of giving up a big fish during the day but others, at least so far never have. I think having adjacent deep water is always a good thing, night or day, but especially during the day.

I regularly fish in the wetsuit during the day as well to make sure I'm getting out as far as possible to deeper water. Since the fish aren't necessarily roaming about I like to make really accurate casts at structure and lots of them as opposed to just fan casting. Often it seems fish just don't have as big a "strike zone" during the day and if what you offer isn't in range you don't even get a look. There's a bunch of spots I know of that prove shore anglers can catch large during the day. You just have to know where to throw.

I've always been big on the concept that fish don't move far during the day from where they feed at night. Fishing my home waters in Newport by boat prove it, those fish are there, if you can reach where they lay up during the day. Often you can.