Half the battle of surf fishing is being prepared with the right baits and the right rigs. And when the bite is hot, whether it be whiting, the revered pompano, croaker, flounder, sheepshead or other table fish, you don’t want to monkey around building leaders, tying knots, and rummaging for hooks in your tackle bag.
The standard Florida surf rig is the dropper rig, a multi-hook rig that allows you to fish more than one bait in the bottom three feet or so of the water column. Typical components include hooks, weights, swivels, snaps, and foam or bead attractors. Fishing more than one bait is a must because of bait stealers, and the typical “washing machine” nature of the surf zone. With two or three baits out there on each rod, a missed bite does not mean you have to reel up and re-bait.
I surf fish for pleasure and also guide others as part of my charter business. I have to be prepared and ready to go, particularly when 3 to 4 rods are deployed. I build my own surf rigs at home and keep an ample supply of them in various configurations (2-hook and 3-hook). If I lose a rig, or discover a section of frayed line, I can quickly snip it off and tie on a new one. I keep my ready-to-go rigs in plastic zip bags.
When I’m tying my dropper rigs, I use a “rig board.” This accessory, which is easy to build, turns out uniform loops every time, and I can better control the length of each finished rig (32 to 34 inches). I also use it to store my rig components in…
