What To Look For?

[Bunker]

when Iam heading down the beach looking for spot what should I be looking for far as fishy waters? is low tide the best time for scotting areas?

[jjohnson]

you can see where the holes are on low tide and if you have a gps you can mark the spot and come back on hi tide and be in a nice hole but the surf is always changing

[Coop]

Hi Bunker, welcome aboard

As far as tides, I like to go out at low and scout for a spot and fish it until a couple hours after high, about 8 hours of fishing.

For spots, look for cuts, also called rips, in the bar or big holes,,,cuts are easier to find when there is some wave action and when the tide is low,,,cuts are where water is rushing through the bar and are often kinda dirty looking due to the sand being agitated as the water rushes out the cut, foam may also be present in a cut,,,it may often resemble a small inlet,,,the ideal cast would be over the bar on the side of the cut, but this is impossible, so the best cast would be on the left and the right of the cut inside the bar and one in the center,,,if the surf is flat as a pancake, it makes it almost impossible to find a cut,,,generally stripers ambush there prey and wait for the baitfish to get sucked out and would generally be on the inside of the bar on either side of the cut,,,IMHO, this is where you should fish,,,Ideally, outside the bar on the sides would be the best spot, but on AI, generally an impossible cast.

Holes or large troughs are a little easier to find and basically you want to basically find the greatest distance between where the waves are breaking on the bar and the shoreline, thats the trough,,,once again, with no waves it makes it harder and then you want to go by water color, you can generally can tell the bar, because the water appears to be much browner due to the shallow depth of water and the trough area is a deeper color,,,often the shoreline is straight but often times it may stick out in some areas and one side or the other there will be a nice hole.

here is a good link to rips/ cuts:

http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml

[ocsnapper]

:v: Very nice report on rips and holes Coop..

[Randy Stinchcomb]

yeah, I now have a better understanding of what to look for 8) thanks Scott :up:

[Coop]

here is a crude drawing of a hole and a cut,,,did it in paint and had to convert it too another format and lost some color.

another excellent link:

http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/science.shtml

[Bunker]

thanks for the tips they are sure to help catch the big one.

[Sam]

Good stuff, Scott.

[DaveH]

Thanks 4 the info

[chomper]

Nice write up Coop..