Beachfront 'Spin Doctors' are discovering the advantages of heavyweight spinning gear.
 
By Larry Bozka
Page 2

Davis and I have run out four lines, and for a very specific reason. You never know whether the fish are going to traverse the outside highways or come in close on the feeder streets. So, two lines are walked out as deep as you dare go in the pre-dusk surf. (In light of the often-horrendous undertow, you always wear a Stearns Inflata-Vest or some such PFD when venturing out to the second bar and beyond; for details, check out the "Editor's Notes" column in the May '98 issue.)

The remaining two rigs are tossed relatively close to shore, just inside the second sand bar. When tides are running high, it's amazing how close bull reds will come to the bank. At nighttime, this tendency is only magnified. It all goes back to the old equation, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." And where there's bait-coupled with a moving tide and a structured bottom break-there's just as likely to be bull reds in the suds.

This is-with the exception of retaining a fish for the wall-purely a catch-and-release scenario. We use circle hooks not only because they're highly effective, but also because we want to release these fish so that they can fight (and spawn) again. On the pick-up, the redfish virtually hooks itself. The hook point curls through the jaw, not down the throat.

The sharper the circle (or any other) hook, the better-no matter what kind of fishing you enjoy. For some a standard hook-sharpening file suffices. But impatient as I am, and having inspected the results on a microscope, I much prefer the grinding-wheel-style "Point Maker" manufactured by Darrell Lehmann of Richardson, Texas-based Texas Tackle. (It's available in both 115-volt AC and 12-volt DC models; for more information, call 972-234-2628 or 1-800-437-3521.)

A watery thrash of its paddle-sized tail, and Davis hoists the 42-inch-long redfish from the water as I rapidly shoot flash photos while trying to shield my Nikon N90 from the salt spray. It's the biggest of four we catch this humid September night, and-"trophy tag" affixed-it's bound for taxidermist Joe Lesh's Sportsman's Gallery in Spring.

"Wrap it in a towel, put it in a heavy-duty plastic bag and get all the air out of it," Lesh (281-350-4450) had advised. So we do, and Davis has another trophy for the walls of his Columbia, S.C., home office.

The Shakespeare Intrepid SS series is an excellent example of modern but affordable saltwater spinning tackle technology. There are many others, and they share a few things in common: They're nigh-impossible to backlash, they're easy to break down and clean and allow even the greenest of surfcasting novices to put their baits where the fish are.

Why more die-hard Texas beachfront longrodders aren't already using heavyweight spinning tackle I'm not sure. Perhaps it's simply because old traditions don't change overnight.

This is one, however, whose time has come.