Newbies to salt fishing, advice?

[TheMightyGerbil]

I'm normally just a freshwater angler but my husband and I won a pair of half-day trip passes plus tackle rental for Daveys Locker. We've never done any deep sea fishing before, nada! Been wanting to try it for a few years now so I'm eager to get out there and give it a shot. Now, what time of day should we shoot for on that 1/2 day trip if we want a chance at yellowtail, barracuda, etc? We'll be happy with the common species too but a stab at the bigger game fish would make my year. The staff at DL said they will absolutely help us inexperienced folks land our fish which will be essential considering that I am seven months pregnant! I will need a lot of help if I hook into something 10 lbs+ that's going to fight and run like a biotch. (I've landed some sweet trout in my time but I know that isn't comparable to what we might contend with at sea if we're lucky.) Should we wait for warmer water temps? I don't own any plastics or other lures for deep sea so what should I buy in advance? (Maybe the tackle rental will include lures, no idea as of yet.) Any advice needed and welcome. And yes, we know that the overnight trips will give us the best chance at the big boys but DL said we can't apply our 1/2 day passes to the cost of an overnight and pay the difference. If we enjoy the 1/2 day we'll do an overnight or two next summer, post-baby. LOL I've been chasing trouts and cats for years so I'm an old hand on any freshwater lake, yet I feel like such a big-eyed noob when it comes to salt water. :p Hopefully some of the same skills will be applicable..

[Thisfool]

well im not an expert i guess i would consider myself a experienced novice

go for the longest trip you can a half day is nice but once you take in to account the boat ride time to the fishing spot and back it doesn't leave time to go out far enough to chase the bigger game or get to the better spots.

don't worry about any plastic lures or anything like that almost any and every fish that a 1/2 or 3/4 day boat would target can be caught on a live sardine/anchovies or a strip of squid.

if you feel you must buy some lures or anything of that sort, get some 3/4-2oz jigg heads and twin tail curly tail grubs they have some cheap ones at wal-mart and i have had good luck with them, most rock fish can be caught on this set up along with sand bass and calico bass. if you can only get the 3/4oz jigg heads you can always add a sinker to the bottom of it much like a drop shot rig.

also might want to pick up some steel leaders for fly lining live bait for the cudda or other larger toothy game. and maybe a taddy or two for those guys.

other then that.

1/0, 2/0 bait hooks
2,4,6,8,10oz torpedo sinkers
and maybe some smaller hooks like #4 or #6 for the white fish or any of the smaller mouth fish that are regularly gone after

[CraigH]

Rental tackle is some kind of bullet proof reel (think Penn jigmaster) and cheaper rod with 20 or 25 lb line, and the setup usually comes with twist on rubber core sinkers and hooks for fishing live bait. Unless you are good at casting this kind of reel leave the lures at home for your first trip, although the curly tail grubs on a heavy jig head could be dropped down to the bottom and fished. Depending on what you are fishing for, bait will be either live anchovies/sardines or strips of squid.

The decks can get slippery, so make sure you wear shoes that will grip the deck. Dress in layers because it can get cool offshore even if its in the 90's on land.

[Thatguy47]

Usually 1/2 day trips will only take you around shore so plan on fishing off sandy bottoms for sand bass,calicos, croakers, and possibly rock fish. You can usually just drop down any bait available on a drop shot rig with a torpeado weight. And the deck hands are your best friends when it comes to advice. Hope this helps :)

[geoliquid]

Usually 1/2 day trips will only take you around shore so plan on fishing off sandy bottoms for sand bass,calicos, croakers, and possibly rock fish. You can usually just drop down any bait available on a drop shot rig with a torpeado weight. And the deck hands are your best friends when it comes to advice. Hope this helps :)

Surprisengly, half day trips to the local kelp beds is allot like bass fishing on a lake. Use their gear if your on barracuda but bring a bass rod if you have one and use it in the kelp or in the sand. Catching calico's or sand bass on bass gear is a real blast. I use bass gear with 12 lb mono all the time on half day trips.