Time: 4:00 a.m.- 6:00 a.m.
Tide: Started fishing 1 hour before High Tide.
Conditions: Calm, almost no wind, clear water, 1 ft swell, some salad, I think I seen some bait fish jump.

Gear: Baitcasting low-profile reel with 16# drag, spooled with 12# mono, on a 7' M rod. 4-1/2" suspending jerkbait minnow lure

Well, I was back in the surf today and it was a little frustrated having some trouble dialing in my baitcasting reel and kept getting backlash (early in the cast) which ate up most of my time. Every cast I was cleaning up the mess. I couldn't understand why because I had it dialed in 2 days ago and hadn't changed a thing and was throwing the same lure/weight. So I did what I thought was best and applied some brakes but still couldn't get it to stop.

Also I didn't have any shoes so I bought some cheap wally world beach shoes yesterday thinking it would be a good investment. I think they are neoprene but they literally suck - in sand, which is pretty annoying so I think I'm going for some entry waders since I'm mostly going to be in sand.

I finally dialed in my reel by backing off the spool tension a micro turn and got it just right. Perfect casts after that. The sky started to lighten up. That's when this hit my lure:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uBVOKyu6z1cTS1TE3

22-23" barracuda. Didn't put up a huge fight but I was glad to catch something before I had to leave to work.

Going back out early tomorrow morning!