This entire week provided beautiful morning beach conditions with small waves and calm winds.

The perch bite still remains strong and will only get better as the fall settles in. The water temp has dropped in the last couple of weeks and slowed down the bite on the corbina but perch and croaker are still biting well.

The very last of the sand crabs are making their way to the top of the sand. We probably only have a couple of weeks before they are mostly gone for the winter!

It's your last time to collect crabs before winter.

So, as the water cools, look for them mostly at high tide near the high water mark or at low tide out from shore on the first sand bar past the inshore trough. Use a rake, as you can see on my "Bait" page or dig with your hands and sift through the sand.

I like to put them in a zip top bag with a packet of hot sauce and freeze them for winter.

Next week has some challenging tides for fishing. There will be very small swings in tide movement so look for areas where the water is moving the most (around structure like jetties , points, etc.) and you'll find fish.

The following week, the last week of Sept., will have some fantastic tides. So get your bait ready this week and you'll knock them dead (or catch and release) next week!

I've been using the Carolina Rig with 6lb flourocarbon and a very sharp split shot hook (you can find these in my store) Take a look by CLICKING HEREMany of us lose fish or just get bites because our hook is not sharp enough. Surf fish inhale your bait, crush it, exhale your bait and repeat. To have any chance of hooking a fish while the bait is in it's mouth you'll need a very sharp, thin hook. If you've been surf fishing and you get bites but no fish this may be why.