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I posted this on a different forum topic and haven't had any replies. Thought I would try here

My son recently move to the Tampa area. He is in the Air Force and just got an apartment within stones throw of the bay. I made sure that when he moved out there he at least had a stout spinning rod in case he has the opportunity to do some fishing.

So here is where I need help. I though I would send him some stuff for Christmas that he could use. Maybe put together a kit with some line and select lures, hooks, weights and the like. You get the idea. I am unfamiliar with the area, techniques and fish species. What would be a good way to get him started? He does not have a kayak or boat of any kind (yet) so it would be mostly bank fishing.

I would say that Jamie (RACN35) would have some input on this. He does quite a bit of surf fishing. Jamie, feel free to chime in! Christmas is closing in on the sporting-gent!

First question would be what kind/size rod reel does he have with him if any ?

He has a "Stout spinning rod".

After setting here and typing a bunch of replies I deleted them all and suggest you use this- very informative I just found on the web.

Its a PDF document as well, so you can print it easy enough or save for later too>

http://www.fishermansheadquarters.com/f ... ISHING.pdf

I do a bit of surf fishing up on the Jersey shore. And this is just my opinion but this is what I would use. I like the 20# or 30# suffix braided line in green or yellow. I am always a big fan of the sputnik weights that hold the bottom very well. They have the claws that open up and grab the bottom. As far as rigs. It all depends on what he is fishing but I would send some top and bottom rigs, some bucktails and poppers always good. As far as reels I like the Tica Dolphins for a cheaper reel or if you want to spend the money the new Shimano Stella 10000FA which is awesome. I hope this help.

Jason
http://www.riptidebaitandtackle.com

Thanks for the help everyone. I have been out of town ans also I have not been getting email notifications of topic replies for some reason so I had not checked this post for a while. Armed with this information I think I can put together a nice little tackle kit for my son's birthday in January.

I also got some advice from a pro in the Tampa bay area who suggested soft plastics that resemble shrimp. I guess that is the major forage in that region. The fish species in that region are Red fish, snook, sea trout and tarpon to name a few.

sporting-gent wrote:Thanks for the help everyone. I have been out of town ans also I have not been getting email notifications of topic replies for some reason so I had not checked this post for a while.

Sporting-gent, topic reply notifications may have fell through the cracks when I upgraded the boards and changed the layout. Sorry for the problem there. These new boards are much more feature-rich and more appealing to the eye, so hopefully the trade-off is a good one! Welcome back from your hiaitus and Happy New Year!