I noticed that over the last few years the use of plastic grubs and now swimtails in the surf has grown quite fast, and from wuat i read here on the posts a lot of people use them almost exclusively. but have never heard anything about hard baits, does anybody out there use or has used plugs (topwaters, cranks...)in the surf?, if so which size, tipe and pattern produced? as much as I ejoy the plastics and iron jigs, to me nothing beats watching a surface plug get hammered.

I always bring a couple of crankbaits with me when surf fishing and an even larger selection when float tubing. They don't seem to be as versitile as swimbaits but when the conditions are right they are tough to beat.

Some of the baits I use are Rebel Minnow, Rebel Fastrac, Excalibur Long A (discontinued but the Bomber Long A is close), & Rapala Shad Raps. I have tried Rat-L-Traps but so far no luck. I caught one halibut on a Rebel Wee-Crawfish once. I have had legal halibut hit these lures while they were floating on the surface. There are many out there and most of them will probably work. I usually pick the bait that will run the deepest without dragging the bottom.

Watch the surface/floating plugs because the birds will dive on them.

One drawback to crankbaits is the treble hooks. They don't hold the fish as well and it is quite interesting trying to dislodge three treble hooks from a hot legal halibut from a float tube.

I agree that trying to deal with a treble deep in the maw of a ticked off doormat would be tricky, but those trebles can be switched to singles,
I'm just curious to see a good 'butt give chase and hammer a popper in skinny water.

anyway thaks for the input.

Over the years we've played with taking hooks off, putting them on, two hooks, one hook, single hook, etc. etc. and I've come to the conclusion that when I mess with the bait it results in fewer hookups. I do however swap the cheap nickel plated stock trebles that most of the baits come with with some heavier duty saltwater hooks.

the one item that i have noticed in changing hooks (if not matched properly) is that it can toss the balance of the lure off wack thus resulting in less fish caught, but if done properly the difference is hardly noticeable, I've lost fish on the singles but also some of them have popped off the trebles.
good example of single hooks working good are the marauder lures used for wahoo in long range trips

swapping the hooks for salt water grade ones does help a lot if you fish the brine, I've lost a few fish after the hook failed due to corrosion.

I have good success with the Berkley Frenzy minnow (shallow version) in the blue shad (blue/white) color. It is weighted to cast well and has a rattle, too. I replace the hooks with Gamakatsu EWG trebs.

exactly where and how do you use it, I assume that you use very light line also to maintain casting distance

From the beach, I cast a far as I can. I use 6 or 8 lb on a Shimano 4000 series spinner. I also use 8 to 10 pound on a baitcaster if not too windy. The lure has a nice wobble and as it bumps the bottom, it darts to either side in a "searching" pattern that I think, looks great. The halibut like it. From the jetty, I cast and wind constantly or use a stop-n-go retrieve. The cuda like it (even at night) and a few juvenile WSB have hit it. From the kayak, I troll it w/ or w/o weight. BTW, the color isn't "blue shad" as I said but instead is "Threadfin shad". Berkley recently came out with a salt version (not as many colors available)

sounds like I should give it a try.
from the surf how far back do you usually cast, considering that its a diving plug and the depth of the water.

have you ever used topwaters on the surf with any results?

Where do you live?
I live near Monterey Bay and occasionally have used topwaters there intending to get Striper. I have caught 2 Halibut on the Topwater. One took a working Excaliber Zara Spook that I was slowly "Walking the Dog" with. I had been fishing for the entire day, mostly with heavy surf-casting stuff and was tired so I couldn't work it at a normal striper fishing speed. Although the strike wasn't vicious it was just amazing to see the fish materialize from what I thought was a clump of weeds, and inhale the back of the bait much like I'd imagine they do when they mouth a bait on the bottom. I set the hook when I saw it's mouth close and had a 26" Hali for dinner.
The other Halibut took one of my homemade surf-casting Poppers (8" and 3oz. with buckshot for weight and rattle) while I was taking a tangle out of my Jigmaster. I got the tangle out and had just started to reel in when I noticed the line moving funny. When it came taught I was hooked to a 30+"er. I don't know if it hit while the lure was dead in the water or after I started to reel in the slack. I did have Anchovie butter on the bucktail trailer, and the fish had the trailer and half the plug in its mouth, with the trailer hook in it's throat and the front hook outside in its nose.
Based on these 2 instances I'd guess a slow "Wounded baitfish" retrieve might catch some halibut under the right conditions. Both of these were on a high tide in low light conditions (Dusk-thirty as a friend calls it). I hope this helps.

Tight lines,
Wade

hey wade, thanks for the response,
first I live and fish in the san diego area, chula vista to be specific. second the thought that you can actually get them on a topwater got me quite excited to go out and plug for them critters.
third, cant help but to envy you, must have been a beyond awesome to see a big doormat go up to the surface and inhale a plug.

I first grew curious on the prospect after reading a couple of posts about halibut clearing the water chasing bait, now with your post its confirmed, now I gotta take a shot. needles to say that the baits that your fish went for are way way bigger than what i had on mind.

The Excaliber Zara Spook isn't as large as you might think, I was using my freshwater bass gear after killing myself with the big stuff. I think it approximates a 4-6" Topsmelt or Sardines pretty well and up here the Hali's nor the Stripers will refuse the Smelt or 'Dines if they're anywhere near.
As for the Popper's, yes they're MONSTERS that usually leave me sore and fishless (average about 20+hours/fish), but when they do produce it's usually BIG. My lightest fish on one was 12#s, with 2 over 30#s. That also doesn't count the one I lost to a Thresher Shark 4 years ago, talk about WILD!

Tight lines,
Wade

a tresher on a top water, wow, as crazy as I might get, would never think of one going for it

The T-shark slapped it with its tail and it stuck. I had just cast to what I thought was a multiple Striper boil with over a dozen 'Dines getting airborne. He was only on for about 45 seconds before the shock leader (40#) broke, it looked like I had taken a sander with 40 grit to it.

Tight lines,
Wade

I bet that was one of those times you had a camera on hand :)

Hopefully next time you two meet again, you'll have the upper hand and a camera.

Tight Lines
Dennis

I forgot to add the words wish for on the fist sentence.... Oops!:P

It is a "shallow" diver going 0-4 feet. Since the depth of the water lessens as I reel towards the shore, when the lure hits bottom I just stop reeling for a second. This way, it floats up a bit and I can start cranking again. As a wave recedes, it is not necessary to wind at all since the water moving out will put action on the lure. I like to keep the Frenzy bumping the bottom. Not sure what you mean by "how far back"...