I moved back east and my boys are 3 and 6 and have expressed interest in fishing. I grew up surf fishing in North Carolina but it's been at least 17 years since I did any of this. I have a very limited amount of fishing gear. Most certainly the reels have to be respooles
but I don't know how to do that.


Basically, I am starting from scratch here. I don't need anything super complicated. I'm looking to have a few fun weekends with my boys.  


If it helps any I'll be fishing in Woods Hole, MA. Not sure what runs up here. I do know blues run and I know they can get big. I would be content catching croaker, mullet and anything else that might happen upon our bait.


Any and all advice on gear and setups is appreciated.

in Florida off of inlet jettys we would pre catch bait fish with cast net..or Buy shrimp from bait shop and keep in buckets.... hook bait fish, cast with bait casting or spin reel.

20lb test with 50 lb leader for snook


I would go to walmart....buy their spinning rod reel combo for 20 bucks..already lined.  pickup some pre-fabbed hooks and leaders...attach with improved clinch knot.

mullet get caught in cast nets as far as I know....so if you can throw one check your local laws first.  But chopping one of those in half has always worked in the inlets

here's a light-medium rod/reel combo example... 20$ at wallyworld.  it's the white one on right.   worked real well.

Depending on the fish you have in the waters, you might be able to do ok throwing some lures similar to fresh water bass fishing.   But hard to beat live shrimp or bait fish.

I was going to stick to squid and shrimp for bait. Possibly blood worms.

 

Stripers in the canal.

I usually fished the east end of the canal, but the fish run through there from both ends of course. I have fished the west end, just don't know it as well.

There are huge stripers (striped bass) in there, blues, mackerel run through there, false albacore in the fall. I've even heard rumors of football bluefin passing through. It's a great place to fish.  Did I mention the huge stripers?

Cheers!
-JC

ETA: Clams, squid, cut mackerel, sea-worms, fresh pogies or herring in season fished on the bottom, or the best - eels for bait. Eels can be live or retrieved like a lure if dead. Big top-water plugs at night. Not shrimp in MA.

Gear: Something long enough and stout enough to throw some heavy metal. It can take considerable weight in the current there to hold bottom.

Go there at night sometime and see what the locals are doing. The canal really is best at night for stripers.

Egg  or triangle weights?

I usually used bank sinkers. It's pretty rocky bottom most places, triangles can be more likely to wedge in while banks can roll or pull out a bit easier when they do get hung up.
I used triangle sinkers too, but had moulds for bank sinkers so used them most often.
I don't recall ever using egg sinkers there.

Cheers!
-JC

ETA: Some decent info in this article.

http://www.onthewater.com/capecodcanal/

I used to live right off the inter coastal. You'll have a lot of fun with the shrimp. If you're ambitious get a cast net and try it out.