UTERYou can catch the same fish from shore as from a boat if you fish the places where deep, moving water comes within casting range: jetties and seawalls at passes, bridges and piers, the trough in front of a beach, and the edges of wadeable flats. Time it for dawn or dusk on a moving tide, fish the down-current side, and go where the wind leaves the water clean.
Here is how to fish each kind of shore spot, what to bring, and how Fish Scouter's Shore, Wade and Kayak filters show you only the spots you can actually reach.
Shore spots at a glance
| Spot | Best tide | Typical fish | Key tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jetty | Outgoing | Snook, redfish, sheepshead, jacks, mackerel | Fish the tip and the down-current side; stay off wet rocks |
| Seawall | Moving water, high tide | Snook, redfish, sheepshead, snapper | Cast parallel to the wall, tight to the riprap |
| Bridge or pier | Strong moving tide; night | Snook, snapper, sheepshead, Spanish mackerel | The shadow line and the pilings |
| Beach trough | Incoming into high | Pompano, whiting, redfish, snook | Fish the trough and the cuts in the bar |
| Wade flat | Rising tide, early | Redfish, trout, snook, bonefish in the Keys | Work the edges and potholes; shuffle your feet |
| River or lake bank | No tide; low light | Bass, catfish, panfish | Points, wind-blown banks, inflows |
Jetties
A jetty is a rock wall that walks you out to the mouth of a pass, right where the current runs hardest. On the outgoing tide, bait from the bay pours past the rocks, and snook, redfish, jacks and mackerel set up to eat it. Sheepshead and black drum pick crabs off the rocks all winter.
- Fish the tip, the down-current side, and the seam where fast water meets slow.
- Use heavier line and a stout rod; the rocks cut and fish run for them.
- Bring a long-handled net or a gaff for keepers, and plan how you'll land a fish before you hook it.
- Wear shoes with grip. Wet, algae-covered rocks are slick, and big swell washes over jetties. Stay off them when waves are breaking over the top.
Seawalls
Seawalls line canals, bays and passes. They're often the deepest water close to land, and the riprap at the base holds crabs and baitfish. The best walls have current along them or deep water right off the edge.
- Cast parallel to the wall, not straight out. Fish hold tight to the structure.
- At night, seawall dock lights and streetlights make shadow lines just like a bridge.
- Public seawalls at passes, parks and causeways are often the easiest year-round fishing in a coastal town.
Surf troughs and beach cuts
Most beaches have a trough between the sand and the first sandbar. Waves break on the bar and the trough behind it is a little deeper and calmer. Pompano, whiting, redfish and snook cruise it, eating sand fleas, coquinas and baitfish.
- Scout at low tide. The bar and trough show plainly. Note where the bar breaks.
- Find the cuts. Gaps in the bar are where the water piled up by the waves drains back out. They act like small passes and concentrate bait.
- Fish the incoming. The last two hours before high are often best as water fills the trough.
- Use the right rig. A double-dropper pompano rig with sand fleas or shrimp, or a small jig for whiting and pompano.
Beaches with onshore wind get rough and dirty fast. An offshore or light wind usually lays the surf down. Cuts that drain the trough can also be rip currents: never wade out into one, and learn how to escape a rip from the National Weather Service.
Good beach fishing runs the length of the Atlantic coast, from the First Coast whiting runs to the Space Coast pompano beaches.
Wade flats
Wading lets you reach fish that boats spook, quietly and cheaply. Look for a firm sand or grass flat in 1 to 3 feet of water with a drop-off, a pothole or a channel nearby. Fish sit on those edges.
- Start early on a rising tide, and work the edges and potholes.
- Shuffle your feet to move stingrays out of the way.
- Know the bottom. Avoid soft mud you sink into, and know where the deep channels are.
- Watch the tide. A sand bar you walked out on at low can be cut off by deeper water on the rise.
- Carry it all on you. A wading belt, a small box, pliers, and a phone in a waterproof case.
Wade fishing for redfish and trout is a tradition from South Texas to Tampa Bay, and in the Keys wading anglers stalk bonefish on the flats.
Bridges and piers
Bridges and piers deserve a guide of their own: see bridge and pier fishing tips for shadow lines, rigs and etiquette.
How Fish Scouter's Shore, Wade and Kayak filters help
Most fishing maps assume you own a boat. Fish Scouter asks "How are you fishing?" and gives four choices on the map: Shore, Wade, Kayak and Boat. Pick one and the spots and days that suit you are picked out, with a line on how to fish each.
Shore
Shore mode picks out seawalls, jetties, piers, bridge catwalks, beach accesses, beaches, beach cuts, public docks, pass shorelines, spring runs, and river and lake banks. Each comes with an instruction such as "Walk the rocks and fish the tip on a moving tide" or "Surf-fish the trough from the sand". Offshore reefs and wrecks are left out because you can't reach them on foot. When the seas are over about 5 feet, a jetty is flagged as awash and you're pointed to the seawall instead. In shore mode, distance to a spot is treated as a drive, not a boat run.
Wade
Wade mode picks out flats, beach troughs and cuts, oyster and mangrove edges, creeks and spring runs, and drops anything deeper than 4 feet. It flags days over 15 knots of wind as too windy to wade, and surf over 2 feet at the beach. Nobody publishes a list of firm, wadeable flats, so Fish Scouter predicts them from NOAA's high-resolution elevation models. It looks for shallow water of about 1 to 4 feet next to a drop of at least 3 feet, within about half a mile of a public ramp, access point, park or parking area. Those pins say "Predicted" and explain why, because a guess should look like a guess.
Beach cuts
Fish Scouter also predicts the trough and the cuts in the bar in front of mapped beach accesses, from NOAA's high-resolution surveyed elevation data (CUDEM). Each cut is labelled with the numbers and the survey year. Bars move after every storm, and the pin says so.
Kayak
If you paddle, Kayak mode measures range from the nearest launch and judges the wind and chop against a kayak's limits. See kayak fishing for beginners.
On the Guide plan, Today's plan follows the same switch: on foot it only picks spots you can fish from the bank, in waders or from a kayak, and puts them in a running order with the tide window to be there for.
Check your state's license rules before you go, because some states treat shore fishing differently. In Florida see FWC licensing.
Find your spot on foot
We think Fish Scouter is the best fishing app for anglers without a boat. Set it to Shore or Wade and you see only the water you can reach, how to fish it, and what's biting there on today's tide and wind. Start a free trial.