Retrieve speed in heavy surf?

[Beachbuster]

I fished yesterday morning when the surf was pounding. I was fortunate enough to hook up twice and land one but that strong north wind got me thinking, should I retieve faster in a heavy surf? The two fish I hooked up with were on a slow retrieve but I thought there should have been more fish around in that kind of surf. I did speed up the retrieve, but just for a few casts, had to go my son's last baseball game, but I was thinking about what would have been the best retrieve...by the way, sand ells were in the stomach

[stakones]

Your best bet is to experiment to see what works best. On Saturday I was fishing an open beach and connecting on a majority of my casts on tins using a moderate retrieve. I knew there were fish in the area so I wanted to experiment. Tried everything else in the bag and nothing else would even get a bump. Back on goes the tin and I am into the bass again. Then the same retrieve started producing less and less fish as time went on. After a few bumps and misses I changed the retrieve to hard sweeps or jigs with the rod. Once the I picked up the slack after it falling in the water colum it was fish on again. Even in a course of an hour the retrieve changed. Just play around with it and see what works.

[HugeDinghy]

I go a lil faster on the front end and slower once the wave has crested

[Sudsy]

If you have a cross wind you have to reel fast enough to avoid that big belly in your line. If you don't, a fish could hit and you'll never even feel it.

[Striped Bass]

All the above

[Fergal]

YOu have to keep contact with what you're throwing, fast, slow, whatever works.

[stakones]

If you have a cross wind you have to reel fast enough to avoid that big belly in your line. If you don't, a fish could hit and you'll never even feel it.

 

 

Agreed. Try to cast directly into wind otherwise if not possible, pick up the slack or bow in the line as quickly as possible and then slow into your preferred retrieve.

[RegDunlop]

I always try to reel as slowly as possible, while keeping contact with my plug/lure. Now sometimes that requires me to reel very very fast.

[jimmy z]

I use 3 oz bottles in a big surf. Slow on the back, fast on the front. I wanna feel my plug doin' it;s thing.