Starting out, I recommend at least a 9 foot graphite surf spinning rod for bottom fishing and surf casting. This rod should break down into 2 sections for ease of storage. Mount a Daiwa Emblem-X spinning reel spooled with 15 to 17 pound monofilament line. Flourescent green is a preferred color for maximum visibility both day and night. Berkley and Stren are both good name brands to start with. A smaller 7 foot rod with balanced reel is needed for flounder fishing. Spool the matched spinning reel with 10 or 12 monofilament line. This outfit also works fine for sea mullet, pompano, and a variety of other bottom fish. Next you will need some double dropper beaded monofilament bottom rigs with locking swivels for the hooks. Hooks should be Eagle Claw bronze long shank no.2 size for most bottom fishing and get some Eagle Claw bronze no.2 size Kayle style flounder hooks. For fishing finger sized mullet minnows, you cant beat a Mustad No.5 short shanked hook. You will need a pair of long needle nose pliers for fish hook removal, especially for spanish mackeral, flounder, and bluefish. These fish have very sharp teeth and can ruin a fishing trip faster than you can say "Ouch"! For weights you will need pyramid lead sinkers in 3, 4, and 5 oz. Get you a flounder rig or two for flounder. Theres two types and each has its own properly sized lead sinker attached. One is a heavy monofilament rig which has a yellow or orange float attached to keep it off the bottom and the other is a wired rig without the float for live bait fishing. Both work fine for flounder.

The double dropper beaded rigs work fine for just about everything in the surf. Get some casting spoons such as the hopkins, hatteras minnows, stingsilvers, crocodile, kastmaster, gator, etc. Lots of different styles to choose from. Anything resembling a mullet minnow will work. Tie directly to your line for the most hits. Occasionally, you may lose one to a cut off from a bluefish or spanish mackeral. If cut off's become a problem, you can remedy this two ways. Either tie a short section intermediate 25 to 30 pound monofilament shock leader on or get you some 30 pound black steelon leaders. They work just fine too. There are more elaborate ways to connect your spoons, but this will get your started and work just fine too.

I recommend spike fishing while bottom fishing, which you may be familiar with. All of the tackle shops on the Outer Banks of North Carolina have these flared pvc rod holders. They have long tapered beveled cuts on the end that you stick into the sand. You just work them back and forth til they bottom out in the moist sand down near the waters edge. They serve two purposes. One they give you a place to store your rod while waiting for a bite, and they serve as storage spot to place your rod and reel when removing a fish or baiting back up.

Here's a little on technique. Use fresh mullet or menhaden for bait. Fresh finger sized mullet minnows are preferred this time of the year, but cut bait from larger fish works fine too. Scale the sides of your bait fish before filleting and cutting into smaller pieces. Strips about 3/4 inches wide by 1-1/4" long work fine for each hook. Sandbugs dug out of the sand at the edge of the surf make fine bait too. Deheaded, peeled shrimp cut into small pieces about the size of a miniture marshmallow work great for all of the small bottom feeders including nice sized sea mullet and puppy drum.

For bottom fishing make your casts long at first, leaving your offering where it landed. Dont move it for the fish will sense the smell carried by the current and home in on your bait. It only takes a few minutes to get a bite, when the fish are close by and feeding. If you dont get any action, move up or down the beach to a different spot. That makes a difference most of the time. Also try in close, if all else fails. Many times the fish are feeding near a one foot drop off a few feet from the beach. You wont see it but its there and you will feel it when you drag your rig in a few times. You will think youre stuck, but keep pulling and your rig will come up and over this ledge. When you catch a fish, make sure you have it high in the water when youre bringing it in so you dont loose your fish on this ledge. Bringing your fish in with the aid of a breaking wave at this point helps tremendously.

 For flounder fishing, make sure you keep your bait moving, cause flounder prefer a moving bait. Once you feel a hit, drop your rod tip down and give the fish a little slack line. Count to ten, before setting the hook. Other than that, just some of your favorite cold beverages, and a bait rag, cutting board, sunglasses, the usual beach stuff will get you going. Pick up a tide table so you will know when peak high is. Fishing around high tide is often the best time and especially if it occurs near dawn or sunset.