If you plan to go surf and shore fishing, it helps to have good eyesight. You can improve your chances of catching big fish by keeping your eye out for schools of baitfish that the bigger fish like to eat. You’ll need to be quick because game fish tend to move fast, then leave. Your best bet to find the bigger fish is the middle of the school of baitfish. This is because smaller fish try to stay away from the larger fish so they won’t get eaten, which means the bigger fish are usually in the middle. If you can’t find one of these holes, aim for the outside edges of the schools of fish when you cast your bait or lure.

Sometimes, schools of baitfish can be so dense in some areas near the coast that it creates something called “muds.” This occurs when the movement of the fish stirs up the debris from the sea floor. These large schools of fish can be several acres wide and can block out your sonar as your boat drives through them. The good news is that these large baitfish schools often attract a lot of larger, hungry fish. This means an amazing fishing opportunity for you if you’re looking for big fish, such as kingfish, mackerel, tarpon, bonito, sharks, giant redfish, jack crevalle and others. As these larger fish swim around looking for food, you’ll be there to snatch them up.

There are many different methods for catching these large fish. You can start by trolling spoons around the furthest edges of the schools. If that doesn’t work, you can use live bait and troll it on the surface, aiming for the larger kings. If you don’t catch fish using either of those methods, try anchoring your boat, then casting small spoons or live bait into the middle of the feeding frenzy.