Though a popular Sunshine State pastime, especially on Florida's east coast, surf fishing attains a reverential status on the Georgia coast and the outer banks of the Carolinas where many anglers while away hours and days matching their skills with piscatorial denizens.

Certainly two of the nation's leading surf aficionados are Art Levy and Garry Oliver. Levy and Oliver, members of the Outer Banks Sportfishers team, point out that surf fishing is specialized, and that certain techniques must be mastered in order to be consistently successful.

"Reading the water is critical in surf fishing," Levy stresses. "You look for a break in the bar that allows the baitfish and game fish to come in. Fifty feet one way or another can make all the difference in the world between success and failure," he admonished.

Oliver, who is one of the few fishermen to ever catch a sailfish in the surf, points out that anglers must take advantage of whatever the situation is.

"You must have the right tackle and rigs for such standard fare as bluefish, redfish, speckled trout, and flounder," Oliver said. "But your gear must be tough enough to handle a sudden onslaught of whatever happens to slam your bait."

He hastened to add that long-range pinpoint casting is advantageous, and that tackle must be engineered to beat the fish while often enduring severe elements. Both Levy and Oliver like rods in the 9-, 10- and 11-foot lengths for their lightness and power. Surf reels should be able to hold 250 to 275 yards of 17-pound test line, the experts point out.

Levy, considered to be a premier distance caster or "bomb-thrower," especially likes to toss a balsa-bodied Doodlebug with a thin strip of mullet.

"This lightweight chugger-type lure has twin hooks and swims enticingly on the waves," he said. "But, when adding a trip of mullet, make sure it's very thin or the lure won't work properly."

According to Oliver, one of surf fishing's greatest joys is taking bluefish on lures when the surf is clear and you can see the blitzing fish.

Popular surf fishing lures include spoons in gold or silver colors, top water plugs that are noisy and shiny, and jigs.

Along the Outer Banks where Oliver and Levy hold court, blues weighing 15 pounds are not uncommon. Nor are channel bass (redfish) scaling 40 pounds and more a rarity. Matter of fact, a huge 94-pound red was caught by a surf fisherman along the Outer Banks in 1984 that stands as an all-tackle record for the species.