One of the very best baits, for surf fishing at Jacksonville Beach is finger mullet.  Finger mullet are freely available in the surf, several months of the year.  All you need is a cast net,and you can pull in more finger mullet than you'll know what to do with.  The mullet in the picture above were caught August 17th 2013.  It was the first school I saw last year at the beginning of the mullet run, which usually starts in the Fall and runs into the Winter.  From August to January, I can typically catch enough live finger mullet to fish with, plus plenty more, which i freeze in quart bags for later use.