Pompano Season is Here! CNS Surf Report 12/8

Went to one of my favorite surf fishing spots Sunday afternoon with my son, Cody. Arrived at CNS Lot 3 about 12:30pm and stayed until about 4pm. Weather was actually really nice on the beach with some clouds and a nice breeze to cool off. Temperatures were near 80 degrees most of the day and it's December? Beach conditions were good with 1-2 ft surf and occasional large wave hitting the shoreline. It was near the peak of high tide when I arrived. There was a slight current, but a 3 oz held most of the day. Weeds were not a problem, however, I do recall once where a mass of weeds got tangled on my line and it felt like I was reeling in a cinderblock. The water was pretty cold but not too bad, we only got our feet wet anyway.

So I fished with two rods and live sand fleas I purchased from the baitshop. At first the bite was slow after I got setup on the beach, only got a medium sized whiting and a big stingray in about an hour. After that the bite turned on for awhile. I caught another nice whiting for the cooler and then a couple just legal pompanos that were right at 11" to the fork. So 2 whiting and 2 pompano so far in the cooler. Not bad!

Then the bite slowed for awhile again, only caught about 3 small whiting that were thrown back and another big stingray. Starting to run out of bait and I get a good hit on the 10' rod. Landed a nice 13" fork pompano. And then as soon as I put it in the cooler my other rod starts to sing. This one was a personal best 15" fork pompano! (my previous personal best was 14.5" fork). Woo Hoo!! Great day on the water. It sure was nice to be back on the beach again after a washout November. All month long in November the winds were strong and weeds were a nuisance on the surf. All together I caught 6 whiting (kept the biggest three), 4 pompano, and 2 big stingrays. Everything caught on live sand fleas.

Slow Flat Bridge Monday Night 11/25

Another trip to flat bridge Monday night thinking the wind would keep some of the other fishermen away. Well my thoughts were right because I had the whole bridge to myself. Arrived about 10pm and stayed until about 1am. Tide was still outgoing with about another hour before slack tide. Very little baitfish on the northside of the bridge. I happen to see 2 finger mullet swimming by so I tossed my castnet and got them right away. For the finger mullet, I hooked them on a bottom fishfinder rig hoping for a big hungry flounder to pick it up. It's happened before! But the only thing that picked it up was a HUGE ladyfish. It gave me a nice fight and I was able to bring it up on the bridge. One of the largest ladyfish I've caught.

I also tried for flounder along the northside. First I tried watermelon swimming mullet (gulp). Ladyfish kept picking up my bait, running with it and then dropping. Switched to new penny gulp shrimp and mowed the northside again. Finially caught a short flounder that got a release. Well thats the report.

Where are those big flounder?!

Daytime South Causeway NSB Report 11/25

Tried a different route this morning by stopping by the South Causeway in New Smyrna, started at 10am and fished until 1pm. Tide was incoming the whole trip. Wind was blowing steady with a slight chill in the air. Used fiddlers and live shrimp on the bottom. Nothing on fiddlers today. Current was rolling too fast to try for sheeps. However with live shrimp I caught a small mangrove snapper, small pigfish, and a small goliath grouper about 11-12" long. All released to grow.

Sunday Night Flat Bridge 11/17

Nothing much to report but this small flounder caught on Gulp watermelon swimming mullet.

Fat 15" Flounder @ Flattie Bridge 10/27

Arrived at the bridge about 10:30pm. Winds were relatively calm and the air was cool. Tide was still outgoing and about another 2 hours before slack tide. I spent the evening mowing the bridge with my jigging pole and gulp shrimp new penny. Only one other fisherman so I had most of the bridge to myself. I started on the north side. Spot #1 no dice, moved to next light post and caught a small flounder that got a release. The bite pretty much stopped after that. It was hard to fish for flounder while the tide was rolling my jig under the bridge. I moved over to the south side of the bridge and mowed the entire way without a hit. Crossed back over to the north side and continued to jig while I waited for the tide change. Didn't get anything else on the gulp shrimp for the rest of the evening...but...
As I was walking the bridge I noticed two ropes tied to the bridge rails. I had saw them when I first arrived but didn't think anything of them. So I was bored and nobody was around I decided to investigate. I was surprised to see that the ropes were actually holding something in the water. I pulled up and another surprise, it was a homemade drop bucket for live bait. So I lift the bucket up and look inside, and another surprise. It was filled with live finger mullet! Haha lucky me because there was no bait in the water and I was getting ready to leave since gulp baits weren't doing much. So I pulled up the second rope and it's the exact same thing, another bait bucket filled with live finger mullet. Good thing I brought my live bait poles! Rushed back to the car to grab some more gear and quickly setup again near flattie rock. I dropped finger mullet on the bottom on two different poles. By now it's about 1:30am and the tide is slack. I'm at the second light if your counting left to right. I noticed one of my finger mullet rods wasn't moving, meaning either the mullet is dead or something stole my bait while I wasn't looking. So I grabbed the rod, but I felt a dead weight so I lifted fast and actually caught a flounder! I didn't even know he was on the line. He must have swallowed my bait and just laid there in one spot. This one was just legal at 12".
Moved back down to the first light near flattie rock and setup the live mullet rods there. I get a nice hit on live mullet and quickly see it's a big flounder. Took the risk and tried to jump it up over the rails. Fortunately for me it didn't popoff the hook while doing this and I just landed a fat 15" flounder. My kind of flattie! That was it for the night, no more hits and nothing else happened after that. I finially packed up and left around 3am.

small flounder on gulp shrimp new penny


12" flounder on live finger mullet


fat 15" flounder on live finger mullet

New Species SOUTHERN STARGAZER @ Flat Bridge 10/26

Back on the bridge as usual I'm working the northside for some flounder. Tonight I stuck with gulp shrimp new penny and caught a nice variety of fish. I got a nice size whiting that got a safe release. I also caught 2 small flounder that were released to grow.

Hooked into a big flattie over on the northeast side of the bridge. Never got a look at it but I knew it was a big flattie by the way the bite came. Knowing I probably had a big flounder on my line, I didn't want to surface the fish and risk losing it. So I started walking it towards the rocks. I was doing really good and the fish was cooperating very well. It was like I was walking an old dog on a leash, it never tried to get away. My heart is actually pounding hard because I'm so excited that I got a big flounder. Almost to the rocks I just had to pass my rod around the light post and I was home free. Carefully I hopped up on the ledge, passed the rod with my left hand and as soon as my right hand reached the rod I guess the line slacked just enough for the big fish to come unglued. That was it. Oh man I was so pissed LOL.

Also tonight I caught a first species for me, a Southern Stargazer. It wasn't very big as you can see compared to the 3" gulp shrimp. This fish actually has a special talent, it can create an electrical current from it's body. It uses this as a defense against aggressive fish. I thought it was pretty cool to see something new.

Southern Stargazer on gulp shrimp new penny (3 pics)




Small flattie on gulp shrimp new penny


Small flattie on gulp shrimp new penny

Flounder Report @ Flat Bridge 10/25

This is a late report that got forgotten so I don't remember the details of this particular trip. LOL I do remember that I caught 2 small flounder, 1 flounder 12" and another 12.5" flounder. Then I caught a decent whiting. All from the flat bridge in Port Orange.

Two Big Hits & Spooled Sharking @ Bethune Beach

Haven't been sharking on the beach in awhile so Zack and I decided to give it another go before it gets too cold. On the way we noticed lightning in the sky but it was further east and offshore. Upon arrival the winds were very calm so the bugs were out. Surf was 1 - 1.5 ft and it was high tide. I brought along some fresh bait that was actually caught by myself this week, crevalle jack and a ladyfish. My two 12' Beefstick rods were already rigged with a single strand wire leader thats about 100lb test. One reel is spooled with 40lb power pro braid and my large Fin Nor Offshore reel is spooled with about 300 yds of 100 lb test braid.

Setup pretty quick and cut some ladyfish to start the night off. We didn't go out too far to cast our lines, probably at the most knee deep. I used 5oz pyramids as weights and they seemed to hold really well. Now it was the waiting game. Two rods soaking and two friends just hanging out on the beach. After about 20 minutes my rod gets the hit. I get the rod in my hands and tighten the drag, the line is still coming off. I tighten down some more and feel something shake and go faster again. Line goes off and I'm still hanging on. It's something big. I hold the spool and I think it's turned around, I feel a shake and then dead slack. It's off! I reel in the slack and I'm missing my weight, so I know the wire didn't break. Turns out it broke at the 100lb braid line. I initially thought it was a tail slap that broke me off (sharks are known to easily snap lines with their tails). But when I looked at my reel I noticed alot of line missing, probably a good 60 yards. Not exactly sure what happened on that one and it took me a few minutes to gather myself after that one. Losing a fish to a broken line is sickening.

After taking a moment to think about what just happened, I decided to switch baits to a chunk of crevalle jack. I let that soak for about 30 minutes but nothing. After that I told Zack we should both reel in, rebait with chunk of ladyfish and give it one last cast before we head back home. So we did this and as soon as I sat in my chair, my Fin Nor reel goes berserk again. I didn't have a chance to put my pants back on over my swimming suit. I grab the rod and it's peeling line out at will. I tighten down the drag and basically hang on as my spool is getting smaller and smaller. It's hauling ass and I'm losing the battle quickly. A couple times I tried to hold the spool briefly to stop the fish in it's tracks, but as soon as it felt me trying to pull it back, it gave a shake and moved even faster the other way. Now my spool is getting down to the danger zone with less than 100 yards remaining. Still...the fish never stopped. Not even for a second to let me gain any ground on it. At this time I knew I was getting spooled and there's no way I'm getting a chance to see this monster. Still going!! I saw the yellow braid disappear off my reel like it was nothing...and now I'm down to the mono backing which is only 30 lb test. It continued to roll off the mono as well, then SNAP! the mono finially gave out. Fight was over and I was done for the night. My reel was bare, only a few yards left of mono backing. I've never felt the power of a fish that big. I don't think my reel and gear is even capable of bringing in a beast of that caliber. It's just one of those things I couldn't do anything but hang on. Plus I didn't even have a fighting belt, so the butt of the rod was buried in my hip leaving me with a nice bruise. After a night like this, it sure makes me rethink my strategy for sharking. Unfortunately for Zack, he was left wondering why he didn't get a hit the whole night using the same bait I'm using. Thats fishing my friend.

Double Header @ Flat Bridge 10/21

Had the day off work and I wanted to try the flat bridge during daytime hours. When I arrived after 10am I found only one other fisherman on the bridge and he was on the other side. My "flattie rock" spot was open and thats where I setup. I brought two rods for bottom fishing the live mullet that I bought from Donalds Bait & Tackle, and I also brought my jigging rod because I knew there would be some downtime. The tide was incoming. I only fished for about 90 minutes before I got rained out. Nothing on the gulp and nothing on the mullet for awhile but finially got a run and it as a nice crevalle jack 12" to the fork. My other rod got a zip run while I'm dehooking this jack but it didn't stay on, I knew it was another crevalle. Quickly got both rods back in the water with another mullet and waited for the jacks to come back. I got one more crevalle before the rain came. The two jacks I kept for freezing whole, they are used for shark bait. Headed back and was home by 1:30pm with some leftover live mullet on the bubbler.

Planned to revisit the flat bridge at night with the leftover live mullet. When I arrived after 10pm I saw my "flattie rock" spot was open again. I noticed there wasn't any bait in the water though. Fortunately the guy leaving gave me about 15-20 of his leftover mullet, what a nice guy! So I was setup and didn't need anymore bait. It was time to fish again. Same setup as earlier in the day, I brought my two rods for live mullet on the bottom and the jigging pole for passing away time. Though tonight I didn't need the jigging pole as much. At first the bite was slow, so while jigging a gulp shrimp new penny I got a small flounder that got a release. Then I got a good hit on the live mullet near the lightpost. It was a fat 15" flounder! One of my best from the bridge. I continued to get hits through the night on live mullet, mostly ladyfish striking, running and spitting the hook. Overall a great day on the bridge!

Freelining Trout @ Flat Bridge 10/19

Arrived at the flat bridge about 11:30 pm last night. It was high tide and just about to turn to outgoing tide. I started at "flattie rock" spot #1 and didn't see anything going on. Needlefish were hanging around and I only saw a few mullet. I jigged some gulp swimming mullet on the bottom slowly but the tails kept getting bit off. Didn't feel like flounder from the way they were striking the bait. I tried gulp shrimp new penny but nothing. So as I'm jigging around the light, this guy is walking down towards me carrying his castnet. Now first of all, the bridge is a rather long bridge. Plenty of space and plenty of lights to find bait. It just so happens there wasn't that much bait on the northside of the bridge. Anyway, this guy continues to walk down towards me, and I see he's looking in the water trying to find something to throw on. I'm thinking to myself, this guy better not come down. Sure enough he does eventually walk down to where I'm fishing and looks for bait. Fortunately for me, there wasn't any bait in the water. But I bet if there were baitfish around, he wouldn't think twice about throwing that net right next to where I'm fishing. Some people just don't have any sense.
Eventually he walks away without throwing the castnet, and I'm definitly feeling alot better now that he's gone. I continue jigging and then a car pulls up next to me and this black guy gets out. I can tell he's unloading the fishing gear because he's grabbing poles and buckets. I'm thinking to myself....REALLY?!?. This asshole decided he was going to fish right on top of me...and it wasn't just him either. The car drove away to park, and several other black guys came walking up...I had about 4 guys fishing right on top of me now! I'm looking around and I see SEVERAL open light posts and fishing spots....the whole entire southside of the bridge was open in fact. I just couldn't believe it...this is why I don't fish on weekend nights. It's when the assholes come out. Most fishermen are cool, but it's people like these guys who don't know any better. Just plain ignorant. Normally I would stand my ground but again, I'm by myself here and there's 4 other guys.
So I play the better man and just move. I crossed the bridge, and low and behold the gold mine of baitfish was there. The mullet were so thick all along the southside of the bridge, I couldn't believe it! However I picked the wrong night to forget my bubbler for the bait bucket! DOH! Luckily I had the trolling bucket which drops right in the water. One cast of the net and I had at least 20 mullet...no lie. I fished a little bit near Aunt Catfish but no hits. I saw down at the next light something was busting the bait so I moved down one light. Thats where I freelined another mullet and caught 2 trout! First one was just short at 14.5" and second was a bigger 16"! I could've kept the last one but I gave them both a release. Besides I just ate trout earlier in the day so I was good. I then moved 2 more lights down to the far eastside of the bridge. Again, mullet like crazy. I ended up catching only 1 more trout down there and it was a short 13". Surprised to see no ladyfish hookups tonight but I'm sure they were out there. There was just too much bait in the water if that is such a thing. :)
Oh, so at the end of the trip I was walking back to my car and briefly talked to the assholes that took my spot earlier in the night. I saw they had a big fat slot red in the cooler. Looked like a nice fish. I should've told them I like to be kissed when I'm F******! Yeah, I'm still mad about that.

14.5" Seatrout


16" Seatrout


13" Seatrout

Trout and Ladyfish Report @ Flat Bridge 10/16

Last night I took my friend Zack fishing on the flat bridge. Our gameplan was to castnet live mullet and freeline them near the bridge. We stayed on the south side of the bridge and were able to find alot of bait in the water. I landed 3 trout during the night, one was short at 13" but the other two were keepers over 15". I also landed 3 ladyfish for the cooler.
My friend Zack was able to get in on the action too, pulling in two ladyfish...one of which was the biggest one of the night! All together I brought home 5 ladyfish for the freezer and 2 nice trout.

Trout Report at the Flat Bridge 10/16

Had another opportunity to night fish the flat bridge so I took a ride to the east coast. Started near Aunt Catfish restaurant as the current was rolling that way, and while jigging a watermelon Swimming Mullet I caught an 11" Sand Trout! I haven't seen one of these guys in a long time.
No more hits so I crossed over the bridge to the "flattie rock" area and hooked a pretty 13" Spotted Seatrout on glow Swimming Mullet. I wanted to try the flounder but I couldn't. The current was just ripping too fast, which makes it very difficult to get to the bottom where the flounder are.

14" Redfish at Flat Bridge 10/14

Over the weekend we took a nice vacation to Treasure Island in the St Pete/Tampa area. We spent 2 nights at a hotel on the beach, and had a great time. I found my first sand dollar and a really nice conch shell that happens to be in excellent condition. I found all this while wading at the beach. The surf was so flat on the gulf side also. It's definitly alot different than the Atlantic side.

During the whole weekend I didn't fish over there, but I did see alot of people fishing the John's Pass near the rocks. Saw somebody reel in a small crevalle jack and then a spanish mackerel. I know there's fish out there but it was too crowded and I didn't really have the time. So once we got back home in Orlando on Monday, I had to get a line wet that night. Took the drive to the flat bridge as usual, I was able to fish "flattie rock" as I like to call it. It's one of my favorite spots there, it's also where I've been catching alot of reds lately too. So I jigged several different baits but only caught one fish, a 14" redfish on a Gulp Swimming Mullet (glow). First time using the glow color. Alot of people claim color doesn't really matter too much for gulp products, but I like to think it does. In fact, I know it does from personal experience. So the redfish was given a release after a quick CPR. That was it for the night! At least I prevented the skunk.

Thursday Night Flattie Report 10/10/13

Hit the flat bridge for a little bit Thursday night. I only used one type bait on this trip, a watermelon swimming mullet on a 1/2oz red jighead. It proved again successful last night as I landed 3 flounder. One was 12" and the other two were short. I also landed a small 12" redfish. That was it for the night.

Flat Bridge Daytime Report 10/7

Had the day off work today so I do what any guy would do, go fishing! Arrived at the flat bridge around 10:15am and saw nobody else on the bridge. I mostly fished near "flattie rock" this morning, starting with gulp swimming mullet in watermelon color. First cast I get the flounder tap and it's a small flounder which got a release. I work my way down a little bit and get another tap. Pulled up a 13" flounder for the dinner bucket! I'm thinking this is going to be a good morning, however, that was it. Everything was caught on watermelon color which is quickly becoming a new favorite for me.

small flounder on Gulp Swimming Mullet watermelon


13" flounder on Gulp Swimming Mullet watermelon

Redfish Magic @ Flat Bridge 10/6 Night Report

The original plan last night was to take Zack shark fishing at Bethune Beach. So we proceeded with the plan and headed to the east coast. I read Cocoa Beach was having seaweed problems the past few days so I was a bit apprehensive. Seaweed and fishing just don't mix
So an hour drive later we arrived at Bethune and scouted the area. I shined a light along the beach and immediately noticed the damn seaweed all along the beach. I advised Zack that this beach trip wasn't going to happen, but luckily I prepared for this. I had brought my jigging poles and artificials for the flat bridge. Stepped back into the car and we drove about 15 minutes north to the flat bridge. At arrival here I noticed alot of people on the bridge but the "flattie rock" light post was open. This is the spot where I've had the most success recently with flounder, trout, and ladyfish. Things are looking better now! So I rushed to park and unload the few things we needed, and we immediately claimed the open light post at flattie rock. I fished with gulp swimming mullet and gulp shrimp tonight. The shrimp didn't get any hits, however, different story on the swimming mullet. I started with watermelon color and caught a nice 15" redfish with beautiful markings. It put up a really good fight, thought I had something bigger to be honest. Then about 30 minutes later I was using pearl white swimming mullet and landed a 12" redfish. Another 10-15 minutes pass and I get hooked with another 15" redfish on pearl white again. Wow! I've never caught this many redfish in one outing. Called it a night after the last one because Zack had to work. Definitly a good night on the water!

15" Redfish on Gulp Swimming Mullet watermelon


12" Redfish on Gulp Swimming Mullet pearl white


15" Redfish on Gulp Swimming Mullet pearl white

Flounder and Ladyfish @ Flat Bridge 10/5

Drove out to Port Orange again to see what I could find. I fished a majority of the north side of the bridge...working my way towards the dirt parking lot. With my famous river killer combo I hooked and landed a fat 12" flounder that went into the bucket. No other hits on that combo so I switched to rootbeer gulp shrimp and got a short flounder. It was released to grow, sorry no pics of that one. Couldn't get another hit so started to work my way back to the car.

Towards the end of the trip I had worked my way almost back to the parking lot, and decided to play with the watermelon swimming mullet. Jigging it a little faster than I would for flounder, I kept hooking into small ladyfish. I was able to fight them but as soon as I was ready to lift them up, they would pop off the hook. I tried white...chartreuse...they were hitting everything and ripping the tails off as well. Eventually I got tired and called it a night. Of the dozen ladyfish I hooked up, I landed only one. It was very small and skinny, but still good enough for bait so I kept it for the freezer.

12" Flounder on River Killer combo

Small Flounder at Flat Bridge 10/3

Night trip to the bridge was almost a bust until I caught this small flounder to prevent the skunk. It was released to grow.

Flattie Bridge GRAND SLAM! 10/2

Arrived at the flat bridge about 11pm and to my surprise only one other fisherman on the bridge. Noticed the tide was already moving out but the current wasn't too strong yet, so it was a good time to try for the flounder. Ladyfish continued their ambush in the water as I watched from the bridge. I started with a gulp shrimp new penny on a gold 1/2oz jighead, and within a few casts I had a 13" flounder in the bucket. Continued to work my way but couldn't get anymore hits on the gulp shrimp.
Then I switched to the watermelon gulp swimming mullet and it was game on again. I caught another flounder but it was short, so I gave it a safe release back in the water. About 15 minutes later I get a 12" flounder. Another one for the bucket! Another 10 minutes pass and I get a rat redfish. Took a photo and sent him back home in the water.
Then I finially landed a ladyfish to complete my grand slam! haha my grand slams are a little different from others. Started working my way back to the parking lot, still using the watermelon gulp mullet, I get another flounder but it's only 10.5".
Most fish were caught on a gold 1/2 oz mission fishin jig with watermelon gulp swimming mullet, except for the first flounder which was on a new penny gulp shrimp. All together I landed 4 flounder, a redfish and a ladyfish. Great night on the bridge!

Flat Bridge Ladyfish and Trout 9/29

Took my buddy Zack with me to the flat bridge for some freelining last night. I told him about my last trip where I caught several trout and ladyfish using just a live mullet on a small hook. At arrival I noticed the current was outgoing with little bait around. It took awhile but we finially located a couple mullet to get started. We fished the side near Aunt Catfish restaurant the whole night. Zack didn't have too much luck, he hooked into two ladyfish the entire time but couldn't land them. I had a better turnaround tonight, landing 3 ladyfish and a 15" spotted seatrout. All were caught on live finger mullet.

Banner Night at Flat Bridge 9/24

During the almost hour drive to the bridge I prayed to the fishing gods that nobody would be in my favorite spot tonight. When I arrived just after 10:00PM, the rain had just stopped and to my surprise I had the bridge to myself! As soon as I noticed nobody was there I got super excited, this doesn't happen very often. My favorite hole was open and this is where I would hopefully catch some fish tonight. For this trip I brought my castnet because I wanted to free line some finger mullet. I brought my jigging stuff with me also incase the free line action was slow. Gathered what I needed and quickly walked to the other end of the bridge, where I was going to fish. First step was to drop the bucket to get some water for the live well. Then in one cast of the net I had several nice finger mullet. The bait is really thick now that the fall mullet run is in full force. I probably only threw my net 3 times the whole night, and came out with close to 40-50 finger mullet.

Immediately started free lining with a swivel and leader. I wanted to setup my two baitfeeder rods that were setup with a swivel, leader line, and small hook. This didn't work out very well with live mullet, I was concerned the lines would cross and tangle. The extra weight of the swivel seemed to tire out the mullet also. I switched over to my jigging rod and tied a small hook directly to the mainline, no leader or swivel this time. I worked around the lights where I could see some trout hanging around under the schools of mullet. Tried to keep the mullet in front of their faces and also single them out away from the big schools. I caught a couple nice 15" trout almost back to back. I hooked and lost several other fish. Alot of ladyfish striking on the surface. At one point they were feeding so aggressively that as soon as my live mullet hit the water, I could see 3-5 fish swarming to strike. The trout decided to eat again and I caught two more, biggest was 16" long. Finially at the end of the night I landed 2 large ladyfish that took me for a ride. I wanted to stay longer but at this point it was 2:30AM and I still had to work in the morning. LOL

All together I caught 4 spotted seatrout between 15-16" and 2 large ladyfish! All caught on live finger mullet.