Sunday Morning Flat Bridge - New Ramp 6/29

Started another day with hopes of catching the big one. Got up early and left while it was still dark. This morning I decided to begin at the new ramp so I arrived at 6:30am just as the sun was up. Upon arrival I saw my buddy Bob had just beat me to the spot. We talked for a few minutes then he proceeded to the flounder hole. Me and my son went to the boat dock and played around. Bob came back and said nothing was biting but he saw a couple big redfish cruising around. The bugs were so bad though, that we decided to leave and head for the flat bridge. We planned on returning later since the noseeums disappear when the suns up.
So back to the bridge, I setup on the north side and Bob follows behind and takes the south side. He ends up catching 2 small flounder on gulp shrimp. He fished both sides though so he had to work for them. I didn't catch anything at the bridge, only worked a couple lights without a hit. It was getting hot and we needed refreshments. So after a restroom break and cold drink, I proceeded back to the new ramp around 8:30am. By now the sun was up and surely the noseeums would be gone. Turns out I was right, I arrived back to the ramp and no bugs. Started with white gulp swimming mullet but couldn't get a hit, switched to gulp new penny shrimp and caught a 12" flounder to prevent the skunk for the day. That was it. After 9am it was getting super hot outside and the bite shutdown, which is usually the case during the summer.

Saturday Morning Flat Bridge / New Ramp 6/28

Started early this morning leaving the house by 5:30am. Arrived at the flat bridge around 6:30 to see nobody on the bridge. The tide was still outgoing but slow enough to fish for flounder. Tried the first two lights that usually produce for me but nothing. Crossed over to fish the second light pole with live pinfish and caught a 9" mangrove snapper that got a release. Talked to my friend Bob for awhile, he's a local that I met from an online fishing forum. He goes out every morning and dominates the flounder from shore. He caught a 15.5" flounder this morning on gulp shrimp and then he caught a nice jack. I didn't catch anything else at the flat bridge after the snapper, so I decided to switch spots.
Headed to the new ramp and noticed a few spots I didn't see while I was visiting at night. It was daylight so I could scout the area better. Saw a few pathways by the parking lot that led to the bay thats south of the ramp. It's not fished alot apparently because my friend Bob usually does well there. This was my first time trying and it didn't take me long to catch two flounder on white gulp swimming mullet. One was 12" and the other was 11". It had reached 11am and the sun was scortching hot, so I called it a day after that.

9" mangrove snapper on live pinfish


12" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet


11" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet

Tuesday Night Flat Bridge/New Ramp 6/24

Hit the bridge around 10:00pm, and the tide change wasn't until 10:30pm. Around 11pm finially caught a flattie on gulp shrimp but it was too short only 11". Tried gulp shrimp and gulp swimming mullet but couldn't get another hit. After some time the current picked up speed outgoing, so I crossed over to the south side. Storms started to move in and got rained out just before midnight. Got a little wet getting back to the car :)
Decided to drive down to the new boat ramp by the airport on US-1. A friend of mine caught his personal best 22" flattie there. Arrived to see no rain and no storms coming on the radar. Tried the same baits over there but no luck. I was able to net some small pinfish and mojarras right on the boat ramp in 2 ft of water. Pins are really fast and can escape long before your net sinks, so the trick is to throw on shallow water. I like boat ramps because they easily hold little pins, mojarras, shrimp and other small baitfish. It's best to go to these ramps at night. Just recently became interested in catching flounder on pinfish so I'm saving them for another night on the bridge. Pins are really easy to keep alive for days, all they need is constant air.

11" flounder on Gulp Shrimp

Tuesday Night Flat Bridge 6/17

Arrived at 10pm to catch the last 30 minutes of the outgoing tide and then start of incoming. Had to work for em tonight! Fished the Gulp out of that bridge and only got 1 flattie but it was a nice one at 13.75" long. Caught it on white gulp swimming mullet. Pretty quiet night on the bridge. Left shortly after midnight when the current was rolling too fast.

Midday Monday Surf Report! CNS 6/16/14

Took my 10 yr old boy for another beach trip to CNS. Arrived at the gates around 3pm and parked in lot #4. Not crowded at all at this point, I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. Got down to the beach and saw 1 ft surf if that. Outgoing tide. Sand fleas all over. Used my sons plastic shovel and was getting 2 or 3 decent sized fleas each scoop. But no hits on sand fleas today.

Setup the shark rod first with a chunk of lady fish that came from the flat bridge last year =) The other two rods were tied with a pompano rig using pieces of fresh dead shrimp. After getting all three rods in the water, one of the shrimp rods gets a bite and my son pulls in a ladyfish. Gave it a safe release. I was actually happy to see the ladyfish caught because that's what I'm using for shark bait, match the hatch you know.

So no more hits on shrimp. I mean zip nada none for 2 hours. The surf is dead when it comes to whiting and pomps...but check this out.... after about 30 minutes of soaking the chunk of ladyfish for shark I got a hit. I watched it hit...didn't take off like you would expect. Knowing something was messing with the bait I grabbed the rod, reeled in the slack, then felt pressure, followed by another shake. Set the hook and thats when the fish knew something wasn't right haha. It zipped out several yards like it was nothing. I'm just sitting there holding it as I'm adjusted my drag for fighting pressure. Only took 10 minutes to bring it on shore but I had just caught my first 4.5 ft shark! As soon as it was landed my priority was dehook, picture and then release as fast as possible without getting hurt. My son took several photos for me during the process so he gets credit too. It's my first Sandbar shark and also my largest shark landed to date.

Wednesday Night Flat Bridge 6/11

Started at my usual time around 10PM with hardly anyone on the bridge. Caught the last hour of incoming tide. First spot I jigged a gulp shrimp around the light. Saw a trout for a split second near the water surface. So instead of fishing the bottom, I decided to slowly let the current drift the gulp shrimp. I would drop my bait down and then lift it up off the bottom a few feet. As the current drifted it, I would slowly raise my rod tip so the bait would look like it's going towards the surface. This method worked immediately because I caught a nice 17.5" spotted seatrout on the first cast after seeing the surface trout. Gave me a good fight, I forgot how strong these fish are compared to lazy flounder.
Unfortunately the action just wasn't there tonight after that. The trout quickly disappeared. I jigged gulp shrimp some more at different spots but no hits. Also spent alot of time looking for live finger mullet because I wanted to bottom rig for big flounder, however I only saw about a dozen all night. I managed to castnet just one. I finished the night at the same spot where I started, fishing a live mullet on the bottom. All of a sudden I see a small baby hammerhead shark swimming by. It swims by my line, turns around and dives to eat my mullet. But it only bit the tail off. Dropped the remaining chunk of mullet so it was floating below the surface. A few seconds later the hammerhead comes back to finish what it started and gets hooked this time. Slow night but still came home with a nice trout!

17.50" Spotted Seatrout on Gulp New Penny Shrimp


Baby Hammerhead shark on finger mullet

Flat Bridge Tuesday Night 6/10

Arrived around 10pm and the tide had just started to switch outgoing. Fished a few light poles on the northside before the current picked up. Caught a small flounder and a 14" redfish that got a release. FWC officer made a visit again and while he was busy on the other side of the bridge, I caught a fat 12.5" flounder. Everything caught on gulp shrimp tonight. I realized how slow you have to crawl the gulp shrimp to get hits. Just cast it out, let it hit bottom and sit for a few seconds, then start the ever so slow retrieve.
Had a brief "oh shit" moment with a huge seaturtle while I was jigging for flounder. My jig got caught on him but luckily the barb of the hook didn't go through. I just gave the line slack and shook the hook off.

Flat Bridge Thursday Night 6/5

Set foot on the bridge around 10:30pm and caught the last of the outgoing tide. Tried some of my favorite holes but couldn't get a hit on anything. I had gulp shrimp and white gulp swimming mullet. Some tails were bit off but thats common with snappers and pinfish if they are around. Fast forward to midnight and still nothing to show for. The tide slacked and I snagged a tiny butterfly ray on the fin. He will be okay. I was working my way back to the parking lot and planned to leave at 1:00am. Now it's about 12:50am and I'm at the last light pole before I go home....
Then finially at 12:55am a flounder decides to wakeup for a snack and i'm at the right place at the right time. He hits my swimming mullet and I cross his eyes, literally. The hook went right thru his eye. Yikes! Luckily for him he's a fat 13" so I could put him on ice and out of his misery. It's a win win situation.

Flat Bridge Wednesday Night 6/4

Went to the bridge and it was a slow night. Had the last of the outgoing tide just before slack tide to try for flounder but couldn't get a hit. Switched baits and spots all night. Finially caught this little guy and released it to grow.