First TARPON! Explosive Night @ Top Secret Bridge 8/27

Got a late start but finially met up with Zack at his house around 10:15pm and headed out to the new ramp (Swoope) to find bait. Our fishing location would depends on what kind of bait we obtain from the castnet. When we pulled into the ramp and after 30 minutes we netted around 15 live finger mullet. The candy of all baitfish! With the best bait in the world in the livewell bucket, I made the call to hitup my top secret spot where the snook and tarpon are catchable on the right tide and with the right bait. Best on an incoming tide with live finger mullet. I wasn't sure which way the tide would be moving at that spot, but only one way to find out. Took the short drive further inland to a local bay that is untouched at night. Found the tide was incoming when I peeked over into the water, yay! The gameplan here is to freeline and drift a live mullet. I found that dropping the bait straight down alongside the bridge and letting it drift out worked best. Once the bait drifted out I would reel in and drop the bait back alongside the bridge. Open bail worked best, just feeling the line with my finger.
It didn't take long to get my first hit but it came unbuttoned pretty quick. Got another hit and finially got a fish on. It was my first ever tarpon! It was a little guy but it put on a show before posing for pics. It made a giant leap out of the water that had to have been 8-10 ft high, no joke. And it's shallow water too, I don't see how thats possible but we both witnessed it almost hit a tree branch. Here's a photo of my first tarpon...



Then after midnight I get my second and bigger tarpon on live mullet! Here's a few pics of that one...





Zack got in on the action and caught his first tarpon as well!

23" RED! Friday Night Swoope Ramp 8/22

Left our house after dinner around 7PM. We get to the NSB Bait & Tackle shop to acquire 2 dozen mud minnows. The guy there hooked me up with more than 2 dozen...awesome. Arrived to the ramp around 9PM. It was a new moon and tide was up high. Water was super clear, you could see every detail on the bottom. Quickly setup a rod and got a hit along the mangrove trees. It was probably a snapper but I couldn't get it to connect on the hook. Cody caught a 9" mangrove snapper all by himself using a live mud minnow. It got a release back in the water without a photo. OOPS!
The blue crabs were in the area, caught a small one that released itself on the lift. And then caught a huge male bluecrab. It let go on the lift but luckily the water was so clear I could still see it. Dropped the bait down, the crab grabbed it again, and used our landing net to catch it. The shell was 6" from point to point, so the crab was overall much bigger. Boiled him up when I got home, here's a picture of him sitting in our sink.



Then 10:30pm rolls around and I hook into a nice fight using a live mud minnow. As I'm fighting it, I had to move down to the floating dock so Cody could try to get the landing net in the water. Secured the fish on the dock and realized I just caught a 23" redfish! Other people were around to witness my catch so I was feeling good. :)





My son Cody was more interested in the hermit crabs. We found three new hermit crabs. One had a really bad broken shell, so I took it home and put a new empty shell of similar size in with it. Sure enough it swapped shells and is now in a safe home. Here's a few pictures of our new tank mates.

NEW SPOT - Top Secret Bridge - Inshore SLAM! 8/12

So I was fishing the Swoope ramp all by myself when my friend BJ stopped by to see if any mullet were around. He came over and we chatted, I wasn't catching anything I told him. So he talks about a hot spot that he's willing to show me. He said when the tide is right and with the right bait (finger mullet), you can catch snook and tarpon like no where else. We netted some finger mullet at the ramp and I followed him to the new spot. After a U-turn, right, left and right again we were there. :)
He showed me around there and gave me some advice on how he catches fish. On his first cast pretty much he caught a nice snook! I finially get in on the action and catch a small snook. It's actually only my second snook every caught lol. I didn't measure it but I'd say it was around 14-15" long. Gave it a release.



After that I snag a catfish on its side, so I operated some outpatient surgery and gave it a release. Things slowed down and it was about 2am at this point. I had to leave soon. Finially I hook into a redfish that was also released since it was only about 14-15".



Called it a great night after that. I'll definitly revisit this spot again and I thanked BJ for showing me. He asked me not to tell alot of people about it though, so per our confidentiality agreement, I will name this spot "Top Secret Bridge" on this website. :)

Friday Night Slam! 8/1

We get there around 8:00pm and see the bridge isn't as crowded as I expected. There were two groups of people fishing but they were not in my favorite spots. Parked in Aunt Catfishes overflow parking lot and walked to the 2nd southsite light pole. Current was still outgoing and just like yesterday, we had the wind in our faces again. With three fishing poles and a mud minnow on each one, we couldn't get a hit for like an hour. Crossed over to the northside and it was the same story. I finially caught a tiny flounder that got a release. That was it for the bridge, pretty slow action there last couple of days.
Still had alot of live mud minnows leftover, so decided to try Swoope boat ramp. We get there after 10PM and setup on the rightside dock. It was a high tide and still incoming. Around 11pm Cody caught his first fish and its his personal best keeper Flounder at 12.5" long! Shortly after that, I catch my personal best Mangrove Snapper at 12.75" long. We just kept taking turns catching fish after that. Cody caught his first Mangrove Snapper that was 10" long, then I get a big Hardhead Catfish, then Cody gets a bigger Mangrove Snapper thats 11" long and then I end the night with a big ladyfish that put on an amazing show. It made several jumps right in front of us while I was reeling it in. Got it over the rails and it snapped my 20lb leader line. Took the hook out and threw him back. Had a great night on the water with my boy!

Cody's Fish Count: 3
12.5" Flounder (personal best)
10" Mangrove Snapper
11" Mangrove Snapper

Brad's Fish Count: 4
small Flounder
12.75" Mangrove Snapper (personal best)
large catfish
large lady fish