Trout and Flattie Bridge Report 10/21

Tried the flat bridge Tuesday night. Used only watermelon gulp swimming mullet, managed to find the fish hanging at one of the lights. Hooked and caught the same rockfish twice, lol. Also think I had a few flounder on briefly but they got off before I could see them. Then instead of fishing the bottom slowly, I tossed the jig by the bridge and started reeling in a little faster. Caught a 16" trout, then two short 13" trouts. I don't know if they got smart but they stopped hitting the lure after that. Fished the bottom again and caught a small flounder shown in the photo below. That was it, everything released to grow.

Personal Best 19.75" FLOUNDER @ Sleepy Hollow 10/18

Started out at 7:00am leaving the house with my son. Weather was cool outside, low 60's. Sunrise was at 7:30am so it would warm up pretty quick. Arrived at New Smyrna around 8:00am and first stop is the new ramp, Swoope ramp. We started at the little cove near the dumpster but no luck. Moved down to the actual boat ramp and no luck again. Wanted to checkout Sleepy Hollow so that's where we headed next. Realized we were pretty much the only ones there, very surprising for a Saturday. Loaded the cart and walked down to spot #1. After a few casts I feel the flounder tap and hook into a nice one. Worked it on the shore and saw it was a big one but I didn't realize how big until I measured it. It taped at 19.75" long! The one I've been waiting on for some time now, I always wanted a 20-incher doormat. This one destroyed my previous record of 17" which was actually caught at the same place, Sleepy Hollow. Caught him on a pearl white Gulp swimming mullet with 1/4oz Mission Fishin' chartreuse jighead.



Couldn't get another hit after that so moved to spot #2. While there we came across a sea turtle that was swimming really close to shore.



Didn't get anymore hits at Sleepy Hollow so we took a lunch break at McDonalds. After lunch we went back to the new ramp. Tried fishing the cove again but no luck. Put the fishing poles away and decided to just throw the castnet and see what we can find for our home aquarium. With a couple throws of the castnet we found a few perfect specimens. Collected a juvenile gray snapper and juvenile crevalle jack, along with several tiny 1/4" hermit crabs. Took me awhile to ID the baby fish when I got home. Had a great day on the water! My dad took this photo of my son and I sporting our catch of the day.

Two Flounders from Flat Bridge 10/12 Night Fishing

Well it's been awhile since I've successfully caught a flounder. With the fall mullet run, I've been using the live bait around me but haven't had much luck with the flounder. There's just an abundance of mullet around so what makes my little mullet on a hook stand out from the rest...nothing. Decided to go back to artificial fishing, where I've had the most success with flounder this year. Tied on my 1/2oz Mission Fishin jighead and went back to old faithful, watermelon color Gulp Swimming Mullet. Worked most of the northside flat bridge and pulled two flounder, 12" and 13". Test results are in, flounder just love the gulp!

Tarpon and Redfish @ Top Secret Bridge 10/1

Started at Swoope Ramp last night to roundup some finger mullet. The plan was to freeline the mullet for some snook at area bridges. Didn't find very much mullet, good thing I had a few leftover from a few nights ago. Started heading towards the flat bridge in Port Orange, only 5-10 minutes away, but it started pouring rain on the way there. I parked near the flat bridge with hopes the rain would stop but no luck. Started working my way back towards New Smyrna and the rain stopped. With a break in the weather, I decided to stop by Top Secret Bridge for a quick freeline or two. After all this I finially started fishing around midnight. Tide was outgoing and near slack tide. Had one bite before the tide slacked, then I caught a back to back 18" Redfish and Tarpon. Ran out of finger mullet so I used a few mud minnows from my bait tank. With the mud minnows I hooked into two bigger tarpon that jumped and spit the hook. Had to go so that was it, I could stay out there all night if I didn't have to work in the morning. :)