Flat Bridge Slam! Night Fishing 9/17

Scooped up my friend Zack on the way to New Smyrna where we castnet the finger mullet for bait on boating docks. Some nice schools of mullet were hanging around and we were able to get about 2 dozen in about 30 minutes or less. Nothing like free bait!

Ran down to the flat bridge and found my favorite hole was open. The current was near slack when we got there, and upon walking to the spot I noticed a flounder just kinda floating on topwater. Curious if it was even still alive, I dropped a finger mullet next to him which spooked it as it dove to the bottom. Oh well. So I rigged our poles to fish the live mullet on the bottom. Hooked two small trout that got a release, biggest was 13" long. Also caught some ladyfish for shark fishing, counted 3 in the cooler when we were done. I felt like I missed a few flounder as I was fishing, but finially brought over a fat 13" flounder! Zack also got a 13" fat flounder! Ended the night catching a barely legal mangrove snapper that got a release. Four different species caught tonight and we used every single one of the live mullet in our bucket. One of our better nights for sure with a lot of action.







The next day I did my first fish print which is called Gyotaku. Gyotaku is a traditional Japanese method of printing fish, a practice which dates back to the mid-1800s. The process sounds simple: cleaning and drying the fish, painting with sumi ink and then pressing rice paper to create a print. Think of it as a thumbprint, pretty much the exact same thing. Sounds easy but it actually involves some skill believe it or not. There are some YouTube videos online, but I recommend the videos created by Rob Choi. He's actually the person that inspired me to do this through his own fishing blog. Here's a fish print from the 13" flounder above.

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

Father & Son Flat Bridge Monday Night 7/28

My son Cody is starting to like fishing since we've switched to using live baitfish instead of Gulp!. He had fun last night when he caught his first butterfly ray so he wanted to go again tonight. I wasn't planning on going but since he asked, I got everything ready for another night trip. Cody and I arrived in New Smyrna around 7:30pm and we needed live bait, only two baitshops would be open til 9PM and thats Thirty Eight Live Bait and NSB Bait & Tackle. I stopped by Thirty Eight Live first, an employee was already outside turning people around because they were out of everything live. So I went to NSB Bait & Tackle and I was in luck. They had plenty and plenty more of nice mud minnows. At $6 a dozen I got three dozen. A bit of overkill but I wanted leftover bait that I could keep alive for another day. With live bait acquired, we made our way to the flat bridge. It's now 8PM and the beginning of incoming tide. My favorite incoming tide spot was open thankfully. First thing I do is baitup Cody's rod with a live mud minnow. His first cast he catches a 10.5" flounder right off the bat! This is his first flounder, he's been working so hard for it. So happy for him!
Got into some ladyfish, landed a couple for the bucket. Then I get a 12" flounder to add to it. I also hooked and released a tiny flounder and a catfish. Cody then gets another tiny flounder which was smaller than the one I just caught. I end the trip catching another 12" flounder for the bucket and an 11" flounder that got a release.
Cody had an exceptional night catching his first 2 flounder. And even though he didn't catch one, he also enjoyed playing with the ladyfish. My own tally was 4 flounder, 2 ladyfish and a catfish. The bite was steady so it kept us both entertained.

Wednesday Night Flat Bridge 7/16

Hit the bridge with my buddy Zack. We first stopped at some boat ramps and netted alot of big mojarras and some pinfish. We had plenty of bait, so we went to the bridge. Tide was still outgoing but nearing slacktide. We fished the northside of the bridge. I first caught a huge butterfly ray, that was cool. Zack was slaying the ladyfish on live bait, he ended the night catching 3 ladyfish and donated them to be sharkbait. I finially caught a flounder but it was only 11.5" so it was released. The bite was slower than it usually is, but we still caught some fish. When I put on a fresh lively baitfish I usually got a hit pretty quick. That was it for the night, came home with 3 ladyfish. Oh yeah, I also hooked into a nice sized bluecrab. It actually stayed on my line as I brought it over the rails and into a bucket. It was a big male. I cooked him as soon as I got home and had bluecrab for the first time. It was awesome! I measured the crabs shell and it was 5.5" from side to side, so with the legs the crab is much bigger.

Tuesday Night Flat Bridge 7/15

Kept about a dozen live mullet for 2 whole days with only 1 death (it was the one that got stuck in the net). I had to use them ASAP though because the water was starting to stink. It was a wet evening in central Florida though, but I had a feeling the storms would die off around 10pm as they have recently. So I drive out there, knowing it's raining and taking a chance on whether it would clear up or not. I get to New Smyrna first around 10:30pm, it's just a sprinkle here but enough to get wet. I quickly refresh the water for my live mullet and get back in the car to decide my next move. Now the radar shows the storm is clearly dying off so I head straight to the flat bridge. I get there and see nobody on the bridge because it had just stopped raining. Perfect timing.
I fish two spots with live mullet. Only one spot produced a steady bite. It's my new honey hole where I'm catching flounder, snapper, trout, ladyfish, butterfly ray. Tonight I would catch 3 flounder all 12" but very fat. Check out the photo of the first flounder. I caught it on a finger mullet and when I got it on the bridge it spitup a whole mojarra as well. I also caught 3 small butterfly rays and a huge ladyfish that is 21" long! This new honey spot is best on an incoming tide with some current. I tried moving down but couldn't get a hit, so I went back to my favorite spot and started catching fish again. My last mullet of the night produced my last flounder, nice way to end the fishing trip. Very good night on the bridge!

Sunday Night Flat Bridge 7/6

Went to the bridge last night but first I had to net some bait. Went to a couple boatramps in New Smyrna that typically hold baitfish. Got a couple mojarra, about half dozen small mullet, a greenie and a pinfish. Finially around midnight on the flat bridge and immediately caught a 12" flounder on the live greenie. Good start! Continued to fish for about an 1.5 hours, got a small ladyfish on a mojarra, 3 butterfly rays that kept taking the mullet, a FAT 12.5" football on a live pinfish, and then a 13.5" flattie on the last mojarra.
Live bait is now the key to catching numbers of fish. I use two rods, each tied with 20lb fluorocarbon leader and a size 2 Owners K Hook. Usually I drop one down next to the light pole, while I slowly walk the other rod trying to find a bite.

Grand Slam Flat Bridge! Early Morn 4th of July

Had a bunch of live bait leftover from previous nights so I went back to the bridge Thursday night to finish off the livewell. Armed with a dozen small pinfish and a few small mud minnows, I arrived around 10PM. Since the tide was still outgoing, I first worked the southside of the bridge with gulp swimming mullet but without a hit. I then crossed over and tried the northside without a hit. It's almost 11PM now the tide change is running late. Seeing how the bridge isn't producing, I decided to leave for the new ramp to shake off the skunk. Pulled into the new ramp parking lot and started working the honey hole. After the third cast I heard the sound of a manatee surfacing for air. Party pooper! So much for that, I left that spot since it was dark and I didn't want to snag a manatee. I had my castnet with me so I walked down to the actual ramp to see if I could find any mullet or mud minnows. Threw my net and got some mud minnows right on the ramp. I was getting ready to leave to try another boat ramp when I looked over and saw the candy shop was open, it was 30-40 small 2.5" to 3" finger mullets swimming in a few inches of water. Only problem is they were down by the rocks and trees. I was willing to risk it at this point, so I climbed down and creeped up on them so my shadow wouldn't scare them. One quick toss and I got about 15-20 finger mullet in the net. Woo! Change of plans, going back to the flat bridge....
So now I'm back at the bridge and it's past midnight, happy 4th of July! The tide is now incoming and there's one spot open on the northside. Hooked a mullet threw the eyes and dropped it to the bottom, as soon as it hit bottom I get a hit and it's a 14.5" trout! I was able to get two rods baited with live mullet on the bottom, one on each side of the light pole. Got another hit from a strong fighter and my personal best 12" mangrove snapper! Then I get another 9" mangrove. By now I noticed one rod hasn't moved in about 15 minutes so I go to check the bait, when I pull up I noticed something heavy and it's a fat 13.5" flounder on the hook! I catch alot of flounder that way actually, sometimes they just don't move after taking the bait. I continue fishing and catch another 10.5" mangrove, another 13" flounder, then a 11.5" mangrove, and then another 11" flounder. It's now 2am and I only have a few mullet leftover, they were just chewing them left and right. I ended the night catching a 13.5" trout and a small ladyfish.
EPIC night on the bridge. Total tally last night was 10 fish of 4 different species. All trout were released, only kept the 2 bigger flounder and 3 of the keeper mangroves.
2 trout
3 flounder
4 mangrove snappers
1 ladyfish

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?!

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!

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.

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

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.

Flat Bridge Report 8/29

Hit the flat bridge last night from 10pm to midnight. Still trying to find the ladyfish pretty much all week but haven't had any luck. I know they are still hanging around the area but they are shy on the bite. The ladyfish are used primarily for sharking, it's my #1 bait for sharks in fact. I think every shark I've caught, besides bonnetheads, has been on cut ladyfish. Alot of times I go to the flat bridge to specifically target ladyfish for the bait freezer. I'm probably the only person there that wants to catch a ladyfish LOL.

Intel from locals that fish the flat bridge often are catching a few small ladyfish, trout, flounder, and now some small snook have made an abundant appearance recently. My online friend "fishnfool" fishes the flat bridge just about every morning at 4am to sunrise. He says most days the bite only lasts about 20 minutes and then shuts down. He has been catching some ladyfish too, so I know they are in the area.

So last night I returned with the same agenda but unfortunately yet again I couldn't get the ladyfish to bite. I tried several spots around the bridge lights and only came up with an undersized flounder that got a release. It was caught on the DOA mullet paddletail. During the last couple weeks the needlefish have found a new home around the bridge lights too. Those annoying fish can easily snip the tails off my plastic bait, rendering them useless. Hopefully the needlefish depart soon so I'm not spending so much money on soft plastic baits!