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. :)

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. :)

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.

Wednesday Night Slam @ Flat Bridge 4/30

Arrived at the flat bridge shortly after 10pm and saw it was empty. Walked out to my favorite flattie spot then noticed the current was incoming and incoming fast. It's hard to work the gulp properly when it's drifting so quickly. I tried anyway with the swimming mullet first. Felt the flounder tap and pulled one off the bottom that was a fat 12". The bite died for the longest time after that, mostly due to the fast current. I tried just about every light pole on the bridge on both sides. When I got a hit it was a stupid ladyfish biting the tails off my gulp. Switched over to gulp shrimp and finially landed one of the ladyfish and threw it back. Decided to try one more light pole and this time I put on a watermelon gulp swimming mullet. Tried the side near aunt catfish restaurant and caught a 16.5" redfish. Not a bad outcome considering the fast current, three different fish on three different baits.

Fat 12" Flounder on white gulp swimming mullet


16.5" Redfish on watermelon gulp swimming mullet

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.

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

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!

A Day Fishing with Cody - NSB Redfish

My son Cody had the day off school Thursday for a jewish holiday and I was off work by 1pm. We had all day to mess around so I took him to New Smyrna for some fishing. We each only brought a jigging pole so we were working artificials. First stop we arrived at a boat dock across the street from the popular bar in New Smyrna. Tide was very low. We walked out from the parking lot and noticed a bunch of fiddler crabs scattering about along the shoreline so we walked over there. Cody got a kick out of hunting the fiddler crabs and trying to catch them. When he finds one he traps it with a small cup and then yells for me to retrieve his catch LOL. We did this for awhile and actually caught some nice sized fiddlers. I put the ones we caught in a bucket so Cody could watch them. After we were done with the crabs we walked over to the wood dock and started throwing the jigs. I didn't have any luck but on one of Cody's casts I was watching the jig in the water. Cody wasn't paying attention, but as he's reeling in I see a small flounder chasing his bait for a second. Cody had already reeled up, not knowing there was a fish chasing his lure. He almost got one. That was it for that spot, so we moved to the South Causeway.

There we fished by the shallow area near the parking lot. Throwing a white gulp swimming mullet I casted as far as I could with a 1/4 jighead. As soon as it hit water I felt a bite and it was fish on. Nothing spectacular but it was a cute little redfish about 12" long. Gave it a safe release after a quick photo. While we were there Cody noticed a lure stuck in the water near the seawall. I grabbed a trebble hook and started playing around trying to snag it. It lifted up easily, it wasn't even stuck to anything. I was surprised how easy it came up. Inspected it and decided to keep it, it's a chartruese silver Catch Jr Mirrolure. The hooks are rusted out but those can be replaced. Free lure, can't beat that!

We hit the flat bridge after this and noticed the wind had picked up on that side of town. We didn't spend too much time here but I did jig the bottom for a little bit with a white twister tail. Felt the flounder tap and hooked a nice flounder, but my knot failed when I tried to lift it out of the water. oops! That was it for us, we had a good day and it was time to start heading back.

Flat Bridge Late Friday Night

A late trip to the Port Orange bridge turned out to be a fun trip. It was Friday night with a slight chill in the air. First signs of fall/winter, though it will still be awhile. When I think of cool weather, the fall mullet run comes to mind. Thats the time to bring your castnets because schools of mullet are usually everywhere, especially at night around pier lights. Tonight I didn't bring my castnet, instead I decided to go with a frozen ladyfish fillet that we would use for cutbait. Zack came along with me tonight bringing his two rods. So we arrived around midnight and Zack's first cast soaked in the water for no more than 30 seconds when he got a runner. It put up a good fight for sure. Got it out of the water and get this....He just caught a 22" Redfish right off the bat! I was like whoa, what just happened. LOL This red was very beautiful, one side had 3 black spots and the other had 4 spots. It was within legal slot so I kept it in the cooler. When we were done with the redfish, Zack started catching catfish one after another. Then I got in on the action with a catfish too. All together I caught a catfish and a couple whiting on cut ladyfish chunks.

4 FT 36 LB Redfish caught at NSB North Causeway!!

Last night I drove out to the North Causeway with Kyle for some night fishing. We arrived after midnight and baitfish were everywhere. We had live mullet in no time and were ready to fish. Nothing caught on live bait the whole night though. Fresh cut mullet was the ticket, my first catch was a nice 1-2lb Sail Catfish. Then it was after 2:00AM when I hooked into something big. At first it felt like it was a stingray. It made long drag racing runs and a couple times it felt like it was suctioned to the bottom similar to what a stingray does. You think your snagged but it's really the suction the stingray creates as it can hug the bottom. Anyway, I was watching this fish spool line off my reel like it was nothing. I was trying to get a good drag set tight but not too tight that it would snag my line. At first I was thinking I had 40 lb test leader so I was being careful with tension but then I remembered Kyle hooked me up with 60 lb test leader, so I thought lets try to muscle this bad mama jama in. Set my drag a little tighter, and started gaining ground on it.

The fish was about 30 feet from the pier when it barely surfaced the water for a second and I saw the first image of what's on the hook. I couldn't see much, all I could see was a long fish-like shape so it definitly wasn't a stingray. The visual only lasted a second too. As soon as I saw it, it went back down dragging several yards of line with it. All I could do was hang on to the pole and wait for it to stop.

So I'm muscling it back up to the surface and we got a visual again as it almost surfaced again next to the pier. Then my buddy Kyle calls out, "It's a shark!". I started to get all excited because I've never caught a shark before, it's been one of my missions this year. The fish gave a last effort to swim away again but by this time it was worn down and tired. It stayed close, but we still didn't know for sure what kind of fish it was. I maneuvered it closer to the pier and finially got a good look at it's head. This is when I realized it wasn't a shark, it was an oversized MONSTER Redfish! Never have I seen a fish this size before, and I didn't even know Redfish get that big. It took both of us to get it up and dehooked for a quick release. I did my best to get good pictures but I was full of adrenaline and excitement. So I apologize if my pictures seem somewhat blurry.

The fight was intense and lasted for about 10-15 minutes. And best of all, I caught the bull on my new 10' Okuma Tundra surf rod paired with a new Okuma ABF-65 reel. I have 300 yards of power pro on this reel too, so I wasn't worried about being spooled during the long runs. I can also thank Kyle for lending me the 60 LB test leader line. Kyle actually tried this rod earlier but accidently lost the rig on a snag. Being the good guy he is, he wanted to fix the mistake by rigging up my pole with some of his tackle to make up for it. He had some stronger 60 LB test leader compared to my 40 LB, which probably was the difference in catching the bull red. It's the biggest fish I've caught so far, and probably the biggest redfish I'll ever catch. Have you ever caught a 4 foot Redfish before? It's totally exhilerating!! =)

Location: North Causeway, New Smyrna Beach
Tackle: 5/0 circle hook on carolina rig - 4 oz pyramid sinker
40 LB test Hi-Viz Yellow Power Pro braided mainline
60 LB test Berkley Big Game mono leader

Species: Redfish
Weight: 36 LB - 48" long
Bait: fresh cut mullet







I understand it's hard to see the actual size of my redfish with the pictures above so here's an example of what a 35 LB Redfish looks like being held by a fisherman. So the following picture is not my fish nor my picture, it's just an example to show size and girth.

MAN HOLDING 35 LB REDFISH

Surf Report CNS - Kyle's 18" Redfish - Banded Tulip shell

There was a nice overcast this morning that made it feel like Fall but by noon, the sky was clear and sun was beaming. It was an outgoing tide when we arrived about 10:30am with waves estimated about 2.5ft. I caught a lady fish on cut mullet and then a whiting on a piece of dead shrimp (pompano rig). Kyle went with the pompano rig too and he caught some whiting, but then the bite stopped for both of us. So we moved further down the beach, and thats where he hooked into his first redfish that was 18".

Total Tally:
Brad-
1 ladyfish
1 whiting

Kyle-
1 redfish
4 whiting



Found some large seashells washing up on the beach today. Here's a couple of whelks and a large conch shell that looks very old. The one on the lower leftside is a Banded Tulip.

Surf Report CNS - Codys 1st Redfish!

On a beautiful Saturday, me and my son Cody headed to CNS for some beach/surf fishing fun. It's a Labor Day weekend so I was expecting the beaches to be packed, but fortunately CNS #3 wasn't that bad. We arrived around 2:30pm, right before the low tide turnaround. For tackle, I used my homemade 2-hook pompano rigs. For bait we used fishbites tipped with pieces of fresh dead shrimp. Lets get straight to fishing now...

After pulling in a few small whiting, Cody surprised me when he dragged in a nice 18" Redfish. I haven't even caught a redfish yet! LOL
This is the biggest fish he's ever caught. I was very proud of him and this catch made our day. After a few casts, I finially caught my first Redfish, 15.5" long. With 1 keeper Red in the cooler already, we had to release it anyways so size didn't matter. Here's Cody's keeper Redfish and below that is my first Redfish. We both caught our first Red today! woo!







Thats not all, I also caught my first Pompano too. In fact, I caught 2 of them at the same time, TWICE! All together I caught 4 small pompano. Florida Pompano have to be a minimum 11" fork to keep, and these were only about 8" to the fork. Here's a pic of the last double I caught. The one on the bottom was actually hooked in the belly, I'm not sure what he was thinking LOL. All 4 Pomps were released back in the ocean.



To end the day, I caught a nice 14" Gulf Kingfish (whiting) and added that to the cooler. I love to eat Whiting, especially fried with breadcrumbs. After loading everything back in the car, Cody wanted to go look for seashells. This time found some really nice shells that were in great shape.



Between me and Cody today, the total tally we caught:

6 Gulf Kingfish (whiting)
2 Redfish
4 Pompano