Trout Report at the Flat Bridge 10/16

Had another opportunity to night fish the flat bridge so I took a ride to the east coast. Started near Aunt Catfish restaurant as the current was rolling that way, and while jigging a watermelon Swimming Mullet I caught an 11" Sand Trout! I haven't seen one of these guys in a long time.
No more hits so I crossed over the bridge to the "flattie rock" area and hooked a pretty 13" Spotted Seatrout on glow Swimming Mullet. I wanted to try the flounder but I couldn't. The current was just ripping too fast, which makes it very difficult to get to the bottom where the flounder are.

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.

Flat Bridge Daytime Report 10/7

Had the day off work today so I do what any guy would do, go fishing! Arrived at the flat bridge around 10:15am and saw nobody else on the bridge. I mostly fished near "flattie rock" this morning, starting with gulp swimming mullet in watermelon color. First cast I get the flounder tap and it's a small flounder which got a release. I work my way down a little bit and get another tap. Pulled up a 13" flounder for the dinner bucket! I'm thinking this is going to be a good morning, however, that was it. Everything was caught on watermelon color which is quickly becoming a new favorite for me.

small flounder on Gulp Swimming Mullet watermelon


13" flounder on Gulp Swimming Mullet watermelon

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

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

Small Flounder at Flat Bridge 10/3

Night trip to the bridge was almost a bust until I caught this small flounder to prevent the skunk. It was released to grow.

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.