Flattie Report Wednesday Night 5/14

Arrived just after 10pm on the bridge. Current was incoming and incoming fast, wind was a steady 10mph. I still had another 2 hours before peak high tide so I had some time to kill before I would try the flounder. Started out with gulp swimming mullet and worked the lights. Had a few small jabs at the bait but nothing wanted to commit. By now it was after 11pm and the tide had started to slow down a little. I switched to gulp shrimp and caught a 12" flounder. Mowed the entire northside of the bridge without another hit. Switched back to gulp swimming mullet and caught a 15.5" flounder for the bucket! Just as midnight came, so did the rain. It started out as a sprinkle then quickly became a downpour. Left the bridge soaked lol. Still a good night!

12" flounder on gulp shrimp


15.5" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet

Daytime Flat Bridge Monday 5/12

Invited my friend Zack to fish the flat bridge Monday late morning. We arrived around 10:30am and nobody was on the bridge. Stopped by Donalds bait to originally get some live finger mullet but they were out! Ugh, so instead I got two dozen live shrimp. Fished the favorite spot on the bridge with little success. It was a long two hours of fishing. Finially at 12:15pm I got a small flounder on live shrimp just trolling the bottom. Threw it back to grow. And then 15 minutes later I got a nice 10" mangrove snapper! Zack found the honey hole with 4 mangroves himself but he threw them all back thinking I didn't want them lol. Not sure if he had any keepers. So the sun was hot all day and the tide was slack most of the two hours. It finially started moving around 11:30-noon. The bite was shutdown until after the tide started moving again.

small flounder on live shrimp


10" mangrove snapper on live shrimp

CNS Lot 4 Early AM - 5/10

Woke up early and headed to the east coast for some early morning beach fishing. Stopped by my favorite bait shop, End of the Line, and picked up couple dozen shrimp and live sand fleas. Continued to CNS and parked at Lot 4. I had lines wet by 8am which was perfect. Current was moving fast though, only a 4oz sputnik was holding bottom. First cast I get a double, or something like it. I reeled in 1 and a 1/2 croakers. First picture below shows the fish head that was reeled in along with a croaker. Next cast I get a whiting. The whiting were chewing both sand fleas and shrimp all day.
There was one other fishermen at lot 4 when I arrived and he was further away. Silly me I decided to setup right in front of the walkway. At first it was okay because it was still early. But then it was time for the dumbasses to come out. Next fishermen comes out of the wood work and lets keep in mind there's still plenty of beach left and right of me. What does he do...oh he just camps within feet of me. What a douchebag. And the current is rolling fast too, so I was careful to avoid his drifting lines.
I had three doubles on the day with either croakers or whiting. Ended the day with 9 whiting and 3 croakers. I released a few more croakers. Later in the morning the bonnethead sharks started to show up. I caught 3 of their little pups.

Slow Flattie Report - Tuesday Night 5/6

Had the whole brige to myself again when I arrived a little after 10pm. Started with gulp shrimp and fished the usual spots for flounder. It was the last of the outgoing tide so the current wasn't rolling too hard. I didn't catch anything between my two favorite light poles that usually hold the fish, so I wasn't off to a good start. I figured it was because the tide was still outgoing so I crossed over the bridge to see if they were over there. First light pole nothing, then second light pole I caught a small bluefish. Next cast I catch a small flounder that got a release. And that was it for the night. I fished for another hour or so but nothing else to report.

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

Bonnethead Sharks at CNS #3 - 4/28

After dropping off my son to school on Monday and having the day off work, I took the drive to CNS for some surf fishing. Arrived at Lot 3 and there were a few others already fishing. For bait today I used fresh dead shrimp tipped with shrimp fishbites. Ended up catching 3 small bonnethead sharks. Also had a double with two pigfish. Not sure where all the good fish went. Usually when you get into a mess of small sharks it's not looking good for anything else.

CNS Saturday late morning 4/26

I was going to do a sunrise report but it was foggy and kinda chilly outside. And since my son was coming along, decided to wait a few more hours. Slept in a little bit more and finially arrived at CNS 10:00am with nice sunny skies. Drove all the way down to lot #4 and saw it was FULL. Drove down to Lot #3 and it was FULL. Checked lot #2 to find open parking. Tide was outgoing with little to no current. Using fresh dead shrimp and some frozen sand fleas, I baited the water with two rods. Sand fleas were not effective today. However, fresh shrimp was working great. Caught 11 crevalle jacks in all different sizes. Some the size of my hand, and some the size of my forearm. Nice fight for these fish! I kept a few for shark bait. =)
Also caught a nice pompano on shrimp that was 13" to the fork. It gave me the best fight of the day. Was hoping for more but I guess he was the lone ranger. Then I caught a small whiting and threw it back. I only keep whiting if I can get into a good mess of them to have a fish fry. Stayed until about 1:30pm so about 3.5 hours of fishing. Loving this warm weather!

13" Pompano at CNS

Monday Night Flattie Report 4/21

Conditions were nice for a night fishing trip. Surf was too rough to fish so the flat bridge it is. Had the entire bridge to myself again for most of the night. Started out at my usual flounder hole using white Gulp swimming mullet. Pulled a 13" flounder for the bucket and then about 25 minutes later I got another flounder but it was short. Tried on a watermelon Gulp swimming mullet and hooked a small seatrout that got a release. The ladyfish were biting but only if I kept the bait moving. I hooked a few lady's but only docked one. Action died off for awhile, it took about another hour before I finially got a 12" flounder on gulp shrimp. By now it was past midnight and I was getting tired. Plus I was being surrounded by some late arrival fishermen, a group on each end of the bridge and I'm sandwiched in the middle. Plus my favorite light pole was occupied so I just headed back home with the two flatties. Good night on the bridge!

13" Flounder on white Gulp swimming mullet


small Flounder on white Gulp swimming mullet


small Seatrout on watermelon Gulp swimming mullet


12" Flounder on new penny Gulp shrimp

First Flounder of 2014! Flat Bridge 4/14

It's been awhile since I've fished the flat bridge, mostly because of the annual invasion of bluefish. It's not fun driving an hour and missing sleep over some worthless blues. They can get fun to catch if you just want to fish but they chomp baits so fast that you'll go through a whole pack of Gulp before you know it. So this winter I stayed away from the bridge and just waited them out. Once the bluefish leave, it's pretty much a free for all for everything else like flounder and trout.
Reports from the bridge the past week have been great with many flounder coming over the rails. I haven't caught a flounder all year so it was time to go. Headed out at my usual time and arrived about 10-ish. Had the entire bridge to myself which was awesome. Started out with gulp shrimp at the first light pole. My first cast I had a 12" flounder on deck! Nice way to start the night. Well, the action quickly stalled so I switched baits. I put on a white gulp swimming mullet and tried the bottom again. Caught another flounder at the same light pole that was 13" long. That was it, but it was nice to be back in action.

Pompano Season is Here! CNS Surf Report 12/8

Went to one of my favorite surf fishing spots Sunday afternoon with my son, Cody. Arrived at CNS Lot 3 about 12:30pm and stayed until about 4pm. Weather was actually really nice on the beach with some clouds and a nice breeze to cool off. Temperatures were near 80 degrees most of the day and it's December? Beach conditions were good with 1-2 ft surf and occasional large wave hitting the shoreline. It was near the peak of high tide when I arrived. There was a slight current, but a 3 oz held most of the day. Weeds were not a problem, however, I do recall once where a mass of weeds got tangled on my line and it felt like I was reeling in a cinderblock. The water was pretty cold but not too bad, we only got our feet wet anyway.

So I fished with two rods and live sand fleas I purchased from the baitshop. At first the bite was slow after I got setup on the beach, only got a medium sized whiting and a big stingray in about an hour. After that the bite turned on for awhile. I caught another nice whiting for the cooler and then a couple just legal pompanos that were right at 11" to the fork. So 2 whiting and 2 pompano so far in the cooler. Not bad!

Then the bite slowed for awhile again, only caught about 3 small whiting that were thrown back and another big stingray. Starting to run out of bait and I get a good hit on the 10' rod. Landed a nice 13" fork pompano. And then as soon as I put it in the cooler my other rod starts to sing. This one was a personal best 15" fork pompano! (my previous personal best was 14.5" fork). Woo Hoo!! Great day on the water. It sure was nice to be back on the beach again after a washout November. All month long in November the winds were strong and weeds were a nuisance on the surf. All together I caught 6 whiting (kept the biggest three), 4 pompano, and 2 big stingrays. Everything caught on live sand fleas.