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

Wednesday Night Flat Bridge / New Ramp 7/2

Hit the bridge and started with gulp swimming mullet in pearl white but no hits. I switched spots and no hits. Crossed over the bridge to try the "honey hole" but again no hits. Switched bait to a watermelon gulp swimming mullet. Crossed back over to the northside and pulled two 12" flounder at the light! Left the bridge to visit the new ramp and pulled another 12" flounder from the bay. All on watermelon gulp swimming mullet.

First flattie of July! Tuesday Night 7/1

Drove out to New Smyrna from Altamonte Springs last night. Left around 9pm. The main objective was just to get some live bait that I could keep alive for a couple days at home, mud minnows and little pinfish were the target. Finger mullet would be nice but it's so hard to keep them alive for more than 24 hours. So I get off the SR-44 exit from I-4 and realize I forgot my castnet. CRAP! Luckily there's a walmart on the way. I bought the cheap $20 nylon 4' net. Horrible decision. I should've just went with the mono. That nylon net was so inefficient and frustrating to work with.
Anyway I first stop by the new ramp and hide a minnow trap baited with bread balls and catfood. While I was there I decided to cast a few times. Second cast I get a 11" flounder on the bank. Did a few more casts and left to try the flat bridge. Got to the bridge and the current was already moving in. I fished there for about an hour at three different light poles without a hit. Went back to the new ramp to retrieve the minnow trap, unfortunately, it didn't work or there's no mud minnows in the area. Nothing was in the trap after an hour soak. Its the Frabill Minnow Trap, was only about $8 at walmart.
So I left the new ramp and headed to some boat ramps along North Causeway road. This is where I tried throwing the nylon net a few times but little success. I saw mud minnows laying right there in front of me too. I didn't get very much, 2 mud minnows and a mullet....stupid net. :(
Last throw of the net and it porkchops, so I called it a night lol

Sunday Morning Flat Bridge - New Ramp 6/29

Started another day with hopes of catching the big one. Got up early and left while it was still dark. This morning I decided to begin at the new ramp so I arrived at 6:30am just as the sun was up. Upon arrival I saw my buddy Bob had just beat me to the spot. We talked for a few minutes then he proceeded to the flounder hole. Me and my son went to the boat dock and played around. Bob came back and said nothing was biting but he saw a couple big redfish cruising around. The bugs were so bad though, that we decided to leave and head for the flat bridge. We planned on returning later since the noseeums disappear when the suns up.
So back to the bridge, I setup on the north side and Bob follows behind and takes the south side. He ends up catching 2 small flounder on gulp shrimp. He fished both sides though so he had to work for them. I didn't catch anything at the bridge, only worked a couple lights without a hit. It was getting hot and we needed refreshments. So after a restroom break and cold drink, I proceeded back to the new ramp around 8:30am. By now the sun was up and surely the noseeums would be gone. Turns out I was right, I arrived back to the ramp and no bugs. Started with white gulp swimming mullet but couldn't get a hit, switched to gulp new penny shrimp and caught a 12" flounder to prevent the skunk for the day. That was it. After 9am it was getting super hot outside and the bite shutdown, which is usually the case during the summer.

Saturday Morning Flat Bridge / New Ramp 6/28

Started early this morning leaving the house by 5:30am. Arrived at the flat bridge around 6:30 to see nobody on the bridge. The tide was still outgoing but slow enough to fish for flounder. Tried the first two lights that usually produce for me but nothing. Crossed over to fish the second light pole with live pinfish and caught a 9" mangrove snapper that got a release. Talked to my friend Bob for awhile, he's a local that I met from an online fishing forum. He goes out every morning and dominates the flounder from shore. He caught a 15.5" flounder this morning on gulp shrimp and then he caught a nice jack. I didn't catch anything else at the flat bridge after the snapper, so I decided to switch spots.
Headed to the new ramp and noticed a few spots I didn't see while I was visiting at night. It was daylight so I could scout the area better. Saw a few pathways by the parking lot that led to the bay thats south of the ramp. It's not fished alot apparently because my friend Bob usually does well there. This was my first time trying and it didn't take me long to catch two flounder on white gulp swimming mullet. One was 12" and the other was 11". It had reached 11am and the sun was scortching hot, so I called it a day after that.

9" mangrove snapper on live pinfish


12" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet


11" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet

Tuesday Night Flat Bridge/New Ramp 6/24

Hit the bridge around 10:00pm, and the tide change wasn't until 10:30pm. Around 11pm finially caught a flattie on gulp shrimp but it was too short only 11". Tried gulp shrimp and gulp swimming mullet but couldn't get another hit. After some time the current picked up speed outgoing, so I crossed over to the south side. Storms started to move in and got rained out just before midnight. Got a little wet getting back to the car :)
Decided to drive down to the new boat ramp by the airport on US-1. A friend of mine caught his personal best 22" flattie there. Arrived to see no rain and no storms coming on the radar. Tried the same baits over there but no luck. I was able to net some small pinfish and mojarras right on the boat ramp in 2 ft of water. Pins are really fast and can escape long before your net sinks, so the trick is to throw on shallow water. I like boat ramps because they easily hold little pins, mojarras, shrimp and other small baitfish. It's best to go to these ramps at night. Just recently became interested in catching flounder on pinfish so I'm saving them for another night on the bridge. Pins are really easy to keep alive for days, all they need is constant air.

11" flounder on Gulp Shrimp

Tuesday Night Flat Bridge 6/17

Arrived at 10pm to catch the last 30 minutes of the outgoing tide and then start of incoming. Had to work for em tonight! Fished the Gulp out of that bridge and only got 1 flattie but it was a nice one at 13.75" long. Caught it on white gulp swimming mullet. Pretty quiet night on the bridge. Left shortly after midnight when the current was rolling too fast.

Midday Monday Surf Report! CNS 6/16/14

Took my 10 yr old boy for another beach trip to CNS. Arrived at the gates around 3pm and parked in lot #4. Not crowded at all at this point, I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. Got down to the beach and saw 1 ft surf if that. Outgoing tide. Sand fleas all over. Used my sons plastic shovel and was getting 2 or 3 decent sized fleas each scoop. But no hits on sand fleas today.

Setup the shark rod first with a chunk of lady fish that came from the flat bridge last year =) The other two rods were tied with a pompano rig using pieces of fresh dead shrimp. After getting all three rods in the water, one of the shrimp rods gets a bite and my son pulls in a ladyfish. Gave it a safe release. I was actually happy to see the ladyfish caught because that's what I'm using for shark bait, match the hatch you know.

So no more hits on shrimp. I mean zip nada none for 2 hours. The surf is dead when it comes to whiting and pomps...but check this out.... after about 30 minutes of soaking the chunk of ladyfish for shark I got a hit. I watched it hit...didn't take off like you would expect. Knowing something was messing with the bait I grabbed the rod, reeled in the slack, then felt pressure, followed by another shake. Set the hook and thats when the fish knew something wasn't right haha. It zipped out several yards like it was nothing. I'm just sitting there holding it as I'm adjusted my drag for fighting pressure. Only took 10 minutes to bring it on shore but I had just caught my first 4.5 ft shark! As soon as it was landed my priority was dehook, picture and then release as fast as possible without getting hurt. My son took several photos for me during the process so he gets credit too. It's my first Sandbar shark and also my largest shark landed to date.

Wednesday Night Flat Bridge 6/11

Started at my usual time around 10PM with hardly anyone on the bridge. Caught the last hour of incoming tide. First spot I jigged a gulp shrimp around the light. Saw a trout for a split second near the water surface. So instead of fishing the bottom, I decided to slowly let the current drift the gulp shrimp. I would drop my bait down and then lift it up off the bottom a few feet. As the current drifted it, I would slowly raise my rod tip so the bait would look like it's going towards the surface. This method worked immediately because I caught a nice 17.5" spotted seatrout on the first cast after seeing the surface trout. Gave me a good fight, I forgot how strong these fish are compared to lazy flounder.
Unfortunately the action just wasn't there tonight after that. The trout quickly disappeared. I jigged gulp shrimp some more at different spots but no hits. Also spent alot of time looking for live finger mullet because I wanted to bottom rig for big flounder, however I only saw about a dozen all night. I managed to castnet just one. I finished the night at the same spot where I started, fishing a live mullet on the bottom. All of a sudden I see a small baby hammerhead shark swimming by. It swims by my line, turns around and dives to eat my mullet. But it only bit the tail off. Dropped the remaining chunk of mullet so it was floating below the surface. A few seconds later the hammerhead comes back to finish what it started and gets hooked this time. Slow night but still came home with a nice trout!

17.50" Spotted Seatrout on Gulp New Penny Shrimp


Baby Hammerhead shark on finger mullet

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.