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. :)

Flat Bridge Snook & Flounder 9/3

Left my house around 10:00PM for a quick trip by myself to New Smyrna. I brought two fishing poles, one castnet and my tackle. Thats how I travel light. Usually I have 3 poles, two castnets, and a couple extra buckets for live bait, along with 2-3 air pumps. So I started at Swoope ramp to find bait and had the whole place to myself. It was low tide but I was delighted to find finger mullet on the ramp. After a few throws I had about 8 mullet. I planned to visit the Top Secret Bridge tonight but after scouting the spot I saw two guys were already fishing it. Plan B, fish the flat bridge. I get to the flat bridge around 12:30am, man already almost time to go home. I wasn't planning on fishing very long but once I setup on my spot I noticed something hitting bait in the water. I freelined a live mullet and caught a nice 16.5" Snook! Caught another Snook that was 16" long. Both were released. Then I hook into a beast that was definitly a much bigger snook but it was able to shake off the hook after giving me a few hard runs. I set a rod down on the bottom and finially caught a 12" flounder on live mullet! After an hour I was out of bait and unfortuately it was time to head home. Man I wish I didn't have to work! Not a bad night with 2 snook and a keeper flounder!

GATOR TROUT @ Top Secret Bridge 9/1

Had to start at the new ramp for a bait run real quick so we get there around 10:15pm. Zack and I spent about 30-45 minutes throwing the castnets and grabbed some more live mullet for the bait bucket. I was surprised to see any mullet since it was low tide at the ramp. Counted about a dozen live mullet in the bucket so it was go time.
We arrive at the top secret bridge around 11:00pm and see the current is slowly moving outgoing still. We freelined the live mullet, I had some small hits but nothing connected for very long. About a half hour later the tide turned and now it was moving in the right direction. Around midnight I connect on a large fish and it refused to come in. There was an oyster bed that seperated me from the fish which made it a little more difficult. I just let it tire out but now it was going towards a metal tower thats in the water. If he wraps around that, the game is over. I saw where he was going and made the quick decision to hold the spool briefly and try to turn the fish around. It worked this time and now it was coming in the right direction. I walked my way to the leftside bank, hopped the guard rail and then finished the battle on the concrete slab that lays next to the bank. The idea was to slide the fish on the muddy bank so I didn't have to lift him out of the water. First couple of attempts failed, it tried to get away as soon as it saw skinny water coming. Then by the third attempt it was on the bank and I saw it. All I could say was HOLY SHIT! I have never seen a gator trout this big in my life and it's definitly my personal best. It was 25" long, my previous personal best was 23.5" on July 10, 2011 at North Causeway NSB.

Location: Top Secret Bridge, New Smyrna
Tackle: Owners K-Hook size 2

Species: Spotted Seatrout
Size: 25"
Bait: live mullet (freeline)

First TARPON! Explosive Night @ Top Secret Bridge 8/27

Got a late start but finially met up with Zack at his house around 10:15pm and headed out to the new ramp (Swoope) to find bait. Our fishing location would depends on what kind of bait we obtain from the castnet. When we pulled into the ramp and after 30 minutes we netted around 15 live finger mullet. The candy of all baitfish! With the best bait in the world in the livewell bucket, I made the call to hitup my top secret spot where the snook and tarpon are catchable on the right tide and with the right bait. Best on an incoming tide with live finger mullet. I wasn't sure which way the tide would be moving at that spot, but only one way to find out. Took the short drive further inland to a local bay that is untouched at night. Found the tide was incoming when I peeked over into the water, yay! The gameplan here is to freeline and drift a live mullet. I found that dropping the bait straight down alongside the bridge and letting it drift out worked best. Once the bait drifted out I would reel in and drop the bait back alongside the bridge. Open bail worked best, just feeling the line with my finger.
It didn't take long to get my first hit but it came unbuttoned pretty quick. Got another hit and finially got a fish on. It was my first ever tarpon! It was a little guy but it put on a show before posing for pics. It made a giant leap out of the water that had to have been 8-10 ft high, no joke. And it's shallow water too, I don't see how thats possible but we both witnessed it almost hit a tree branch. Here's a photo of my first tarpon...



Then after midnight I get my second and bigger tarpon on live mullet! Here's a few pics of that one...





Zack got in on the action and caught his first tarpon as well!

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. :)

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

Slow Flat Bridge 2-Day Report 7/30 & 7/31

Wednesday night (7/30)
Objective tonight was to refresh the water bucket holding leftover mudminnows, possibly find finger mullet, and fish the flat bridge. Started at New Smyrna to refresh the bait water, it was about 2 days old and starting to foul. Found some finger mullet sitting on one of the ramps and netted about 6. Took off to the flat bridge to fish for a little bit. I didn't want to use all the bait since I was planning a trip the next day with my son Cody. So I ended up using 2 mud minnows and 2 finger mullet in about an hour. The bite was kinda slow, only caught one tiny flounder that got a release. Left the bridge around midnight to rest up for tomorrow.

Thursday night (7/31)
Cody and I left the house to fish the flat bridge with finger mullet and mud minnows. We get there around 7:30pm. I picked the southeast corner since one of my other holes was already taken. Current was outgoing and we had a steady wind in our face. Saw some dark clouds but looked like they would avoid us. We fished there for a little while but really nothing to write about. Finially gave up on that spot and moved over to the northside where we fished last time. Fished there for about 30 minutes and then it started sprinkling. Packed up and headed for the car. Checked my phone and saw a nice storm that came out of no where and was headed towards Port Orange and New Smyrna. Ended up calling it a night when we saw lightning in the sky. Weather app said 0% chance of rain when we left our house :(

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.

Flat Bridge Sunday Night 7/27

Wanted to take my boy fishing and I knew live bait would be key to putting fish over the rails. Left our house around 7:30PM and made a stop to pickup my friend Zack too. Fast forward we get to New Smyrna around 8:40PM, and find the baitshop that had mud minnows had closed shop early for some reason. They were suppose to stay open until 9PM. So we ended up going to Thirty Eight Live and they only had live fiddler crabs. It's a good thing I saved about 7 baitfish that I netted the night before! I had a few mud minnows, 2 finger mullet and some pinfish. With limited bait we still caught some fish. Cody caught the first fish which was a butterfly ray. Then I get a 12" flounder on a mud minnow. That was it for the night. Zack got skunked as usual LOL.