Inlet Harbor (Ponce Inlet) Saturday Morning 9/5

It's Labor Day weekend so I took the opportunity Saturday morning to take my son, Cody, out for some fishing. Left the house around 6:30am and arrived to the baitshop around 7:30am. Loaded up with 3 dozen shrimp and 5 finger mullet that I netted the night before. Arrived at Inlet Harbor at 8am and noticed we had the fishing dock to ourselves. The dock is only open 6am to noon on Saturday/Sunday, plus there's a fee to fish the dock. But it's usually never busy and it's shaded which is great for hot summer mornings!
First cast I hook a 9.5" sheepshead! Same spot I get a 11.5" sheepshead and another one at 11". Then the mangrove snappers come marching in, caught a couple 11" keepers and 6 short throwbacks. Also hooked a small toadfish and a big sailors choice. Just about everything caught on fresh dead shrimp. Had a couple good runs on the finger mullet, missed the first run but the second one I landed the 11" mangrove snapper. Good morning on the water!

Personal Best Snook @ Flat Bridge 9/1

Brought my friend Zack along for some night fishing in New Smyrna/Port Orange Tuesday night. We get in the area about 10pm and it's incoming tide woo hoo. In need of live bait, we headed to some boat ramps and tossed the castnet around for about 45 minutes. When we had enough mullet the first stop was a secret spot I fell in love with last year. Around this time last year we caught juvenile tarpon, snook, reds, and my personal best 25" trout.....this year nothing. Not even a splash in the water from what I saw. Quickly realized we were wasting our time and decided to move spots to the famous flat bridge.

So by now it's midnight already. Noticed my favorite spot was open and got a little excited. We moved quickly so we could get there before someone sniped the lightpole. We don't fish the same lightpole as others, it's just courtesy. After a few minutes I hooked a sweet ladyfish. Then I get a nice hit and it's my personal best 21" snook! By now my friend Zack is trying to figure out what I'm doing differently, but he's used to that LOL. I'm not done yet, I also get a 16" trout that found his way into my bucket and then another trout that's 14.5" which got a release. All within about 45 minutes. Zack still hasn't caught anything but wait, he finially gets a little 10" trout before we call it a night.

Saturday Morning Swoope Ramp 8/29

It's been awhile since I've reported anything so here's todays adventure...

Went fishing this morning at Swoope ramp in NSB. Both my son and I arrived at the ramp about 7:30am after picking up some live shrimp and live mud minnows. It was quiet for a Saturday morning, only two boats launched the entire time I was there. The fish were biting our offerings all morning but since we were using shrimp it could be pins and small snappers. Most times the hook came back bare but we did manage to stick a few in the lips. My son caught 2 pinfish and I got a small crevalle jack and a small snapper. All fish released and all were caught on shrimp. Mud minnows got a few bites from the snappers but no hookups on the minnows. It was getting hot very quickly! At 9am we were sweating out of our necks so decided to head out.

Trout and Flattie Bridge Report 10/21

Tried the flat bridge Tuesday night. Used only watermelon gulp swimming mullet, managed to find the fish hanging at one of the lights. Hooked and caught the same rockfish twice, lol. Also think I had a few flounder on briefly but they got off before I could see them. Then instead of fishing the bottom slowly, I tossed the jig by the bridge and started reeling in a little faster. Caught a 16" trout, then two short 13" trouts. I don't know if they got smart but they stopped hitting the lure after that. Fished the bottom again and caught a small flounder shown in the photo below. That was it, everything released to grow.

Personal Best 19.75" FLOUNDER @ Sleepy Hollow 10/18

Started out at 7:00am leaving the house with my son. Weather was cool outside, low 60's. Sunrise was at 7:30am so it would warm up pretty quick. Arrived at New Smyrna around 8:00am and first stop is the new ramp, Swoope ramp. We started at the little cove near the dumpster but no luck. Moved down to the actual boat ramp and no luck again. Wanted to checkout Sleepy Hollow so that's where we headed next. Realized we were pretty much the only ones there, very surprising for a Saturday. Loaded the cart and walked down to spot #1. After a few casts I feel the flounder tap and hook into a nice one. Worked it on the shore and saw it was a big one but I didn't realize how big until I measured it. It taped at 19.75" long! The one I've been waiting on for some time now, I always wanted a 20-incher doormat. This one destroyed my previous record of 17" which was actually caught at the same place, Sleepy Hollow. Caught him on a pearl white Gulp swimming mullet with 1/4oz Mission Fishin' chartreuse jighead.



Couldn't get another hit after that so moved to spot #2. While there we came across a sea turtle that was swimming really close to shore.



Didn't get anymore hits at Sleepy Hollow so we took a lunch break at McDonalds. After lunch we went back to the new ramp. Tried fishing the cove again but no luck. Put the fishing poles away and decided to just throw the castnet and see what we can find for our home aquarium. With a couple throws of the castnet we found a few perfect specimens. Collected a juvenile gray snapper and juvenile crevalle jack, along with several tiny 1/4" hermit crabs. Took me awhile to ID the baby fish when I got home. Had a great day on the water! My dad took this photo of my son and I sporting our catch of the day.

Two Flounders from Flat Bridge 10/12 Night Fishing

Well it's been awhile since I've successfully caught a flounder. With the fall mullet run, I've been using the live bait around me but haven't had much luck with the flounder. There's just an abundance of mullet around so what makes my little mullet on a hook stand out from the rest...nothing. Decided to go back to artificial fishing, where I've had the most success with flounder this year. Tied on my 1/2oz Mission Fishin jighead and went back to old faithful, watermelon color Gulp Swimming Mullet. Worked most of the northside flat bridge and pulled two flounder, 12" and 13". Test results are in, flounder just love the gulp!

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!