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.

Slow Flat Bridge Monday Night 11/25

Another trip to flat bridge Monday night thinking the wind would keep some of the other fishermen away. Well my thoughts were right because I had the whole bridge to myself. Arrived about 10pm and stayed until about 1am. Tide was still outgoing with about another hour before slack tide. Very little baitfish on the northside of the bridge. I happen to see 2 finger mullet swimming by so I tossed my castnet and got them right away. For the finger mullet, I hooked them on a bottom fishfinder rig hoping for a big hungry flounder to pick it up. It's happened before! But the only thing that picked it up was a HUGE ladyfish. It gave me a nice fight and I was able to bring it up on the bridge. One of the largest ladyfish I've caught.

I also tried for flounder along the northside. First I tried watermelon swimming mullet (gulp). Ladyfish kept picking up my bait, running with it and then dropping. Switched to new penny gulp shrimp and mowed the northside again. Finially caught a short flounder that got a release. Well thats the report.

Where are those big flounder?!

Daytime South Causeway NSB Report 11/25

Tried a different route this morning by stopping by the South Causeway in New Smyrna, started at 10am and fished until 1pm. Tide was incoming the whole trip. Wind was blowing steady with a slight chill in the air. Used fiddlers and live shrimp on the bottom. Nothing on fiddlers today. Current was rolling too fast to try for sheeps. However with live shrimp I caught a small mangrove snapper, small pigfish, and a small goliath grouper about 11-12" long. All released to grow.

Sunday Night Flat Bridge 11/17

Nothing much to report but this small flounder caught on Gulp watermelon swimming mullet.

Fat 15" Flounder @ Flattie Bridge 10/27

Arrived at the bridge about 10:30pm. Winds were relatively calm and the air was cool. Tide was still outgoing and about another 2 hours before slack tide. I spent the evening mowing the bridge with my jigging pole and gulp shrimp new penny. Only one other fisherman so I had most of the bridge to myself. I started on the north side. Spot #1 no dice, moved to next light post and caught a small flounder that got a release. The bite pretty much stopped after that. It was hard to fish for flounder while the tide was rolling my jig under the bridge. I moved over to the south side of the bridge and mowed the entire way without a hit. Crossed back over to the north side and continued to jig while I waited for the tide change. Didn't get anything else on the gulp shrimp for the rest of the evening...but...
As I was walking the bridge I noticed two ropes tied to the bridge rails. I had saw them when I first arrived but didn't think anything of them. So I was bored and nobody was around I decided to investigate. I was surprised to see that the ropes were actually holding something in the water. I pulled up and another surprise, it was a homemade drop bucket for live bait. So I lift the bucket up and look inside, and another surprise. It was filled with live finger mullet! Haha lucky me because there was no bait in the water and I was getting ready to leave since gulp baits weren't doing much. So I pulled up the second rope and it's the exact same thing, another bait bucket filled with live finger mullet. Good thing I brought my live bait poles! Rushed back to the car to grab some more gear and quickly setup again near flattie rock. I dropped finger mullet on the bottom on two different poles. By now it's about 1:30am and the tide is slack. I'm at the second light if your counting left to right. I noticed one of my finger mullet rods wasn't moving, meaning either the mullet is dead or something stole my bait while I wasn't looking. So I grabbed the rod, but I felt a dead weight so I lifted fast and actually caught a flounder! I didn't even know he was on the line. He must have swallowed my bait and just laid there in one spot. This one was just legal at 12".
Moved back down to the first light near flattie rock and setup the live mullet rods there. I get a nice hit on live mullet and quickly see it's a big flounder. Took the risk and tried to jump it up over the rails. Fortunately for me it didn't popoff the hook while doing this and I just landed a fat 15" flounder. My kind of flattie! That was it for the night, no more hits and nothing else happened after that. I finially packed up and left around 3am.

small flounder on gulp shrimp new penny


12" flounder on live finger mullet


fat 15" flounder on live finger mullet

New Species SOUTHERN STARGAZER @ Flat Bridge 10/26

Back on the bridge as usual I'm working the northside for some flounder. Tonight I stuck with gulp shrimp new penny and caught a nice variety of fish. I got a nice size whiting that got a safe release. I also caught 2 small flounder that were released to grow.

Hooked into a big flattie over on the northeast side of the bridge. Never got a look at it but I knew it was a big flattie by the way the bite came. Knowing I probably had a big flounder on my line, I didn't want to surface the fish and risk losing it. So I started walking it towards the rocks. I was doing really good and the fish was cooperating very well. It was like I was walking an old dog on a leash, it never tried to get away. My heart is actually pounding hard because I'm so excited that I got a big flounder. Almost to the rocks I just had to pass my rod around the light post and I was home free. Carefully I hopped up on the ledge, passed the rod with my left hand and as soon as my right hand reached the rod I guess the line slacked just enough for the big fish to come unglued. That was it. Oh man I was so pissed LOL.

Also tonight I caught a first species for me, a Southern Stargazer. It wasn't very big as you can see compared to the 3" gulp shrimp. This fish actually has a special talent, it can create an electrical current from it's body. It uses this as a defense against aggressive fish. I thought it was pretty cool to see something new.

Southern Stargazer on gulp shrimp new penny (3 pics)




Small flattie on gulp shrimp new penny


Small flattie on gulp shrimp new penny