Flattie Report Sunday Night 5/25

I arrived just after 10pm as the incoming tide was slowing down. It's Memorial weekend so I expected it to be busy. The far east end of the bridge was packed with people and just a few others scattered about. Claimed a spot and started with gulp shrimp. No hits on gulp shrimp tonight. I found most of my hits came off the gulp swimming mullet bait, which I had in pearl white and chartruese. I caught a 12" flounder on white swimming mullet and then a 13" flounder on chartreuse swimming mullet. The second light post on the north end and south end of the bridge produced the fish tonight. Good night on the bridge, finially some keepers.

Flat Bridge Saturday Night 5/24

Hit the bridge at 9:00pm to hit the last of the incoming tide and then slack. It is memorial weekend so I knew there would be at least some fishermen around. The far east end was occupied with large groups of people. Out of the 8 light poles, half were available to fish. Luckily, my favorite hole was open so I started there first. Then a couple arrive and decide to camp about 15 feet from me. After clearing the light with no hits I decided to move away from the stupid people that just camped on top of me. The next light pole was open, and after a few casts I finially caught a small flounder on chartruese swimming mullet. Worked my way back and forth, crossing over to the southside and back over to the northside. Only caught 2 more small flounder all on chartreuse swimming mullet. All three flounder were between 11" - 11.5" so they got a release. Tonight I got to use my new Rapala foldable ruler for the first time and I love it. It has a foldup end wall to bump fish against for more accuracy. I like it alot better than using a standard tape measure. The pictures turned out nice too! :)

Flattie Report Monday Night 5/19

Arrived at the flat bridge around 10:30pm with my friend Zack. The outgoing tide was just slacking up so it was perfect time to try for flounder. Started with a pearl white gulp swimming mullet and fished my favorite spots. Near the first light I pulled a small flattie that got a release to grow. Something kept biting the tails off my swimming mullet bait, and by now the tide was slack. So I did two things, downsized my jig from a 1/2 to 1/4oz and then switched to gulp shrimp. I went down to the second light and immediately caught a nice 15" flounder for the bucket! Dropped my bait down again at the same spot and caught a 13" flounder for the bucket. Then again, dropped my bait down at the same spot and caught a toad fish LOL. I'm thinking wow I just caught 3 fish in 15 minutes! After the toadfish I had to move around again to find the fish. Finially caught another flounder but it was too short to keep. Didn't get another hit on the gulp shrimp so I switched back to the white gulp swimming mullet. First cast after the bait switch and I catch a keeper 12" flounder! All fish were caught between the first and second lights. Finished with a personal best 5 flounder caught during this trip, only kept the three keepers. Great night on the water!

11" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet


15" flounder on new penny gulp shrimp


13" flounder on new penny gulp shrimp


toad fish on new penny gulp shrimp


11" flounder on new penny gulp shrimp


12" flounder on white gulp swimming mullet

Flat Bridge Sunday Night 5/18

Started at 10:30pm and fished the bridge for a couple hours at night. Winds were better and tide was low slack when I arrived. Two other groups of fishermen already on the bridge but my favorite hole was open. As soon as I walk on the bridge I can hear someones reel singing and a guy yelling "Oh yea thats a shark!". Um no it's a sailcat.

It's vacation time folks! The annual tourist run. Mostly small ones but I'm sure bigger ones will follow. Catch and release only. I ran into a guy from N.C. on vacation. He's a really nice fellow but could talk your ear off. I mean really talk your ear off. He pretty much told me his whole life story. While I'm slowly walking the bridge trying to jig for flounder, he's slowing following me. This went on for a good 45 minutes. Finially shook off the talking head and was able to get a bite. It was an under 12" flounder caught on gulp shrimp. Released to grow.

Current started to pickup and fishing was slow at my favorite spots. Had to move around to find the fish and I finially did. Third spot pulled in a 12" flounder on a watermelon gulp swimming mullet. It was gut hooked and bleeding out bad. I knew with the amount of blood it lost it wasn't going to make it so I just kept him. No use letting the crabs have it. Caught my first lizard fish! Nasty little buggers. For a small fish it was really strong. Ended the night with another 12" flounder after I switched bait to a white gulp swimming mullet. Thats it!

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.