# Ponce Inlet trip (9/25)



## cpn_aaron (Apr 11, 2006)

My in-laws got a 21' offshore boat back in July and the boat has needed to be upgraded and the weather has been less than stellar for boating. This meant I've had to wait and dream of hitting the water. That day was Tuesday when I decided to skip work and fish all day. A choice many of you might understand. I netted 60 finger mullet at an old baithole on the way to their place and loaded the baiwell before we left for the Ponce Inlet public boat ramp. 








We got to Ponce Inlet entrance ~8 AM and fished the rock jetties near the channel for 2 hrs before the wind had the place so blown up everyone was heading for calmer seas inside the inlet. We only managed many rays and black margate caught on live finger mullet and live shrimp. We then went towards disapperaing island and hung out in a channel behind it surrounded by mangroves on one side and the steep shelved island on the other. We began freelining mullet and shrimp and layed into some fish right away. My mother-in-law had a drag screamer on a freelined shrimp. She fought it around the boat for a good 6-7 minutes before we brought up this nice 37" TL (34 3/4" FL) male bonnethead. It was a nice capture on her 8# mono with 25# mono leader. She kept pressure and the shark could never get past the circle hook to the leader. We quickly tagged and realesed him and he left the boat strong.








After that we started catching a few small mangos (all undersized) and sea robins. But as the tide dropped lower ~11:30 the flatties showed up. I had a freelined mullet get hammered and brought up this 11.5" just undersize flounder. 








I sent him back to send his big brother over and cast near the same area just off the shelf. Within 3 minutes the line went off and we brought up this nice 18.5" thick flattie. He went in the ice box and provided a nice pound of white flaky tasty flounder fillets. 








Seems right around the tidal cycle we were there the fish were concentrated in the channel running near the island . The schools of mullet stayed up on the shore trying to avoid this channel. For this reason mullet we dropped into the channel were hit. Unfortunately we all missed several large fish that broke leaders or shook hooks. My father-in-law reeled in a wounded mullet to change and had it followed by a much bigger bonnethead. He stopped and let the mullet fall freely again, but the fish spooked when it saw the boat.

As we got ready to move I had something large grab my mullet and really put a good fight on. I fought it around the boat for a good 7-8 minutes as it kept taking line back to the bottom of the channel and away from the boat, never letting me get a good look or even color. 








After a while it emerged and it was this very large bat ray. We snapped a few pictures boatside since it was large, heavy, and awkward to manipulate. So we just released it in the water and it swam away strong. After that we only caught a few small fish on and off and decided to call it a day. All in all it was a great day out on the water. hey, it sure beat working. of course now I need to make up all my hours missed for the next couple of days.
tight lines fellas :fishing:


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Great report as always!


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## KodiakZach (Mar 16, 2005)

That ray looks like the same type I caught a couple weeks back:










I can't believe you came and fished my backyard and didn't give me a shout!  Nice work on the flatties, they are all over Ponce!


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## cpn_aaron (Apr 11, 2006)

yeah I thought of that while I was out. I might have given you a shout but I got a last minute invite, so no time to see what Ponce/Sunglow were up to or where they like to hit up Ponce. As I pulled in that fish I thought about your fish and I guess there must be a fair amount of them in Ponce.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*Nice*

Sounds like it was a great time.


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