# Ponce Inlet



## srmz (Jul 7, 2009)

I will be down for a week from Jan 16 to Jan 23. Don't have a boat and can't afford a guide. I will be staying in Ponce Inlet and looking to do quite a bit of fishing. I have done well in the past using kastmasters off the jetty. Anybody got any tips to help out a fellow angler frrom Ky.? Places to try? Techniques? Not afraid to do some wading if the weather is nice. Please help! All adivce is very appreciated. Thanks to all!


----------



## johnfl (Dec 16, 2009)

Live bait off the jetty's is working well on both Ponce and SI right now (should be around the time your here also) 
live jumbo shrimp free lined , pogys and finger mullet,, pin fish will hook you up with big snook and reds.
Fish before ,during and after the tide change.If you need to get the bait down a little most tackle shops sell big split shot weights..
4' of floro leader 40# uni to uni knot works well , and a 3/0 live bait hook..


----------



## ModernAngler (Dec 21, 2009)

The jetty is good for reds, snook, and black drum. On a sunny day, you will rack up whiting in the surf. Sunglow pier in Ponce Inlet charges $7.40 to fish at the pier, but you can stay there as long as you want (keep the receipt on hand). Use FRESH shrimp pieces on light tackle in the surf for whiting. You will also pull up black drum from under the pier and BIG sheepshead by the pylons (make sure you have heavier tackle and line for those fish). Bluefish are also hitting on whole shrimp and other live baitfish in the surf. There are two piers under the 421 bridge: free to fish. You might pull up flounder if you use mud minnows. Black drum hit there as well. You might get sheepshead too.

Hope this helps. Ponce Inlet is a great place to fish.

Tight Lines!
~Doug


----------



## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Welcome aboard Modernangler!


----------



## srmz (Jul 7, 2009)

*Live Bait!*

Thanks John and Doug for your replies. I have a cast net. Do you have any suggestions as where a fellow angler may try to catch some of the live bait that you mentioned? Maybe a place not so rocky? Thanks for your help!


----------



## ModernAngler (Dec 21, 2009)

IF the mullet are in the surf I do have a sweet spot I could literally just drop the cast net without even throwing it really and pull up a whole net full. Go to the jetty (its a $3 charge to fish at the inlet). As you approach the actually jetty area facing the ocean, to the right of the jetty is the inlet (the rocky side, but good drum fishing!) and the left side is the beach. Go to the beach side. Normally, there are mullet right in the surf. You can get in the water with them and pull up your nets worth...but if they are there is the key. You can stand on the jetty pathway and look down to see if they are there. The waves will crash against the rocks, but its not too treacherous if you are carefull when cast netting in the water next to them. I did it. I would pull up giant mullet too along with the fingerlings. 

For mud minnows, get a minnow trap and use bologna as bait. Find some sort of back water flow where the water is pretty still. There might be an area near the Ponce Inlet lighthouse. Not too sure though. You might end up having to buy mud minnows if you wanted flounder or ask some locals (I'm not a local, I just go there to fish a lot). 

I do know of one spot actually that I just now thought of. Its the Preserve. Its a nature preserve right on the Halifax river. Its a long boardwalk through the marsh and backwater before you end up at the last pavilion on the river itself. You can also collect small mud crabs there too. The preserve is on S. Peninsula Dr.

As for catching your own shrimp, I can't help ya. I don't know of any good spots.

Tight Lines!
~Doug


----------



## srmz (Jul 7, 2009)

Thanks Doug for your reply. For those of you guys that fish the 421 bridge area, how is the fishing there at night? I know you can't fish at night at the jetty. I have heard people catching big reds at night. Don't know if there is any truth to it, but thought you guys would. Thanks so much for all your guys help, just trying to put a game plan together.


----------



## ModernAngler (Dec 21, 2009)

In general, I have had bad luck at the 421 bridge by the DJ's Deck restaurant side (the side closer to the beach). There is a section in the dead middle of the bridge where there is a boat ramp jetting out into some mangroves. There are two piers there, but I am unsure as to how late they are open.

At one of those piers in the middle I have caught a giant lady fish and some blue crabs and some flounders, but that isnt to say reds don't come up in there. I have heard of flounder and black drum being caught at the pier next to DJ's Deck.

If you are going to catch flounder there by DJ's deck, you are going to want to toss up into the docking area provided there are no shrimp boats in your way at the time. Its flat sandy bottom, perfect for flounder.

Tight Lines!
~Doug


----------

