# Highbridge Report



## fishicaltherapist

REALLY nice! Nice to see you & your Dad spending time together,something you will Always treasure.


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## Brett

Get back in those "hard to get to" places, it's amazing how many fish you can find.
I'm playing a few miles north of you, but having the same results. On the water
before sunrise to cast at docklights, amongst the oysters at dawn, done when the sun clears the trees.
As soon as the sun hits the water, it's over. You can find 'em, but lockjaw has set in.

Bugs have been bad at the Flagler / St. Johns line, 
Probably the same down at the Volusia line, back in the sticks.


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## Hicatch

Surprisingly the bugs haven't been that bad. There have been lots of bees more than anything else.


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## Hicatch

Only had a short window to fish yesterday after my original guest cancelled. So at the last minute I got Jesse Sink to head out for a couple hours and he was able to sight fish this 37" bull. We watched him come down the bank at least 50 yards pushing a huge wake; Jesse pitched a white Z-Man Paddlerz in front of and it was game on. After and initial run of about 50 yards, some determined bulldogging in the mud and a run under the boat it was game over. Jesse landed him and we got several great pictures. This is the largest red I've been a part of from Highbridge and his largest sight fished; we were quite stoked to say the least.


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## Capt Dan Medina

Nice red....


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## Hicatch

Fished today with my son. We hit the water at first light. The water was low and the tide had 2 hours before it ebbed. Fish were everywhere but were very spooky and he managed to land only one small tarpon. I'm gonna try again tomorrow.


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## Sean_Schlobohm

I caught 2 nice reds in that area on Sat in my Gheenoe Low Tide 25. What boat were you in?


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## Hicatch

> I caught 2 nice reds in that area on Sat in my Gheenoe Low Tide 25. What boat were you in?


A Riverhawk B60, I think I saw you turn onto Highbridge Road Saturday morning pulling pulling a tan LT 25 with an 18 Tohatsu.


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## Sean_Schlobohm

fished out there in back Sat and Sun with great results,saw Jesse out there with another kid in a jon boat. Biggest was a released 29".I think my daughter when to school with him


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## Hicatch

Well after a month or so lull, the redfish are starting to show again in the backwaters around Highbridge. Back to back trips yielded catches of trout up to 28 inches and reds up to 30. Friday I had my close friend Mark on the Riverhawk and he was treated to a fabulous topwater bite. Mark caught 7 trout and 3 reds with the largest trout going at least 28" and a 30" red. I managed 3 reds from the platform with the biggest right at 27".

This beauty ate literally as Mark was lifting the plug out of the water... 









Overslot red on topwater....









picked this one off from the platform, while Mark's topwater was getting blown up by a giant...









Today I had my Dad on the IPB and we didn't have the best conditions yet we still managed two overslot reds...


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## Hicatch

Back at it today caught the end of the outgoing tide and managed three in the first half hour of fishing; 2 went 20-21inches and this one was just over 27. As the tide quit so did the bite so we switched to plan B and moved into Bulow Creek where we managed several small snook and trout on Mirro-Dines. 

Reds were pushing around back in the ponds but were not in a feeding mode, maybe full moon lock jaw. Despite this it was encouraging to see the numbers getting better; it's shaping up to be a good winter back there.


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## Hicatch

It's been  while since I've posted a report mainly due to work schedule and the weather. However, we've been back in the ponds the past couple weeks and had mixed results. There is plenty of reds in certain ponds as they are beginning to group up for their exodus in September to do their spawning thing. Despite this the bite is very sporadic; fish seem to be buried up in the mud and are not receptive to most artificial baits we are offering. However, the ones we've gotten to eat have been upper slot fish like these:










http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm81/Hicatchfish/Mobile%
20Uploads/IMG_20140706_070132_zps3c548c50.jpg



















These fish fell victim to 17MR Mirrolures; which seem to be the only thing we could get them to bite.


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## Hicatch

I've been working a couple nice schools of reds back in the ponds but have played hell getting them to eat. The ones we have coaxed though have been nice slot to upper slot fish. In addition, we've been catching a handful of snook each time we go. Most have been around 20 inches but a couple have been about 24 or so. We're finding them in the cuts between some of the ponds and in typical ambush points in the big pond.


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## fishicaltherapist

That is a beautiful area you fish. Nice pics!


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## Hicatch

> That is a beautiful area you fish. Nice pics!


Indeed it is and micros are most suited to fish it effectively. There is so much area that hardly gets touched because of how shallow it is and the fact that you may have to pole great distances to get to deep enough water to run out.


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## Hicatch

Well after fishing the Lagoon for the past month I had my dad out at Highbridge to see if the cooler weather cleaned up the water enough to do some sight fishing. Well we weren't disappointed, we ventured back to the far southwest ponds to fish the outgoing tide yesterday morning and found a few reds willing to eat. Getting back there proved to be a challenge as the northwest winds from last weeks front pushed a lot of water out making it very shallow. Thankfully, the IPB16 gets stupid shallow and I was able to pole us back into the area around the Hidden Pond that I like to fish. 

At first the fish were hunkered in the mud as the water temperature was quite cold and were mainly bumping them up with the boat and blind casts. But as the sun came up and the water began to heat the fish became very active. They were in groups of 2-6 fish and they were chasing finger mullet across the flat. We watched this going on and were throwing at them but couldn't get them to eat. So I began to pole across the flat to the south bank where I spotted a fishes back glistening in the sun, some 50-60 yards away. I poled directly to the spot and sure enough there was a fish tucked up in a small bite in the bank looking for something to eat. I pitched a Z-Man PaddlerZ just past him and drug it in front of his nose and he jumped all over it. After a some bull dogging and attempts to get me in the motor I had him boat side. A solid 30" Highbridge red nice and fat and with beautiful color.










As we continued down the bank I saw another blow up  and I pointed in that direction to give my dad a shot. As we approached the fish was again tucked up into a small bite in the bank and my dad pitched a bait at an angle just past him and slowly reeled it in front of his face and he exploded on it taking off on a great run. He thought the fish was small and began to tighten the drag; I told him it was a big fish just as it was swinging the bow in the direction he was running. Thankfully he backed off as we were only using 15 pound fluorocarbon for leader and after a couple shorter runs and a attempt to get under the boat he had him ready to be landed. The fish measured 33" without pinching the tail and was hooked in less than 6" of water making it one of the coolest bites I've seen.










We managed 2 more fish and the tide was really dropping so we called it a day.


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## fishicaltherapist

Great day for you and your Dad. Enjoy his company as much as you can. [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]


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## Hicatch

Had the pleasure to fish with my friend Joe on his Glades Skiff yesterday. We had to deal with a negative low tide and a bit of a breeze but were able to get 3 on fly and one on spin before it got too windy to sight fish....




























These three were all in such shallow water that half their bodies were exposed as they were crawling the banks.


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## Hicatch

For some reason these pictures were deleted and I'm unable to edit the previous post....


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## albrighty_then

I'm in the process of rebuilding a river b60, I've actually never ran in one haha how do you like it? 20hp?


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## Hicatch

A 20hp 4 stroke Mercury pushes the B60 with two anglers and gear around 25mph.


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## Hicatch

It's been some time since I've posted a Highbridge report so here we go; I fished the area three times last week with similar results. First of all snook are everywhere, I've seen them on the banks with their backs out of the water, most of the deep cuts between ponds and normal ambush points with tidal flow are holding snook from yearling size up to the slot. Each trip yielded multiple snook with the biggest taping out just under 28". Baits of choice have been Topwater poppers and walkers, Mirro-Dines, and Zman Paddlerz. However, any paddle tail swimbait worked fast should do the trick.

Redfish, on the other hand have been a challenge. Virtually every pond we fished had reds but they seemed to be burrowed in the mud in the middle. Very few have been crawling the banks or pushing unless you get right on top of them and move them. Perhaps, if one was to sit with live or cut bait they could have good success but, that isn't for me. The reds we are catching have been mid to upper slot fish and we have pushed some very large fish. However, just not the numbers you would expect based on the amount of fish we are seeing back there.

Small tarpon are also rolling in the deeper ponds and canals but are staying outside of casting range; I anticipate them to become more prevalent as it heats up more. They will respond to most Topwater baits, Mirro-Dines, paddle tails and fly. Most are in the 5-10 pound range and provide an excellent fight with light tackle.

Overall, the area seems to be seeing some improvement in habitat quality. I've noticed oysters in areas there haven't been any since I began fishing there. Where there is hard sand bottom the water clarity is quite good and fish can spotted from the platform with relative ease. There also appears to be some type of grass or algae growing that the redfish like to hang in. I've actuall seen some redfish tailing which is very uncommon for this area. My best non-science backed assessment is that the fishery is quite healthy as far as biomass and recruitment is concerned; there is large numbers of juvenile to slot sized snook and large numbers of slot sized and rat redfish. Both are strong indicators that there is balance and potential for continued growth for a fishery.


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## Hicatch

Fished the far southern ponds today and my Dad got 2 snook, both were 29 and 30 inches. First one came on a top water in a cut with water flowing through. It was a classic snook bite; the fish hit the plug and knocked it a foot out of the water then just piled right on it. After a few jumps and runs around the boat she came to the net.










The second pushed on the bank my Dad threw a white 3” Gulp shrimp in front of it. It hit it but missed and my Dad was reeling it back in to throw at it again and it chased it and ate right at the boat. Total mayhem ensued with the fish running under the boat and around the transom. Thankfully I upped my leader from 20-30 and he was able to bring the fish to the net.


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## Hicatch

We fished Highbridge last Sunday and the results were not good for us. Again, we pushed countless fish but could only manage two small snook. We started with a negative tide which was still flowing, this made venturing any farther than the north and east side too challenging. We did manage to pole most of the eastern ponds and we had a great time watching fish chase and bust shrimp and mullet but not what we were throwing into the mix. We did have two shots at fish crawling the bank but got refused on both attempts. I've fished this are for 10 years now and it gets harder and harder to get bites despite there being a great stock of fish. 

There was only one other boat in our vicinity a nice 17 Maverick and he found out how low the water can get back there. He did manage to pole out of the pond he was in but he was pushing mud the whole way; trust me this will wear you out. 

On Monday, I fished with my good friend Mark. We put in at 100 and ran north fishing the main river from below Hershel King to past the south entrance of Fox's Cut. Again, we had an extremely low outgoing tide. We managed one small flounder, a snook and a big blow up on a Mirro-Dine but the fish miraculously missed getting two sets of treble hooks in its mouth. 

We ran back south and fished north Silver Lake and south Silver Lake and pitched paddle tails in the mangroves. Mark sight fished two snook and had a big red on only to to pull the hook. There were several fish tucked up in the mangroves tight and it was fun watching them take off when we were right on top of them; had a couple run right into the boat. We had only one shot at a crawling fish but I blew the cast from the platform and the fish made us and left the scene. Water quality in both Silver Lakes was quite good for this time of the year. The numbers of fish though was nowhere near what Highbridge has to offer. 

I will be back to Highbridge again on Monday to see if my luck will change. It's hard to not fish a place when you know there is plenty of fish. Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.


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## Hicatch

I took a friend way in the back on Monday. We got out at first light the tide was still very low and had about two hours left outgoing. We kicked mud most of the run to where I like to start but once we stopped I was able to pole around the ponds pretty easily. We managed one under slot snook and a mid slot red but pulled two nice reds off. The winds picked up early and we moved out to the main river and found a few fish on the east bank north and south of the bridge. We had a couple shots at fish and saw a big red crashing bait in only a couple inches of water but couldn't get close enough for a cast. Boat traffic was surprisingly heavy for a Monday so it made poling quite challenging. We called it a day around 11:00.


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## southerncannuck

Hicatch said:


> I took a friend way in the back on Monday. We got out at first light the tide was still very low and had about two hours left outgoing. We kicked mud most of the run to where I like to start but once we stopped I was able to pole around the ponds pretty easily. We managed one under slot snook and a mid slot red but pulled two nice reds off. The winds picked up early and we moved out to the main river and found a few fish on the east bank north and south of the bridge. We had a couple shots at fish and saw a big red crashing bait in only a couple inches of water but couldn't get close enough for a cast. Boat traffic was surprisingly heavy for a Monday so it made poling quite challenging. We called it a day around 11:00.


Do you typically fish the SW portion of the flats or the SE?


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## Hicatch

southerncannuck said:


> Do you typically fish the SW portion of the flats or the SE?


It varies; if the water is low I stay on the eastern side. But, I like fishing the southwest areas more due to the fact fewer people venture back there.


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## southerncannuck

Hicatch said:


> It varies; if the water is low I stay on the eastern side. But, I like fishing the southwest areas more due to the fact fewer people venture back there.


I fish the area a few times a week but don’t venture too far SW.


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## Hicatch

I took my son and his friend to target snook Sunday evening. We had an outgoing tide and started off in Bulow Creek where we hit several different spots where I usually catch snook. We had a couple blowups but the boys couldn’t get tight. After an hour I ran back to another little cut where the tide was moving through and we were able to catch and release 6 small snook. It was my son’s friends first time fishing on a boat so he was pretty thrilled with the results. None of the fish were much over 20-22 inches but the smiles on their faces was much bigger.


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## Hicatch

Fished Monday and caught upwards of 20 snook most were small but t we did land two nice ones between 24-26” the latter being sight fished. The unfortunate thing to report is that there is a log in the creek we use to run to the southwest ponds. I’ve uploaded a shot from Google Maps pointing where the log is located.


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## albrighty_then

Thought I would a quick report, fished the flats on both sides of high bridge the last 3 days while I was down for Christmas from GA. Alot of wind but had a good results, mostly towards the river with all the rain lately. Caught A few reds, 3 trout and two flounders, never had flounder back there so that was cool. Such a cool place to fish.


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## Hicatch

It’s been sometime since I’ve felt a report was worthy but recent trips have proven to be recognized. If you want to catch large numbers of snook the backwaters around Highbridge will provide plenty of action from juvenile up to over slot sized fish. Recent trips have yielded double digit catches on a variety of artificial baits. Top water walking and poppers are effective around any ambush point as well as suspending twitch baits like mirro-dines and soft plastic swim baits. Most cuts between ponds are holding snook and if the tide is pushing through you’re almost guaranteed a bite. We spent one morning fishing a north south mosquito ditch catching snook up to the slot just pitching baits into the bites in the bank and the cuts into the adjacent ponds. Any brush lay downs are holding so don’t be afraid to pitch a weedless rigged soft plastic into them. I’d suffice to say that this area has to be one of the best unknown areas to fish for snook on the east coast.
With as good as the snook bite has been redfish have proven to be more challenging for me. We are pushing large numbers all over the marsh but are struggling to get bites. Perhaps live or cut baits could prove more effective but it’s not something that I prefer to do. Despite this the fish we have caught have been high slot sized fish. I only expect the redfish numbers to increase as fall progresses into winter with there being multiple large schools throughout the ponds.


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## MAK

Man, I’ve been itching to get down there but the boat motor is out of commission until I can get my truck down here. I’ve been restricted to fishing the backwaters around our house a few miles N of High Bridge in my kayaks... Had been catching some slot-sized Snook last month but as soon as the season opened I keep coming up short. The past couple weeks I’ve been catching a lot of small ones but the larger are getting fewer and further between. I’m jealous. 24” was my largest this morning.


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## LtShinysides

Nice work! The snook bite seems to be picking up everywhere. Thanks for the report.


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## Hicatch

10/25-26 Report
High water makes the Highbridge marsh area very accessible and the fish are definitely turning on. The early fall is seeing redfish beginning to school up and the snook bite continues to be strong. Sunday and Monday yielded several slot reds and snook up to 26". All the reds were caught on 17Mr Mirr-o-Dines, 3" Gulp Shrimp and Z-Man Jerk Shadz. Reds were pushing in every pond we fished and we had multiple hookups landing several but also got worked over by big fish running up in to cover causing pulled hooks. The snook bite remains as consistent as it's been all summer with typical ambush spots holding snook up to and over slot. Virtually any cut with moving water and cover should produce a bite. As long as we don't have a hard freeze this winter we should expect an even better fishery next year.


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## MAK

Nice work getting some good fish! I’m anxious to get back to Flagler next week after being gone the past month.


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## jaxdrew

report?


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## southerncannuck

It’s been extremely slow.


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## jaxdrew

10-4 I know a ton of bait was pushing through and a few snook were popping around the bridge last week but it was crowded with shore anglers and boaters. Plus those snook are pretty well educated LOL love the reports!


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## Hicatch

jaxdrew said:


> report?


We haven't fished in a few weeks, weather and boat issues. However, through the summer into mid October the snook bite was the primary action. The redfish seemed to have lockjaw and trout were few and far between. We did manage one real nice trout that must have been lost. Here's some pics from the summer and early fall. The redfish bite for us has been not what it should be based on the number of fish we see. It seems that virtually every artificial we offer gets rejected. The most success we've had is blind casting with mirr-o-dines. The snook bite bordered on ridiculous all spring through early October. Virtually any cut or point was holding snook and the responded to both soft plastics and plugs equally. We managed two slot fish this year and had several just under 28 inches. Overall, the Highbridge area is probably one of the best snook fishing destinations north of the Everglades and 10,000 Islands and as long as we do not get a hard freeze it should only improve. The redfish bite is concerning and I'm not sure what is the cause. For years we would catch 10-15 reds per one snook and now it is 20-30 snook to one redfish.


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## MAK

Hicatch said:


> We haven't fished in a few weeks, weather and boat issues. However, through the summer into mid October the snook bite was the primary action. The redfish seemed to have lockjaw and trout were few and far between. We did manage one real nice trout that must have been lost. Here's some pics from the summer and early fall. The redfish bite for us has been not what it should be based on the number of fish we see. It seems that virtually every artificial we offer gets rejected. The most success we've had is blind casting with mirr-o-dines. The snook bite bordered on ridiculous all spring through early October. Virtually any cut or point was holding snook and the responded to both soft plastics and plugs equally. We managed two slot fish this year and had several just under 28 inches. Overall, the Highbridge are is probably one of the best snook fishing destinations north of the Everglades and 10,000 Islands and as long as we do not get a hard freeze it should only improve. The redfish bite is concerning and I'm not sure what is the cause. For years we would catch 10-15 reds per one snook and now it is 20-30 snook to one redfish.


That’s a monster Trout you got there. What was the length?
I too normally see many more Snook each trip than I do Reds. I’ve recently started catching some Trout again after not seeing any for months, and finally got a couple slot Reds last week after a span of nothing but rats... I’ve had about a half dozen Snook this year in the slot with my largest going 32”. We’ve only been here four years but what I can find and where I find them has been very inconsistent year to year for me. Every time I start to think I’m getting it figured out it all changes.


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## Hicatch

MAK said:


> That’s a monster Trout you got there. What was the length?
> I too normally see many more Snook each trip than I do Reds. I’ve recently started catching some Trout again after not seeing any for months, and finally got a couple slot Reds last week after a span of nothing but rats... I’ve had about a half dozen Snook this year in the slot with my largest going 32”. We’ve only been here four years but what I can find and where I find them has been very inconsistent year to year for me. Every time I start to think I’m getting it figured out it all changes.


We didn't measure the trout but estimated at 30" and 8 pounds.


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## Hicatch

I fished Sunday with my Father and had moderate success. We found a school in the big pond and hooked two fish only to have knot failures. The FG knot failed on my set up and my Dad had a loop knot break in the crotch with two nice fish on. After several minutes to retie we lost the school and moved south along the crab traps where there was several bunches of reds which had lock jaw. We moved west towards Brother’s Pond and managed a couple small reds just blind casting. Brother’s is loaded with fish which too are very finicky but we managed two upper slot fish casting at pushes. We also caught a keeper trout which we released.


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## LtShinysides

Thanks for the reports! I threw some flies Monday back in bulow with no luck. Sunday/Monday were some of the nicest days weatherwise I can remember fishing. Looks like y'all had a blast!


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## MAK

Fantastic catches. Too bad you lost a couple nice ones but you good action. 
I guess I need to get the boat down to high bridge. I’ve been fishing from my yak the past couple weeks with very poor success. I fish the backwaters just on the north side of high bridge road because it’s convenient to to our back yard. It’s been a grind with only a handful of fish each day and any Reds have been rats. I was down there last Tuesday on the south side and found the Trout but no Reds. 


Hicatch said:


> View attachment 190621
> View attachment 190622
> 
> I fished Sunday with my Father and had moderate success. We found a school in the big pond and hooked two fish only to have knot failures. The FG knot failed on my set up and my Dad had a loop knot break in the crotch with two nice fish on. After several minutes to retie we lost the school and moved south along the crab traps where there was several bunches of reds which had lock jaw. We moved west towards Brother’s Pond and managed a couple small reds just blind casting. Brother’s is loaded with fish which too are very finicky but we managed two upper slot fish casting at pushes. We also caught a keeper trout which we released.


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## southerncannuck

Heads up that the Highbridge ramp will be closed for repairs for 3-6 months starting January 6th


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## snooker007

Hope the snook survive this snap. Water in st Augustine mid 40’s


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## jaxdrew

no kidding idk where they could go but hope they make it!


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## southerncannuck

I remember the 09-10 winter. The water cleared from the cold and you could see dead fish in every square foot. It took till this summer for the snook to make a comeback.


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## Hicatch

southerncannuck said:


> I remember the 09-10 winter. The water cleared from the cold and you could see dead fish every in square foot. It took till this summer for the snook to make a comeback.


Actually the snook have been recovering for several years in Highbridge/Bulow/Flagler my logs show steady increases in catches since 2014. The 09-10 freeze probably reduced the biomass by 90 percent in our area but we had 7 days of below freezing temperatures then. This freeze was not as low or last as long so the snook should have faired well.


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## southerncannuck

Hicatch said:


> Actually the snook have been recovering for several years in Highbridge/Bulow/Flagler my logs show steady increases in catches since 2014. The 09-10 freeze probably reduced the biomass by 90 percent in our area but we had 7 days of below freezing temperatures then. This freeze was not as low or last as long so the snook should have faired well.


Good to know. I’ve been in South Carolina for a bit.


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