"Bridge on Fire"

This time of the year Is when I prefer to start making my way back to fishing the bridges in the keys .Waiting on the first cold front that has'nt arrived yet to fish the Mullet Run has made me antsy to get out and fish .When the oppurtunity to get back to fishing the bridges arrived I jumped on it.My good friend Luis Iglesias who unlike me fishes the bridges year round called me up on Sunday and said he was going on Tuesday morning and I was more then willing. Few people can compete with the expierience that guys like Lui and JD have on these old bridges .Sometimes it's a mission to juggle my schedule to fish when Lui or Jd are off from work but I bend backwards to fish alongside my old bridgemaster friends who I'm always learning something new from. We headed out as usual at 4:30 am in order to get to the bridge by sun-up with fresh hand picked shrimp from Islamorada.I stopped at Jack's in Florida city for a few things I needed while Lui continued on to pick up the shrimp we needed for our day's fishing.We also made a stop to cast net some live mullet but they were not at the spot on this day.

stopped at Jacks bait and Tackle for block ice and a few goodies

Lui opens up the net pretty good fashion

we arrived and unloaded quickly

we were greeted by a splendid morning

hauling out our two carts loaded w gear -Lui strains on the rope

It felt like heaven for me to get back to the bridges after the long hot summer
The fishing was a bit slow at first but one hour after we arrived the tide switched to the outgoing and the fishing started to improve right away.Lui as always has his assortment of conventional and spinning rods from the small spinning rod with the sabiki rig to catch bait ,his many snapper rods to his 14/0 - beef stick combo for sharks in the water before i can even finish unpacking my gear,,,,,he has his system down to a science.The trick to the early morning bite is the live shrimp and fresh bait that Lui caught a few days before at the Dania pier.We would of had fresh mullet as well but we did not need it on this day abecause the fishing got better as the day wore on.First we started catching yellow jacks ,mangroves,horseeye jacks and assorted other bottom dwellers and we were also catching mackeral on the bobber rig but that shut down quickly after the current reached it's full strength.The only shark bait we had was some old frozen bonitas i had in my freezer and decided to bring with us .The bonitas were ballooned out but we knew we needed fresh bait to get the hits so we worked hard at getting the moonfish to bite on the sabikis.





We were having a blast catching the yellow jacks (which are great eating fish)on chicken rigs with live shrimp but Lui wanted the Big Fish like always so he lays down his 9/0 with a half of a fresh rainbow runner he had just cqaught on the bait rod and it was'nt long before the runner was engulfed by something big intent on going out the other side of the bridge,but Lui worked it like areal pro and soon a 40 lb (est) Jewfish pops to the surface and I quickly net it and strain to lift up the bridge for a few quick pictures before releasing it back into the Atlantic.

Lui struggles to turn the determined Goliath

Beautiful fish and Lui is proud of his catch

We continued to fish like two crazy man trying to catch a fresh shark bait .I freelined my moonfish and walked him towards the end of the bridge 3 blocks and back but it was a slow morning for barracuda fishing so we each laid down a rod with the live moonfish dangling on wire leader stinger rigs hoping that eventually a hungry cuda would eat one of our two offerings. We continued catching an assortment of different fish most of the morning and right after lunch a barracuda finally ate my bait on my thick deep jigging rod w Penn 750 spinner on it.This freakin cuda took me way to the right of our base camp and was fighting so hard I started thinking I had hooked a spinner shark or a 60 pound cobia .This was the feistiest cuda I've ever caught on a bridge,,,,,,,what a fight this booger put up!!!Lui gaffed the cuda and right then we knew our chances of catching sharks just increased by a wide margin.We debated on whether to save it for the halloween Hammer hunt but "naaaaahhhhh"we want a shark to fight Today:besides we can always go bridge hopping and catch more cudas some other time.It would turn out to be an excellent call on our behalf because later that afternoon we were paid handsomely with our fresh cuda dripping blood in the fast current.

the maniac cuda is on the deck
The sun was beaming down on us and we were having to drink water every once in while to stay hydrtated and maintain the energy level at optimun.We took the cuda and cut it in three pieces for our shark rods. Lui puts out the middle section on his 14/0 and I put out the head on my 16.We ballooned out the baits just to the electric poles because beyond that lies a minefield of menacing lobster trap bouys.We settle back to our regular fishing and i set in the shade the last piece cuda to put out on my 12/0 later .By now Lui's found a little spot where he's catching small live jacks and again he's baiting up every snapper rod you can imagine ,,,,,he's running back and fourth catching small mangrove snappers ,more yellow jacks ,nurse sharks on the big baits .It was a smorgasboard of variety and Lui is relentless working every one of his 20 snapper rods ,,,,just kidding only 7 or 8 is closer to the truth.Lui is red hot on the fish and he catches another jewfish about the same size as the first.Man i'm thinking when is it my turn but I know if i keep working hard my time will come

Lui and his twin Jewfish

time for the "Nurse Curse" to move in




Lui catches a 23 inch black grouper that misses the mark by one inch,,,,, reluctantly released back into the sea
From this point forward the mojo was all mine .Having put the last chunk of cuda on my 12/0 I was very satisfied when the current went slack and my 12 started singing that old familiar song .When i reached my rod the whatever was on it was going out the other side of the bridge and my line was rubbing badly on the concrete so I yelled at Lui "to gaff my line on the other side ".Lui gaffed it with a funky old two hook gaff he has and i quickly made a splice and fought the fish which was by now almost beat on my short new stand up rod.When lui saw the fish come up he says "it's a jewfish about 150"I felt happy because i had just caught this big Goliath despite the fact that he took me under and out the other side.So i tell Lui I'm gonna walk him to the wall take some close up pictures and cut off as much of the leader and my secondary hook so the fish has a better chance of surviving after the release.Lui stayed with the rods and I led the fish in the current which was allready flowing towards the Gulf .I strained on the short stick and pulled the jewfish down to the wall and slid on my butt rod in hand down the 24 inch wide seawall column that runs from the top of the bridge to water.Don't try this at home folks unless you've got better then average balance and are willing to risk it all to catch a big Fish.

she's taking me under and there is not much I can do with this short rod that has no hose on it



the view from the seawall

The narrow seawall i slid down on to get closer to the fish-slide down and crawl up


the big fish a view from the seawall


the fish as i get closer to the bottom

After sliding down the seawall very careful not to slip into the drink in the process I snap a few awkward style pictures and in the commotion I set the camera on video .Oh well It's not too bad .The big Goliath is tired as i am I reach down and cut the wire above the hook in her top jaw and she swims off in fine fashion.By now I'm feeling pretty satisfied , a little tired ,a little sunburned but willing to finish the day on this note ,,,,,the catch of another nice sized jewfish.Lady Luck had other plans for me because after a short while my 16/0 gets hit and that caught me by surprise because the tide had changed and my bait was beyond the light poles but when I picked up the rod the line was heading under the bridge again.I reel and reel and Lui sees the shark on the opposite side I tighten up and take control of the battle and quickly subdue the small five foot blacktip shark.


What a trip we pack it up and head home two good friends after a great day of fishing ,,,,,can't ask for much more than that.