Halloween Hammer Hunt (7 Mile bridge) Fri 10/23- Oct 25,2009

William,

I'm pretty sure that the Monroe Co. cops will hassle you about parking the RV at the bridge. I'm not sure if Seven Miler is posted about no overnight RV parking or not, but my guess is that somebody will come to the RV door around 2 AM, banging on it with a flashlight and telling you to leave.

Jerry & I would love to come, but don't think we'll be able to. We'll let you know if things change.

Jerry & I hope to be there!

does any body have an out side deep fryer, like the ones with the big propane tank??
Because i thinkl with all of us on here being fisherman,together we can all bring fish fillets and have an un forgettable deep fried fish cook off!!!

I have 3 whole snooks caught within the last 5 days freshly frozen, thats good for 6 fillets and up to 10-12 people being fed!!!

i will bring bread crumbs,eggs,and my secret avocado,lime,garlic mayonaise

Just bought the big outside deep fryer.
Now if you guys want to make this happen i need to know who has fillets to bring or who can buy some?? and if any one can bring a big thing of vegetable oil.

I need to know if you guys wana do this or not?

Tell me how much oil to bring and i will grab some!!

Good Luck out there everyone! Wish I could have made the trip down, maybe next meet up. Cant wait to see pics

I wish i could say that every season is just like the one last last year, but I can't.2009 has been a year where the winter was colder and longer then most,the rainy season dragged on longer then any I can remember ,and the heat of summer dragged on til just a few weeks ago when we finally had our first cold front blow through South Florida.I think we're a few weeks to almost a month behind our normal patterns for the fall season and it affected our fishing this past weekend ,,,,,It is fishing after all!!The fishing and the shark fishing was indeed very off ,but despite the slow bite we had a very nice time out on the 7 mile bridge.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF OUR WEEKEND

Haulover Inlet -the place where we cast netted bait for our weekend



we loaded two buckets with mullet and pilchards got quickly salted and ziplocked

Jordan Terzado helps load up the trucks for our weekend getaway

driving south on the overseas highway


Pigeon Key in the middle of the old 7 mile bridge

A ton of gear to unload and anxious fisherman ready for the challenge







Some of the club members who joined us for the adventure
We arrived and each group set up there camp along different points of the famous bridge ,most chose to fish towards the channel .The weather cooperated more then the fish on this trip as we had overcast skies,cool temps,and a brisk breeze almost the entire two days. Food and drink and good conversation were in abundance among the crowd there was high expectations for a great time and a possilble Big Hammer!!

Lui prepares to float out his barracuda shark bait
Those of us who brought our frozen shark bait were lucky because the jacks ,and cudas were nowhere to be found .American mud rays were snagged on the flats by several club memebrs who wanted the freshest bait available.The first night Joey Fuqua fishing at the end of the bridge caught a 6 lb mutton snapper which would turn out to be the biggest edible fish caught the entire weekend.Few mangrove snappers are caught on the first night.The group fishing the end of the bridge which included Shannon,the Fuqua brothers ,Jonathan Wozar, and Jerry and Janet Fuqua caught some bluefish throughout the night.

An old friend of Lui from South Beach pier (Howie Ollman)stopped by to say "Hello"on his way to Key West


Jordan Terzado proudly poses with his mackeral the biggest of the day

the channel group with Joey's big Mutton snapper



On the second day we are up early and fishing hard to make it happen and we throw in everything but the kitchen sink but it's bad and most of the guys are calling it
"THE DEAD LAGOON"

Day and night the fishing is slow even though we have all types of bait including freshly snagged rays,live mackeral, live shrimp and fresh mullet so we continue to work hard and think of ways of motivating the fish to eat.Our next target are some live pilchards, and live ballyhoos that are cast netted at night from the top of the bridge:they dart about below our Coleman lantern hung just above the water to attract the baitfish.The seaweed moving in the current makes the fishing difficult at night because just as you're starting to fall asleep a big clump of seaweed runs into your line and you have to wake up and clear the line of the sargasso,,,,,,,,,what a pain in the ass!!!!We're all in upbeat because we are all looking forward to the the big fish fry we have planned for that second night .My friend Greg Dowdy buys two pounds of yellowfin Tuna that I plan to turn into Ahi Poke(spicy Hawain tuna)for the appetizer and I bring 4 pounds of jumbo shrimp to boil and feed the hungry fisherman that second night.

we relax and enjoy some liquid refeshment


we fish and fish some more

and Howie Ollman who knows how many years Luis Iglesias has been fishing at this feverish pace documents it all on film

Greg Dowdy (Mojo)shows off his monster custom spinner shark rod

huge rod for sure,,,,,check out the size of the reelseat on this spinner rod

Catch of the day a cooler lid



the night approaches as do beds of sargasso moving through

Howie leaves the bridge

the Jumbo shrimp are boiling


A sunset to remember

the hand does a shark dance for luck


The fish fry gets under way and Johnny Fuqua is hard at work

Will J and Irma enjoy the delicious fish

Ramon and JD Hammer

Jerry ,Shannon and Jd

Jerry and Lui

Sandra and baby Brianna

Thanks, William for all you do to plan these events. Even though the bite was off, we all had a good time. It was nice to connect with old friends & new! A special congratulations to Young Jedi (Jordan) on his nice mackeral.

even though it was off bite i had a great time the fish fry was great

And those Deep Fried Snook Fillets were ...Ahem "nurse shark"...Ahem great!

What a great time.
the first deep fried snook i ever had on a bridge

looks like you guys had a great time, next time i will deff be there!

dear will thank you for inviting [ME AND MY DAD ] to the 2009 halloween hammer hunt .i had so much fun with every one speacialy with master grasshopper who was teaching me how to fish for makarel and mangroves. also to janet who keept on telling me to drink plenty of water so i dint didhydrate because of how hot the sun was. also to shannon for letting ne used his spinner with the litte jig with the shrimp to catch my first mangrove.i had so much fun i cant wait for the next event for the shark club. if i misspell any thing for give me i amm only 10 years old anthis i my first reply i did had so much fun with every one i cant wait to this the next time around

Jordan it was so great to finally get u uot there. I been dying to bring u under my wing. But But, and dont take this wrong way, but i was a little dissapointed how you didnt want to be hands on with every thing i was teaching you. Next time im stealing you from ur dad and will break you in hard core like u need it. even if it takes some blood and tears. i know you arent used to it but i got to break you in. once u get used to it u will never wanna stay home agan. i love you lil jordan and now its go tyme. baby!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Shannon when ever you want ,you can see if you can teach him to be a good fisherman.I try myself, but he always wants to go with everyone else but me.So anybody who is willing to teach him[ JORDAN ] it's ok with me i wont mind.y ty