Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

I fished on the seven mile bridge on friday from around 4:00 pm untill Sat. morning. This was my first time fishing from the south end of this bridge and didnt like it all that much. Besides the very end and one small channel in the begining the water is very shallow. Between the 3 of us manged 12 keeper mangroves, all caught casting to the pilings on the driving bridge. A few small grouper were also caught and released. Tried fishing for permit for the first time from a bridge with no luck. Had 3 rods out with crabs, one free lined, one bottom and one suspended. Moved them around different pilings about every hour without even a bite. This was my first time permit fishing from a bridge, any suggestions or was it that this bridge is not a good area for them. Put out some shark rods at night, one with a cuda and one with a jack with out a bite. good time with friends but either I need more experience fishing this bridge or just not that great of an area. On a side note, had a baitrunner out on the end of the bridge where the boats always pass through, a boat was coming so I waved at the guy I had a rod there and went to move it. Before I knew it the young punk speed through spooling my baitrunner before I could get there I hoped he would come back through and he did about 30 min later, toss my shark rod out there with 125lb leader and a big section of steel on the end and bam, hook up to his prop. I cut the line at the reel with a knife and about 200 hundred yard from the bridge he stalls he was there for almost an hour before he untangled his prop. Victory for the boatless fisherman

Tanks for the report, boaters are always doing it but they pay in the end. Walk the bridge in slack tides and pay close attention as to what structures you see below the water and where you see fish. You can then come back when the water is moving and is not clear. You'll catch your target. It just takes patience and time.

Great report man! Keep at it!..

Got a couple of hours to try em down below niles yesterday. Netted some bait pretty quick and started using them close by. Too many cudas to get the bait down to the snapper so I caught a few of the cudas and was able to catch a few 12-13s before the current started ripping too fast. We stopped at one spot on the way down and Clarisse got a nice school master , that thing was a fat boy.
That was right in the middle of the day so the sweat was flowing but I was so busy I don't know what the temp was. Got a just barely hogfish this morning so we have plenty of food. Will try again soon.

Great work John and Clarise!! Yea the Heat has been real intense lately, I'll for sure be ready for that on Tuesday.

Green Tide wrote: so I caught a few of the cudas and was able to catch a few 12-13s before the current started ripping too fast.

Nice report John ....Did you forget the Gatorade bottle and the measuring tape for the cudas?

I wish the cudas were large enough to show but they weren't . Just some good eating size. Since I haven't been successful with the large ones I decided to learn from the small ones and move up from there. Only problem is I need el giganto before the middle of august.

Those little ones do taste good but even with those you can get a little sick. Horrible crap I tell you....If you catch small jacks and blue runners you can get el giganto by the pylon on the footing of that bridge.

John don't worry about finding El Giganto, he will find you.

Just leaving No Name got out there around 5:50, got some pinfish and was ready to fish. The first part of my day was a bit slow for me but the guys down from me were getting nice grovers. My highlight for the first part of the day was wat looked to be a 100#+ tarpon nearly spooled my reel with 20# main 30# leader. It grabbed a live pinfish I had on the bottom. My thumb hoot burned because I was trying to stop a birds nest then it broke off. At 2 I went and got some shrimp for me and my girl ( I know summer shrimp are smaller than winter but most of them were tiny didn't figure I'd do too much with them and I didn't until about 3:30 when the bite turned on for us and we limited piton mangroves within 20 mins. Then we packed up because she wants to go to lauderdale spoiling my fishing. I'll try to get some pic up later

Thanks for the report Jvor, haven't seen any from you in a while.

Sounds just like summer time mangos.

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Thanks for the report Jvor, haven't seen any from you in a while.

Been working a lot and dealing with some family issues but I'm trying to get back out more often

You could have dropped the grovers off to me on your way to ft l
Glad you had a good trip after waiting all day.

Great Job on the Grover's man! Yea man Poon's are always picking up my bottom set Pins and running with them lol, its fun times and a hell of a fight. Great report man.

Picture

Nice rack of Grovers man! Enjoy the feast and remember to breathe when you eat!!..

That is a nice load of Grovers, good job.

jvor24 wrote:Picture

Nice catch! Did you freeline shrimps for the mangroves?

fisherdave wrote:

jvor24 wrote:Picture

Nice catch! Did you freeline shrimps for the mangroves?

I used a 16 jighead

The current must have been ripping at that time. A 1/16 jighead in such a strong current is not easy. Did you freeline the jighead to come back under the bridge or move away from the bridge towards the open water ?

DonOne wrote:The current must have been ripping at that time. A 1/16 jighead in such a strong current is not easy. Did you freeline the jighead to come back under the bridge or move away from the bridge towards the open water ?

I freelined it to go under the bridge but I was throwing away from the bridge and letting it drift under with the current and was getting hits everytime.

cudaman wrote:Those little ones do taste good but even with those you can get a little sick. Horrible crap I tell you....If you catch small jacks and blue runners you can get el giganto by the pylon on the footing of that bridge.

Thats where the action started yesterday. Fishing was slow so I went down by the edge and cast to some small tarpon, had a couple of follows on a swim bait and lots of small runners around . Got a biki out to them and got a few nice ones for bait. Put one 10 incher out on a cork and floated it out to the where the tarpon were rolling but no takers. Put on a fresh one and dropped him straight down to let him wear out a little in the current, but he never got that far. Just as he hit the water he starts trying to dive and fight the cork. I'm watching when in less than a minute this 4foot cuda shoots out spins on the runner twice and finally hooks up. First bite on the bait slices my 100 lb leader and he swims off.
Ended up with two small grovers and decided to change bridges to try to get more bait before sundown and run into state law enforcement in the parking lot.
The guy was real cool and we talked for a few.
Next bridge is too dark for the bait i wanted, so i put out some fresh runner chunks and butterflies. First bite is on the straight down chunk.Nurse.....
Next run is on the butterfly, fight is short and i get cut off. Same pole same bait 2nd bite the run starts and i get there fight for a short time and then reel in my bait without bite marks on it. Send it back out and nothing .
Hey that fishing.
Todays lunch some nice fried fillets with fries with a side of lobster from this morning.
Gonna try middle keys tonight.

At least you got enough for a nice lunch man! I wish I had time to get back out there. Maybe in a few weeks.

Hey , next trip the crew makes it down I should have enough tails for all to have a good late night meal.

Lobster salad for the crackers please

Great Report John!!..Cant wait to get down there and wet some lines with ya! Gotta fix my truck first man..Bummer..