Having just finished a book about one of the most famous bridges in Europe, the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, I’ve thought a lot about the value of bridges for fishermen, especially those in Florida. The Galata Bridge is unique in that several hundred fishermen every day of the year fish from the upper deck of the two-deck bridge. People on the lower deck, usually dining or imbibing spirits, can actually see the hooked fish go from the water to the upper decks. One of the most popular edibles, in fact, at the lower level is the fish sandwich, although the fish in the sandwich usually comes frozen from Norway.
Florida has some great bridges that have attracted fishermen for dozens of years. Two of my favorites are the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge in the Keys and the remnants of the Tampa Bay Bridge that the Sunshine Skyway Bridge replaced in 1987.
The first one, which used to connect Bahia Honda Key with Spanish Harbor Key in the Keys, was once a part of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway that connected Key West to the mainland. After the monster hurricane of Labor Day 1935 destroyed that railway, the federal government bought the line and built the Overseas Highway in 1938, making the connection to Key West much more secure.
When workers built a four-lane Bahia Honda Bridge north of the old bridge in 1972, they took away two spans of the former bridge to give space for boats to pass through the waterway. Today the eastern part of the old bridge is part of Bahia Honda State Park and is popular with pedestrians and fishermen. The Bahia Honda Bridge is just one of many that the Florida Department of Transportation built, gradually replacing all of the bridges that Henry Flagler built for his “railroad that went to sea.”
Some popular fishing bridges are around Islamorada, where guides can put fishermen onto tarpon, goliath grouper and sharks, including blacktips, bulls, hammerheads and lemons. The advantages of such abandoned bridges are that motorized vehicles are not allowed to use the designated fishing bridges and they span the deep channels that run between the islands.
Another favorite fishing bridge in Florida is the older one that has since been replaced by the very impressive Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay that connects Sarasota and Terra Ceia in Manatee County. Fishermen can park their vehicles just a few feet away from where they will fish, even at nighttime since the former bridge is lit at night. That light attracts fish to the bridge, including grouper, pompano, sea bass, snook, and tarpon.
The piers and bridges around Florida allow fishermen the chance to fish relatively deep waters without getting wet or relying on a boat. So get out and enjoy our really great bridges to try your luck for some big ones.
Kevin McCarthy, the award-winning author of the forthcoming “The Galata Bridge in Istanbul” (2016), can be reached at ceyhankevin@gmail.com.