Curse of the Bonnetheads
Niles Channel Bridge, Summerland Key, FL - January 28, 2005

(story not yet edited, or complete)

This was my third trip to Summerland Key since July 2004. At this rate, it seems like I'm going every three months. Each trip has offered different weather and seasonal conditions. Each trip has produced a different sort of fishing action. And each trip had it's own storyline. This one is no exception.

It all began at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. I woke up, packed my gear, strapped my rods to my new roof rack, and headed over to meet Joe at his house. Joe and Robert had already loaded most of the coolers and gear into Joe's Dodge 1500... um... yes, it's got a HEMI. We crammed my gear into the bed and departed the house at about 7:00 a.m., eager to be feeling that saline Florida Keys air.

From past experience, we knew the trip would take close to 3-1/2 hours "door to door". Everything looked to be on schedule until, of couse, we hit morning commuter traffic in Miami. Stuck creeping along for about 30 minutes, there was no apparent cause to the hold-up. Typical. After we got past the Miami area, we were back up to speed for the remainder of the trek South. We made our way past Florida City, the Upper and Middle Keys, and stopped a few miles short of Niles Channel Bridge to pick up a few dozen live shrimp. Including the stop at the bait shack and some breakfast at Burger King, and rush hour traffic, the trip only took us about 35 minnutes longer than we planned.

Like most of the "Overseas Highway", Niles Channel has 2 bridges running parallel to each other. One is part of the original railroad system that Henry Flagler built, and the other is the modern-era span that serves as the current highway. The railroad tracks had been paved-over to form a two-lane roadway in the 40's. When the current span was built in the 70's, the original bridge was decomissioned. A section approximately 50 yards wide was cut from the middle to allow large boats to pass through and under the new 40-foot high span, eliminating the need for a drawbridge. The older sections along most of the Keys' bridges were turned into designated fishing "piers", separated from roadway traffic. Although Niles is one of the widest (about 25 feet) and lowest to the water (about 12 feet), it also seems to be one of the least fished — probably due to its relative distance beyond many other bridges. It's a long trip South, only about 25 minutes from Key West. We rarely see anyone else fishing while we're there... and that's the way we like it!

It was now time to unload and haul the mountain of gear for about 1/4 mile to our "camp". Different than previous trips, we chose to fish the "North Side" of the channel. At that longitude, A-1-A is actually traveling east/west, but that's just a technicality. The weather was beautiful. The breeze was no more than 5 or 6 mph from the NW, the skies were crystal clear, the air temperature was in the mid 70s, and the water was calm and clear. On our walk our, we peerer over the rail to see schools of ballyhoo, pilchards, and mullet. All great signs of productive fishing.

to be continued

-->Bill Buckley

parrothead1973@mac.com

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