What Are The Best-Kept Bridge Fishing Secrets (And Biggest Mistakes)
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
It’s bridge fishing time!
If you want to catch more inshore fish from a bridge (or from a boat while fishing a bridge) then you’ve got to hear this!
In this bridge fishing episode, we share some of our best tactics to get more tight lines when fishing under (or near) a bridge.
And one of the biggest discoveries came from a recent underwater dive near a popular bridge.
The best news is that these tactics work regardless if you fish from a bridge or from a boat at a bridge.
Check it out below!
You can watch the video version of this podcast below (which I highly recommend so you can see the mapping), listen to the audio version by clicking the play button underneath it, or listen to it on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.
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Bridge Fishing Secrets And Mistakes [VIDEO]
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Bridge Fishing Secrets And Mistakes [PODCAST]
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Related Podcasts:
- STRIKE SPOTS: NEW TOOL THAT PREDICTS INSHORE FEEDING ZONES
- HOW TO FIND 90% OF ALL FEEDING FISH IN YOUR AREA (90/10 FISHING RULE)
You can follow the timestamped table of contents:
- 3:26 – Where should you cast around a bridge?
- 8:20 – Take advantage of the pilings and find the eddy
- 9:40 – Know where to fish when you’re on a bridge
- 10:57 – Fighting the current with fish and what to do
- 15:43 – Find old and new bridges (sunken structure exists!)
- 16:43 – Do you ever cast out far from the bridge?
- 18:10 – High current areas and what you may find there
- 18:41 – When to target bridges in the tide cycle
- 21:51 – How different species use the structure of bridges
- 23:17 – What’s your go-to bait for bridge fishing?
- 24:30 – Artificial lures around bridges
- 25:51 – Crab for bait around bridges and the downside
- 26:58 – Big fish chunks like ladyfish or mullet also get the job done
- 28:03 – How to present an artificial lure around bridges
- 30:50 – Mistakes to avoid with your rig
- 31:43 – Simple rigs work the best (Simplicity, Specialist)
- 33:08 – This is the leader that you need to land fish around bridges
- 35:08 – An alternate rig that works REALLY well around pilings
- 36:01 – The best seasons to fish around bridges
- 40:15 – If you want to know what fish are really doing underwater, DIVE!
- 42:30 – Here’s what to bring if you plan to fish live/dead baits around bridges
- 44:48 – Maximize your structure and maximize your strikes
- 47:11 – What topics would you like us to cover and where would you like us to go?
- 48:04 – Last round of Moonwalker topwater lure beta testers
- 48:42 – Salt Strong rods and reels are being developed!
- 49:18 – The Redfish Spot Championship Belt & SLAM Prizes
- 51:25 – You will catch more fish in less time (and save money)…Join Us Here!!
Here are the links for the shrimp lure and scent that’s CRUSHING it everywhere:
Check out more bridge fishing secrets here!
Conclusion
Bridge fishing is awesome because you can do it year-round.
But you want to avoid some really BIG mistakes or you may get skunked!
Have you made some of these mistakes?
Let me know down in the comments!
And if you know an angler who loves to fish bridges, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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Great insight for bridge fishing. Can you recommend the rigs to use – I know it was discussed briefly. My rods will have 15 # braid with a 40 # leader – either a Carolina rig or fish finder rig. Nice video !!!!
You’re right on the money, Pablo! I guess you could drop down to 30lb. leader (or lighter) if your goal is to target Mangrove Snapper and Speckled Trout. But if you plan on going for maybe a Bigger Redfish or Blackdrum, I think 40lb. is right on target. The only time you’ll need to go larger than 40lb. Leader is if you know there is a TON of heavy, aggressive structure down there where you’re bait is being presented. As for a Rig, I would prefer the Carolina Rig if you’re casting baits out at all, and the Knocker Rig if you’re fishing straight up & down off the bridge/pier.
What do you guys think about or could recommend for fishing off a pier and dropping a crusty crab down by the pylons ? I know they are small and lightweight so I was thinking of adding a bullet sinker to the leader so to help keep it down towards the bottom. Also, if using the power prawn. After watching your video on bridge fishing you recommend using it but going to a heavy jig head. So you’re saying you would not use the weedless ones that comes with the power prawn and instead put it on a heavy type of jig head. Thanks guys….
I don’t think that the crusty crab will work nearly as well if it has a bullet weight on it because the weight will not enable it to have the great fall in which it stays upright while it slowly drops… most of the hits happen on the drop, so the weight will likely do more harm than good.
If you can get down to the bottom with one of the weedless jig heads, then that would be best for bouncing around bridge pilings. But once the water is roughly 10 ft deep, even the heaviest weighted hooks will be a bit too light for getting to the ideal strike zone on the bottom.
Great information guys, thanks. Only thing I didn’t see was a discussion of how you get hooked fish up to the bridge surface for those actually fishing from the bridge. I’d like to try some bridge fishing like you showed, but if I hook into some larger fish, how the heck am I going to actually net it? Some of those bridges are mighty high off the water.
I think I will try fishing a bridge!
At least 31 tabs open, Joe! A new record!
Hahahhaha. I got it down to 20 tabs once but it felt so empty…
Justin mentioned a 15-30 pound rod he uses at bridges. What kind of rod was it?
Hey Richard! I personally actually use a 20-50lb. rated rod, but it feels like most other companies 15-40lb. class (because it’s so lightweight). I use a Star Rod Sequence Series SKT2050S80 Model.
Fish hold structure…not, when there is a blanket of dead other fish and water with no oxygen, due to red tide bloom, and no end in sight unfortunately. Other than that, all you guys talk about is absolutely correct in normal conditions. Would you make a video on how to catch fish from Ana Maria Island through Sarasota bay all the way into Venice inlet during the red tide? I have been on the water probably 10 times in the last 3 weeks, Kayak and land, it is a sight like the apocalypse documentaries especially in the sunset, dark water, dead fish blanketing as far as all you can see, with small water chop showcasing their white silvery sides and bellies. Not to mention the smell, of whatever either red tide or dead carcasses.
Last year, it was teeming with bait, everywhere along the shores, beach and canals, now it’s probably 2-3 drunken minnows lost at sea if you are lucky. The Keys, that’s a whole different ecosystem only 6-7 hours away from here :):).
That’s a high voltage electric transmission line . . . 138,000 volts. It’s safe, more or less! There are quite a few of these throughout Florida crossing water bodies so fish should hold to that structure regardless of whether there is a nearby bridge, or not. Around FL nuclear power plants and transporting bulk power from Georgia, the high voltage lines are 500,000 volts or higher.
I was fishing a smaller bridge Tuesday afternoon I caught a flounder on a power prawn, and I saw lots of boils and action under the bridge in the middle as well as the pylons. I tried surface lure, Power prawns ,slam shady on a 3/8 ounce jig head for the bottom and a gold digger on a 1/8 oz twist lock and I couldn’t get a bite.