Fishing from a pier in Florida

[MGYog]

Where I will be temporarily living (Florida) after I retire will be close enough to a fishing pier which I have scouted out. I plan to make acquaintance with the "pier rats" to get a few tips on how to fish from a pier. I have also ordered a book titled "Pier Fishing" and am now perusing it. Are there any people out there who have experience in fishing from those piers?

I'd like to get some tips, or benefit from your experiences, like reliable equipment, methods (especially), and just general info, including any trivia. I searched for any past threads here, but no particular thread had one on pier fishing.

P.S. I would rather talk about my hobbies planning for retirement now because I am fed up with all that political talk.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

The Sunshine Bridge has one huge pier fishing parks on each side. I understand that a whole subculture has emerged down there. I have jogged it but never fished there.

It's south of St. Petersburg, very impressive bridge.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i love that bridge and detour over it whenever i'm in the area. what a gorgeous drive with the top down. it's one of the few places i drive slow (pissing off everyone behind me). haven't checked out the fishing pier but have always noticed it's busy. wasn't that considerate of the barge operator to destroy the original bridge creating the pier and the new sunshine bridge.

as to fishing. don't know much about it. please be careful of the pelicans and clean up your fishing line though. thanx.

 

[Dude]

I agree with Rich, I've heard the fishin' at Sunshine Skyway pier is good, you may also want to try Fort DeSoto Park pier. I think a good medium action spinning rod, a bait bucket with a long string, some shrimp and some tasty adult beverages is about all you should need, keep it simple and have fun!

If you're going to be in West Central Florida, I'd call in to the Captain Mel show on Saturday morning for some advice, there's also an e-mail link on his page:

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Tuesday 01-16-2007 11:44am ET
Captain Mel Berman has hosted Florida's most popular outdoors radio talk show for more than 20 years. It has become a potent Saturday morning listening habit with thousands of residents via 970-WFLA’s 25-thousand watt signal blanketing all of West Central Florida. Covering successful fishing techniques, tackle and baits, the program also brings listeners up to speed on what's new and what's hot in the fishing world.

It is indeed a fishing show, but with a much broader mandate. The Captain Mel Show also takes a stand on vital fisheries and conservation issues. In fact, it's a talk show, just like the rest of 970 WFLA's programming, pushing the envelope and breaking new ground where fisheries and the environment issues are concerned. You'll hear the latest developments in fishery regulations, controversial issues, and the status of various species. Interestingly, a large proportion of Captain Mel's listeners are comprised of not only avid anglers, but also folks who don't fish, but find the show compelling and highly informative.

An expert angler and former charter skipper, Captain Mel is also a seasoned broadcaster with more than 30 years in radio and television.

 

[haha]

Where I will be temporarily living (Florida) after I retire will be close enough to a fishing pier which I have scouted out. I plan to make acquaintance with the "pier rats" to get a few tips on how to fish from a pier. I have also ordered a book titled "Pier Fishing" and am now perusing it. Are there any people out there who have experience in fishing from those piers?

I'd like to get some tips, or benefit from your experiences, like reliable equipment, methods (especially), and just general info, including any trivia. I searched for any past threads here, but no particular thread had one on pier fishing.

P.S. I would rather talk about my hobbies planning for retirement now because I am fed up with all that political talk.

I love pier fishing. Most of mine was in LA from the Venice Pier, and some right there in Elliott Bay.

Tell us where you are going. If I ever get into a driving mood I would enjoy going all around the Florida coast fishing from various piers. That is really LBYM activity. Not much catch and release! Just lots of good fish to take home to mama.

Where I fished was really popular with Asians and Japanese.

Ha

Ha

 

[jambo101]

What part of Florida are you going to be fishing?
I agree with the Skyway being a good place however they do charge a fee on the south side,i remember fishing on the smaller bridge just before the main span the day it fell.Heading out to Fort Desoto also has some bridges,piers and seawalls.

 

[AzDreamer]

The thing to know is what kinds of fish are migrating by your pier on the days you are there. You'll want to adjust your tackle and technique to match your quarry.

Something that always works well for me is live bait. Find what is available and how it's caught. Bait like live shrimp is unbeatable.

 

[MGYog]

Thank you, everyone, for replying to my original post.

Ha, I will be in the Flagler Beach area, which is the Northeast coast of Fla. I have never thought of driving around to do all the piers. What a good idea!!! Sort of like what we do when we visit California, take in one or two new Fr. Junipero Sierra's original missions. We have only 2 or 3 more to go of the 21 original sites.

Rich and LG4NB, I will also look at the Tampa Bay-Sarasota area later on for permanent digs, but we will take our time to do so.

If anyone is interested, there is a forum which I am now registered in, and you can't believe the amount of pier and surf fishing info on it. The forum also looks visually like this forum. Here is the URL:
Pier fishing, surf fishing and everything in between - Pierandsurf.com

Marc

 

[FinanceDude]

When I lived in Port Charlotte, there was a nice pier in Punta Gorda where we used to fish for speckled sea trout (I hope that's right). We used live shrimp, and ultralight rods. It was a hoot. Of course, occasionally, we would get a big fish on, and it was game over.........

 

[jambo101]

Flagler has a great fishing pier and i can also recommend the restaurant at the beginning of the pier, fishing can also be good right from the beach if the water isnt too rough, If you drive about 5 miles south of town on A1A and turn right on High Bridge road good fishing can be done either on or around the bridge or just park along side the many streams rivers and small lakes that comprise the intracoastal water way once past the bridge.

 

[MGYog]

Flagler has a great fishing pier and i can also recommend the restaurant at the beginning of the pier, fishing can also be good right from the beach if the water isnt too rough, If you drive about 5 miles south of town on A1A and turn right on High Bridge road good fishing can be done either on or around the bridge or just park along side the many streams rivers and small lakes that comprise the intracoastal water way once past the bridge.

Jambo, thanks for that bit of information. I have fished once at the Flagler Beach pier, and agree it's a nice place to throw a line in. I will explore the High Bridge Road area since I did not know about that. Can you launch a kayak in that area, if you had one, to fish, too?

Marc

P.S. I know Jambo means Hello in Swahili. Is that the etymology of your user name?

 

[jambo101]

If you drive past the bridge i'm sure there are plenty of roadside areas that you could launch a Kayak,i lived in Flagler beach for a year back in the 70's i was working on a constuction site not too far away
(Bunnell high school) its been a while since i've been fishing there but have driven past often with the bike on a Bikeweek run, my parents and siblings still reside on Florida's west coast(Springhill). The name Jambo is not as glamorous as you think,Working in a factory with three Jims,guy with most senority gets to be called Jim,Number2 gets the Jimbo designation,i'm number 3 and Jambo seems to have stuck.the 101 has no significance other than the forum registration said the user name Jambo was already taken so i added the 101 Thanks for the Swahili tip.