The Skyway- A Pier Fisherman's Dream

Last week I mentioned that I wanted to talk about the Sunshine Skyway Piers near St. Petersburg, Florida. For those of you not familiar, let me give you the back story about the piers.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was completed in 1954 spanning Tampa Bay and linking St. Petersburg with Palmetto. They list it about 6 miles long. In 1980, a freighter collided with one of the pier supports sending a ¼ mile section into the bay killing 35 people.
The old bridge was demolished in 1993 but the left two sections, one on the north end and one on the south end, for fishing. This is now known as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. A new and I may say, quite spectacular bridge was built and finished in 1987 and runs right next to where the remains of the old one stand.

So, what’s left for fishermen is the longest fishing pier in the world. I don’t know the exact lengths, but I was on the south pier and it was about 2 to 2.5 miles long. There is a full service bait shop about 1.5 miles out. The one on the north end is about 1.5 miles long. You pay your fee and drive out and fish anywhere you’d like. Your pass is good for 24 hours and is good on either pier.

The beauty of the pier is that nearly anything that lives in the Gulf can be caught from this bridge depending on the season. The day I fished there I saw no action at all and there were only a few other fisherman out there because the fishing had been poor. I was told that it was common to have 700 to 1000 guys on the pier 24 hours per day once the fishing picked up.
Grouper, Snapper, Snook, Tarpon, Flounder, King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Specks, you name it, it can be caught here. And SHARKS!!

Yes, they specifically fish for big sharks here at night in the summer. Their website and pictures on the bait shop wall show some impressive toothy critters. Their reels, the size of 3 pound coffee cans. Rods like pool cues. Eight pound Bonito rest frozen in the bait shop coolers waiting to be baited for sharks. I know we fish some big Suckers up here for musky, but looking at an 8 pound fish ready to be used whole for bait was a shocker. I could only think to myself, “were not in Wisconsin anymore, Toto”.

The bait shop operator (from Muskego, Yes, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an ex-cheesehead down there) told me a story from last year. For a two week period, fishermen were getting stringers stolen, fish clipped off during fights, and tackle stripped from the rails. After reporting the occurrences, the Florida Fish and Wildlife started to patrol the area. One day they actually saw it and shot the photo from a plane. They approximated it to be a 17 foot Bull Shark!!! There isn’t much you can do but wait for it to get bored and take up residence somewhere else, which it finally did.

He also told me about a great King Mackerel he hooked last year. It was a 35-40 pounder, best of the season, and he fought it for an hour till he finally got it next to the pier. The other anglers readied a pier net and just as they lowered it to the water to snatch up his prize Kingfish, a shark helped himself to everything but the head. Disappointing, but man what a story!
For a pier junkie like myself, this was heaven on earth. It has all the species and excitement of an off-shore trip without the cost and the sea-sickness. As I mentioned, I didn’t catch a thing out there that morning. It just wasn’t the time to fish the piers yet and the only action was shallow. But I saw Rays, Dolphins, dozens of birds who were very interested in my bucket of live shrimp, and a great sunrise.

What a great pier and I can’t wait to fish it again someday under better conditions. Florida is refreshing for a shore/pier guy like myself. They actually make fishing areas and encourage people to fish from bridges, piers, beaches. The shore spots are endless. It’s very unlike here where it seems like we have to fight to keep access for fishing along many of our shore locations.

The Report

The wind, rain, and run-off really messed things up temporarily. Some good news is that the tribs opened up and the fish in the harbor seemed to have spread out a little. A little of anything could work right now. Spoons, cranks, jigs. It’s that time when a big fish could be around! When this clears a little, we should be back in action!

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags……