# Bob Sikes 11/12



## Longbow14 (Aug 8, 2011)

So at about 2 my buddy and I decided to poke around that area. with the wind and tide I decided to fish on the lee side of the driving bridge (that little octagon pier). a few familys were there catching pinfish, grunts, and sheepshead. I even heard there were a few flounder earlier.
I decided to set my heavy rod up with a large pin on a big grouper/shark rig. i sabiki'd a small buckets worth of 2 inch pins in hope of using them for drums. at around 4 I noticed there was a school of high slot reds directly under the pier. this being the second time i'd ever seen a red and first school of 20 of them i got a little excited. I tried tossing shrimp and pins to them but they seemed turned off and retreated under the pier only to come out a few minutes later on the other side.
Two "gentlemen" came down and were using cut mullet and having decent luck catching croaker and a few specks with thier mantra of "fish 'n grits". I alerted both of them that i had my rod set out to my left. a few minutes later i hear one guy say who's line is this? i turn and he'd managed to sang my line, and tangle his buddies gear in my line too. so i free him and apologize for the inconveinence (even thought he tossed over my gear) and spent the next ten minutes working on untangling his friends gear from mine. after freeing him i here again "who's line is this" i turn around and 50 feet of my 80lb spiderline and my grouper rig had turned into a ball on this guys gear again! I cut my rig off and told him to enjoy.
now if I am in the wrong tell me but, if you cast over somones bait that is out and stationary and then before he has fixed the problem you created do it again; thats kinda in poor taste.

we left around 6 since we both had people that wanted us around for dinner and it was starting to get chilly for shorts and t shirts. I had no luck with fish that evening, my friend caught a few croaker using a strip from a pinfish. I heard while talking to another guy walking back that they were catching specks on gotcha lures from the pier.


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## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

Sorry to hear of your encounter longbow. It is EXACTLY because of stories like yours that I do not fish off of piers. I can not remember one time I have been fishing on a pier that there was not some type of trouble from some pier rat. Those guys are a different breed, and there will always be one OR MORE that could care less about ettiquette. The last time I fished a pier I damn near got in a fight, and as momma used to say "If you aint got nothing nice to say, don;t say nothing at all", so I choose just not to pier fish. I am currently land locked after selling my boat and as much as IT IS KILLING ME to not fish, I would rather do without than fish from a pier. 
DISCLAIMER: Not saying anyone that fishes from a pier is a [email protected], just saying there are a BUNCH out there.


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## eym_sirius (Oct 17, 2007)

There's essentially one way to have your own fishing spot - That's to go to a secluded place in your own fishing boat. Besides that, tangled lines are a part of the pier experience. People have varying levels of skill - some are downright oblivious. Those aren't treatable conditions, most of the time, so there's no use in getting bent out of shape about those situations that you might as well expect to encounter when you go to an equal public use fishing area.


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## Longbow14 (Aug 8, 2011)

you're right. i'm a firm believer in the 90% good. just had to vent.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

Longbow I know what you mean man, it can be pretty difficult at the piers. There is a lot of people that just don't have good pier educate. I try and be helpful and answer questions people have and for the most part I have a good time and people are for the most part pretty good (even more so when I give them live bait or share some mullet I got for letting me throw where they were fishing) It's a give and take on the piers.


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## konz (Oct 1, 2007)

Don't let it get ya down man...it happens, you did right by keeping your cool. Maybe I'll see you out there some time.


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## teamlandlock4 (Jan 12, 2011)

*pier rats*

i agree on all the posts on this subject, my last time pier fishing was a bad time also. I dont know why people think they own the piers or just the area on the pier. fishing so close to others is hard but can be done with a lot of anger management!!!!!!! :thumbup:


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## Dylan (Apr 15, 2008)

Are you sure these redfish are not huge mullet staging? Redfish are pretty spooky..Especially around docks with the stomping and moving around


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## barefoot (Nov 3, 2011)

My wife refuses to go pier fishing w/ me due to the same sort of behavior. Her one and only trip to P'cola pier resulted in some guy cutting her line, yep!...too many reasons to cause a problem w/ him...so we just left..ruined her pier fishing forever.


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## Longbow14 (Aug 8, 2011)

i've seen river mullet from above and these fish were much bulkier in the head and you could see thier lips very much like this picture


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## navkingfisher (May 14, 2009)

Are the mullet still staging or have they all gone out? Been too busy bow hunting to get to piclins pier to see. By the way the cure to pier problems is kayak!


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## osborne311 (Aug 1, 2011)

pricks cast over your line on purpose figuring eventually you will get frustrated and leave so they get the pier to themselves. They wear a 5 dollar watch, smoke 2 dollar cigs and have friends that hold cardboard signs at the stop lights. You either just put up with it or do not go or make an example of them. Of course the latter two keep you from fishing much. I just refuse to fish there. Try surf fishing if you have no boat.


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