Parking
There’s parking all along the beach on this road but it can be pretty full. I’ve never had to wait very long for a spot though, just go slow back and forth and wait til someone is leaving. 4 out of 5 times I find a spot when I first get there though.
Pier fishing can be incredibly fun and active, especially in the summers when big snook are cruising the beaches eating and spawning. I have a lot of videos from these piers showing just how I fish them and once catching a 47″ cobia!
Day Time Fishing
One thing I love about this is I can fish it in the middle of the day and actually do better than at night.
The key, for me, is to get some live pin fish… big ones. I use a small hook or sabiki and put on little pieces of shrimp. I go to some grass flats like Whitaker park or north siesta bridge and catch 6 to 10 pins. Any pin over 4″ is gonna swim to the bottom of these piers.
I put them on a 4/0 to 6/0 circle hook, or a big j hook, I’ve had success with both. Drop the pins with a bit of a splash and they will instinctively swim straight down. Gotta pay attention to the line, they will try and get stuck under some of the pier structure, but you just keep working them til they stay where you want, straight down.
Keep the bale open, when you feel the thump of a snook, close bale and rip the rod up setting the hook real good.