Pier Fishing?

[bazzie89]

When we were kids we always used to go fishing on the local pier, had the advantage of getting you out past the banks of up-rooted seaweed that used to roll in to shore. Used to catch a few decent flatfish off there, pollack, very occasioally codling, pout whiting and crabs, also the dreaded Bullheads, ached for hours if one of those stung you.
The other advantage was that if the weather got up bad you could go indoors and play on the penny arcade!
Guess you have piers in America or are they just an English peculiarity?

 

[dinarac]

We have some breakwater structures here in Montenegro, I love squid fishing from there at night. Also, there's a lot of conger eels and moray eels living in breakwater walls, and some bullheads, but these species here don't have stings.

 

[r. zimm]

Our local pier was my favorite place to fish when a teen but it has been rebuilt twice since then due to hurricane damage. Sometimes it take them years to get the money to rebuild it. This last rebuild, they increased the height on the last third so the large waves will not smash into the deck.

 

[CongerKing]

Piers are a dying breed here in the Uk so its not really a fishing option. If you do get to find a pier that allows fishing, odds are that it will be full of kids and tourists dropping those handlines in to the water looking for crab. Maybe worth a go in autumn when the hordes have left.

 

[happyflowerlady]

We do have some piers here still, but they tend to be where the city has grown up around them, at least the ones that I have been around, that is the case. Seattle used to. Have some piers where you could fish, but I have not been there for many years, so I don't know if they are still used or not.
One similar thing would be the lakes that have the long boat docks , which is similar, except they are floating on the water and not up on the piers. You can nicely sit there and dangle your feet in the water while you fish, and they go out far enough that it is usually deep enough to cast put and catch fish from the dock. The only problem, is when a boat is coming in to tie up, you need to move out of the way while they are pulling the boat ashore.
I have not fished a lot from a dock, because we usually went where there was no way to put a boat in close by, but they are a good way to fish, and I usually caught something when we did fish that way.

 

[Esperahol]

Oh, sure. We've many a pier in America. For some there are arcades, but they're likely up North. For others it's all rather spooky and industrial - again a Northern specialty. For still other's they're part of the landscape and fairly quiet - you'll find them in the country usually... at least I have. I like the piers in Maine best, but Maine is a rather nice place with some good catches to be had.

 

[keepitreel]

There is a lot of pier fishing here. We're talking the big, beach piers. It seems to be quite popular actually, though it's not something we do. My husband says you don't catch good fish from the pier.

We've walked the piers numerous times and have stopped to watch people reel fish in. Usually it's something like a guitarfish or a stingray. I guess some people eat them, because they keep them, but my husband won't.

 

[Writer]

There are piers here in California. I prefer to fish from piers instead of from the beach, because you can get to deeper water. Also, you can use crab traps from a pier, and there are usually a lot of crabs around the pier. We used to make our own crab traps. We took the spokes out of a 10-speed bike wheel and put some net material inside it loosely. Then we tied rope on the wheel so we could lower it to the ocean floor from the pier. We tied fish heads to the center of the netting and let it sit on the ocean floor for about an hour or two. When we raised it the crabs would be caught in the netting.

 

[Dubstep84]

I absolutely hated pier fishing as a child because of the cars constantly driving on the road behind where we were fishing. I guess the cars would either scare the fish away, or we would be in a bad spot because we rarely caught anything. The best fishing seemed to be later on during the evening, however.

 

[thomas pendrake]

When I was young, we lived in the Hampton, Va area. Dad worked at Ft. Monroe and we spent a lot of time at the pier where the ferry docked, fishing. It was good fishing and many of the people who fished there were friendly. We caught lots of flounder and blowfish. Dad knew how to dress the blowfish, and the East coast blowfish tends to be free of high levels of the toxin. Do not eat blowfish if you have not been properly trained and be certain that you know what kind you are eating. Especially avoid the liver.

 

[Profit5500]

When we were kids we always used to go fishing on the local pier, had the advantage of getting you out past the banks of up-rooted seaweed that used to roll in to shore. Used to catch a few decent flatfish off there, pollack, very occasioally codling, pout whiting and crabs, also the dreaded Bullheads, ached for hours if one of those stung you.
The other advantage was that if the weather got up bad you could go indoors and play on the penny arcade!
Guess you have piers in America or are they just an English peculiarity?

I never had a pier to go fishing with so it must be fun being out there getting the fish before everyone else. How much crab did you catch? I never seen a Bullhead in my life.

 

[cyberpuppet]

Its not exactly a pier but my favourite sea fishing spot so far is the canon cob at Lyme Regis. Unfortunately I live quite a way from the sea (a 2 hour drive) and do not get to go nearly as often as I would like. I am a definite fan of having something pier like because I struggle with long casting (health problems) and I know that fish like structures.

 

[CLCharms]

There plenty of fishing piers in America especially on the coasts. I grew up in Newport News, Virginia which is located near the James River where there are several piers in different areas of the city.

 

[Strykstar]

Pier fishing is what I prefer, although I'd prefer a boat of course if I had one, but since I usually tag along on friend's boats, when I'm alone my only choice is really the pier.
We have two piers here, but only one has heavy foot traffic, the one I fish at is bigger and the only people that come by are usually joggers and other fishers, so it's very quiet and relaxing.

 

[Diane Lane]

I've got a few fishing piers near me. I don't have a boat, so it's a good way to get out onto the water, and away from rocks and other obstructions. The closest is free, which I prefer, so I've never tried the other, although it seems very popular. I've fished in a variety of situations, but I think the biggest thrill was surf fishing at San Luis Pass (Galveston County, Texas), which has rip currents, especially since Hurricane Ike restructured the land.