Another year is spent and another looms ahead.

What changes will 2013 bring to the GSPPier?

The Beach Fill Project marches westward and is now just west of the pier. People ask will it help or hurt. The answer is probably some of both. In the short term water clarity may suffer both during the dredging and in susequent storms when the waves stir up and filter out the sediments trapped in the inferior sand put on the shore. Also the lack of beach ‘pools’ and the smothering of their resident invertebrate species could begin a period of hardship for those fish species dependant upon them.

Let’s hope (and pray) these changes work out for the best in the long term and fishing good fishing continues to grace our pier and beaches!

 So far this fall/winter the bull reds have not been as active around the pier as in years past and flounder have been virtually absent. Whiting numbers have probably been about average as are sheepshead, black drum and bluefish. Pompano have been the bright spot for many anglers with the saavy and persistence to pursue them with bait. FRESH shrimp and ghost shrimp are the baits of choice fished on bottom just outside the swash zone, especially on an incoming tide (afternoons).