Thread: Crowded pier

I was down the first week of June and the pier was packed! Is the pier less packed late summer? I caught some nice reds the week I was there and met some nice folks. Also, I was reading another post and it said something about bottom fishing past the yellow line. I caught my reds bottom fishing live bait. What's the rules on bottom fishing?A

fall is a great time to be on the pier....I think the dog days of summer are getting closer August can be a tough month, till it cools a little.
I am just about ready to move :fishing: :headbang:

Essentially bottom fishing isn't allowed on the three southernmost sides of the octagon. There are yellow lines on the pier deck that better describe the area. One other rule concerning bottom fishing or all other fishing for that matter. You can only actively fish with one line at a time, the same rule includes a nonmetallic crab net. The net counts as a line. I don't recall ever seeing anyone crabbing from the pier though. I just wanted to bring it up in case you're inclined to do so.

I was there the first week of June too, and JCL is right, the pier was packed. When there are that many people trying to fish, it is very important to fish straight out in front of you so everyone else can fish too. There must have been 15 of us throwing bubble rigs side by side for spanish and very seldom was there any tangled lines. Not to say there wasn't from time to time an idiot that wasn't paying attention walk up and just blindly cast up or down the pier across several of our lines though. It has been constantly posted on this forum to observe for a while and learn what other fishermen are doing before just jumping in and causing a big mess. Nothing wrong with bottom fishing, JCL, just not at the very end of the pier between the yellow lines and just one line at a time. In May of 2011, Mama and Papa Clump was sitting on the last bench on the east side next to the octi fishing with 3 rods each. They were using 4 oz pyramid weights with liver for bait and had the lines all fanned out in every direction. They never got up, just sat there, would reel one in every once in a while and cast it back out, NEVER GETTING UP!! That is not the way to fish at the pier!! If you look up "googan" in the dictionary, it shows their picture!

Yep I remember the day we had the pier picnic, not a parking place in the lot. Its not as bad right now but its still pretty crowded.

Thanks for the answering my question. I fished right before you get to the octagon with a couple of locals I met. A frend of mine is down there fishing as I type this. He sent me a pic of a nice red he caught around 10 pm. Makes me wish I was there now!