Thread: Pier etiquette and sportsmanship?

I don't have any problem with the rules & regs., it's their house. What I would like to know is what is expected of me while fishing off the pier. I realize that I will have to bring rolls & coffee the first dozen or so times that I come to the pier, but once you guys let me on the pier, what is expected of me as far as being a good guy. If I bring a 12' rod on to the pier are you going to throw rocks at me? What do the nice guys do and what do the bu**holes do?

The fact that you are aware there's a difference goes a long way. Things you can do: pick up pieces of trash, cast straight out and watch your drift and wind loop---"Excuse me", "my bad", "No problem", and such like go a long way. Watch the guys who p!ss you off and don't be like them. Don't be shy about asking for help. If you bring a 12' rod on the pier we'll be glad to trim it down to size for you. Use mono instead of braid and don't be too obvious about "hot spotting" somebody when they catch a fish---everybody does it, but be cool about it. Net fish for other people and don't play the music from your favorite Gregorian Chants.

Oh yeah, you can laugh at my stupid jokes, even after you've heard them four or five times. Good fishing.

No need to trim those 12' rods now that you can trolley fish. A long cast with 6oz's of lead on one of those makes for a great trolley. One cast to set the trolley line and you don't have to cast again all day. I like it.

Thank you Mr. Wire! Why should I use mono instead of braid? Can I use braid as backing. I have bread on all of my reels and use fluorocarbon as leaders, 15# braid with 8# fluorocarbon. I will be fishing in Jan. & Feb., I don't believe the kings and the Spanish are around then, only whitting, Sheeps & the red and black drums, right? Anything else? How do you like your steak? Your jokes are always funny!!!

Braid is fine if you are fishing for whiting. The problem with braid is when you are out on the end and hook a jack or red or king and your braid cuts everyone's mono when your fish leaves a vapor trail across everyones line as you visit the pier you'll pick up on the do's and dont's. I use braid when I'm fishing straight down for flounder and mangroves because the barnacles on the pier are ruthless on mono! Good luck

Braid may well be a superior line, but remember that pier fishing is a community project and it is pure hell to get untangled from other folks (which will happen) and unless you have one of the hi-vis lines, it's real hard to see and that goes for yourself and for other folks, and that leads to casting over each other. I have braid backing on all my reels, but use a top shot of mono for my working line---common practice. For casting lures and for sheep fishing, braid is fine because you have control of it nearly all the time.

Braid is extremely limp when worn and wet, and any loose coils of it will wrap around any 'stiffer' mono line it brushes up against when drift fishing causing a humongously gnarly tangle for both anglers.
And it is notoriously expen$ive, so the owner of the braid is understandably hesitant to cut it to get out of the tangle.
This literally 'ties up' the other angler (or anglers) from their fishing while the braid owner patiently picks out the tangle.

Thus it gets a 'bad reputation' for drift fishing mainly because of "operator error".
It is a necessity to keep the line (especially braid) loosely taunt with any type of drift fishing (snobbling, free-line, or float fishing) so you know where your 'drift loop' is and to avoid the braid from contacting other lines and entangling them.

If you want to see pier etiquette in action with braid, watch the way Jim Egbert does it ;-)

I fish braid only on my 10' surf rig with a flourocarbon fish finder rig. Because of the number of people fishing side by side on a pier I would probably only fish that rod on a pier or bridge as a trolley line. My other rods, 2, 7 footers and an 8 footer have reels loaded with 8, 10, and 20 pound mono. If I was fishing a pier they would be the ones I would use. In my opinion, fishing a public pier is just like fishing on a head boat where you have lots of people shoulder to shoulder with varying skill levels which requires everyone to respect their neighbor and mind their manners. If they don't it can be a horrible experience and I have seen it result in shouting matches and fisticuffs.

Thanks guys, I think I understand to concept and the reason for it. It makes sense, but having never fished a crowded pier before or caught much off the ones that I have fished, I never thought of the problem braid would cause. I imagine that is why they use mono on the head boats if you use their rods. You guys are GREAT!!!!!

Big Dawg, if it comes to fisticuffs, I'll be on your side, I'm in 5 wrestling Hall Of Fames, and it's not because of my diplomacy.