Apr 3, 2005
By
KAREN HAYMON LONG
klong@tampatrib.com
Jim Krupa has fished all his life, but he still marvels at his good luck.
``Look at this scenery,'' he says from the Sunshine Skyway south fishing pier. ``Look at that blue sky. Look at that gorgeous bridge. Look at the water. Even if I don't catch any fish, being out here is always great.''
He speaks for legions of Bay area anglers who try their luck on piers, off jetties and along causeways. You want to meet happy people? Head to the water.
Krupa just launched a business on Anna Maria Island teaching people how to fish, chumming up clients with an ad declaring: ``I don't need no stinkin' boat.'' He shares fishing tips and his favorite on- land fishing spots: rugged old fishing pier and the Sunshine Skyway south fishing pier, touted as ``The World's Longest & Luckiest Fishing Pier.''
On the Skyway pier, you'll get the chance to catch silvery, torpedo-shaped Spanish mackerel or silver sea trout with greenish spots along their spine. There are redfish that feed on mollusks and crustaceans and prized snook that school along shore and in passes during spawning season. There are thick-scaled tarpon that can breathe air at the surface, oval-shaped pompano that love to snack on sand fleas, and fickle, striped sheepshead known for their deft nibbling on your bait. And, of course, there are sharks.
``This area has the biggest variety of sharks in the world,'' Krupa says. ``Tiger, blue- tipped, black-tipped, hammerheads. You name it.''
Tennessee native Mike Arnold, who winters in Wachula, tells Krupa he doesn't care what he catches off the Skyway pier.
"That's the beauty of the Gulf,'' he says. ``You never know what you're going to catch.''
Arnold, a retired Army trainer, makes fast friends with Krupa, even though they just met. That kind of comfortable camaraderie seems typical on this pier, and on others. While fishing, they talk about the prospect of hurricanes hitting Florida again this year, about mega-tsunamis and the war in Iraq. Then the conversation turns to the best time to fish here (high tide), the best bait for sheepshead (bloodworms) and how to cook mackerel (coat it with mayo and rub it with seasoning spices).
Which Skyway pier is best for fishing - the south or north? Depends on whom you ask. Krupa and Arnold like the south end in Manatee, maybe because they both live on that side of the bay.
Both piers have spotless restrooms and sell bait, snacks, drinks, ice, hooks, line and all kinds of other fishing tackle. And both have bulletin boards covered with photos of anglers with the whoppers they caught. (To see some and to read fishing stories, see www.skywaypiers.com. )
William ``Scooter'' Robinson prefers the north end in Pinellas County. He rolls his wheelchair up and down the pier edge, fishing for silver trout and everything else the Gulf holds.
``I've been fishing around here since I was 4, basically my entire life,'' says Robinson, who's 43. ``My grandfather was a commercial fisherman, and he used to bring me.''
Robinson says grouper and mango snappers are better on the south pier, but tarpon and snook are better on the north.
He goes to the north end a couple of times a week ``for the thrill of catching something big. That's what I love about saltwater fishing. You throw your bait out and you never know what you're going to get. One morning, I was the only one out here. It was cold and raining, and I caught a 35- pound kingfish. I ended up catching seven in an hour.''
Every Day's A Gift
Nancy Dennis from Pinellas Park likes the Skyway south pier.
``I beat the guys when I go out there,'' she says. But today, she's fishing at another favorite: the Johns Pass jetty on the Madeira Beach side of the bridge.
She delivers The Tampa Tribune before dawn every morning, then likes to go fishing afterward.
``When you deliver papers, you feel like a bat. It's good to get out in the sunshine. That's why we live here, isn't it?''
Moving currents make this a great place to catch trout, redfish, sheepshead, flounder, snook, Spanish mackerel and even grouper, because the channel is so deep.
``It really depends on what's coming through,'' she says one cool, sunny day on the jetty. ``Fish have a tendency to go from deep water into the shallow, and you have a little bit of both here.''
Dennis, who was treated for cancer last year, says she's one of those people who says, ``It's a gorgeous day, and if I get a bite, I'm OK. If I don't, I'm OK too. This is therapy for me. Every day is a good day.''
Pizza, Beer And Friendship
Going to Redington Long Pier on a Friday evening is like going to a party where you know everyone. If you don't know them when you arrive, you'll be friends pretty soon after. Especially if you order pizza from Beach Pizza, which delivers to the pier.
Fishing seems like an excuse for a party at this pier, which juts 1,021 feet into the Gulf of Mexico from a spot near Gulf Boulevard in RedingtonShores.
Lots of anglers know one another here, but they seem open to newcomers, too, offering to share their beer and fishing tips.
George Dinsmore, a snowbird from Ontario, is the life of the party and a walking encyclopedia of fishing on this pier.
But he comes here for the friendship as much as for fishing, he admits, ``like women who go to a woman's club.''
For just $7, anglers can try their luck at catching snappers, speckled trout, whiting, red grouper, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, sharks and all sorts of other fish. They can spend the night on Friday and Saturday, when the pier stays open from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m.
When the water warms to 70 degrees, the kingfish and tarpon move in, Dinsmore says.
``It's shark heaven all the time,'' he says, adding that he has seen photos of a 450- pound shark caught off the pier.
The best time to fish is when the tide is coming in or going out, he says. ``You want the water moving.'' He recommends heavy tackle, because light tackle will snag on the coral bottom just off the pier and the heavier weight makes it easier to cast the 40 to 50 feet out to where grass grows on the Gulf bottom. Most people use artificial bait or live or frozen shrimp and squid.
After posing for pictures with a friend who caught a redfish, Dinsmore borrows a cell phone to call Beach Pizza. He begins by ordering two large pizzas for himself and his buddies. Then he looks at the crowd around him and orders 20, then 30 chicken wings, too.
Fishing And Sunset Celebration
Pier 60 in Clearwater leads a double life. By day, during the tourist season, you'll see mostly retirees from Michigan and Ohio, Canada and other Northern climes fishing for fun or British or German tourists renting a rod for a few hours.
But come back later for the pier's nightly Sunset Celebrations, and you'll see more seasoned local fishermen, along with boatloads of older Northern couples taking pictures of each other with the sun going down behind them. You'll see groups of local young people, too, lining up to buy beaded bracelets, get temporary tattoos or break dance for dollars from the crowds.
While anglers fish for pompano, trout, Spanish mackerel, cobia, whiting, snook and redfish, children are flying up and down on bungee cords, climbing a rock wall set up in the sand or listening to a rock band.
Shark fishing is outlawed in Clearwater, but there are plenty of other options, says George Banores, the pier's friendly operator, who has worked there six years.
Asked when is the best time to fish on the pier, he gives his pat answer: ``Anytime you aren't eating, sleeping or working, or generally when the tide moves.''
The concession he runs sells Florida souvenirs, snacks, cold drinks, bait, fishing tackle and guidebooks about fish, birds and shells. A Bucs T-shirt in a glass case is signed: ``The Best Fishin' And Best People! Jon Gruden - Bucs.''
It costs $6.30 to fish, or just 50 cents to walk out and take a look.
Daniel Rogerson, a 10-year- old boy on holiday from Kent, England, fishes, while his dad, Paul Rogerson, sits reading a biography of Samuel Pepys, the 17th century British diarist. The two sit back to back looking perfectly content doing what they both love to do.
``I haven't got much patience, but Daniel loves to fish,'' Paul Rogerson says. So the two decided on a visit to the pier on the last day of their vacation before flying back to less sunny London.
Daniel isn't picky about what he catches. He would be happy, he says, ``with anything a bit large.''
Down the pier, Cleveland truck driver Bill Kovalchuk fishes for whiting, and unwittingly for catfish.
He fishes back home, and, when he can, on stops along his truck route.
``Everybody's pretty friendly'' on piers, he says.
Asked why he likes fishing so much, he grins.
``Probably the same reason you like a good steak. It's just fun. It's relaxing. And when I fish, I don't think about work.''
Plus, he says, ``it beats watching Oprah.''
Reporter Karen Haymon Long can be reached at (813) 259-7618.
Location: Western end of Curlew Road Fish: speckled trout, silver trout, sheepshead, flounder. In Honeymoon Island State Park, also redfish, trout, snook and pompano Bait: live shrimp, pinfish, squid; sand fleas for pompano and sheepshead
Best time: one hour before high tide and one hour after it starts to go out Parking: free and nearby Food-drinks: concession stand on beach; for breakfast and lunch, Brenda's on the Causeway, 314 Causeway Blvd., Dunedin
Location: in the Tierra Verde park; one on Tampa Bay (500 feet long) and the other on the Gulf (1,000 feet long). Anglers also surf-fish in the Gulf and wade into the grass flats. Fish: from piers, pompano, Spanish mackerel, snook, flounder, speckled and silver trout, whiting, redfish and more; on flats, redfish, snook, ladyfish, flounder, speckled trout and more
Bait: gold spoons in flats for redfish; silver spoons for mackerels; cut bait, live shrimp, pinfish, squid, greenbacks, redfin herrings and others
Best time: It depends on tides; fishing is best when the water is moving. You can likely catch something anytime. Parking: free lots at the base of each pier Food-drinks: Each pier has a concession stand that also sells bait. Park office: (727) 582-2267
Pass-A-Grille Jetty
Location: off the south end of the island on the Gulf side; in Pass-a-Grille Channel from the seawall by palm trees on south end off Pass-a-Grille Way and on the dock south of the Merry Pier; also off Pass-a- Grille Way.
Fish: speckled trout, some grouper and red snapper, snook, flounder, whiting, redfish, sheepshead, black tip and bonnet-head sharks, sea bass
Bait: live or frozen shrimp and squid; pinfish and greenbacks; artificial lures; shiners
Best time: Anytime, but during winter, fishing is best when the sun is high. Parking: meters nearby; $5 all day Food-drinks: sandwiches, cold and hot drinks at Merry Pier; lunch and dinner at several restaurants on the island
Redington Long Pier
Location: just north of Madeira Beach off Gulf Blvd.
Fish: trout, some grouper, snook, snapper, flounder, redfish, sheepshead, mackerel.
Bait: shrimp (live or frozen), squid, live pinfish and greenbacks, lures and spoons
Best Time: Tide changes.
Walter and Bert Williams Fishing Pier
Location: on Boca Ciega Bay off Shore Boulevard and 54th Street S., in Gulfport Fish: redfish, trout, sharks, snook and more
Bait: live shrimp, squid, pinfish
Best time: high tide Parking: free and nearby Food-drinks: nearby restaurants