# skyway piers in tampa



## smittyg (Nov 26, 2008)

got a trip planned in march.has anyone been there and what kind of luck did you have?


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## dapper dan (Nov 27, 2008)

Yeah , i spent some time down there. I just didn't have enough line to get it to the water. You can see the south pier in the first pic. And in the second i'm one of the specs on top of the pillar. And the Skyway is down in st. pete, a good 30 miles from actual tampa. On the SKyway piers you may luck out and catch a grouper. In the bay you can catch anything from Tarpon, snook, jacks, sheepshead amd monster hammerheads.


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## speechless33759 (Nov 27, 2008)

aahhh my old stomping grounds. Don't get your hopes up too high, the pier has pretty decent pressure and you'll get the occasional big fish here and there but not too often. Make sure you can either use a cast net (6 ft minimum) or have a pole rigged with sabiki hooks to catch bait because bait is all over the place there. That time of year, you should be doing pretty well on the spanish macks by putting down a greenback on a 1 oz egg sinker. Other than that, try going to ft Desoto which is close by that area too...great flats fishing if you have the time. 

For the skyway pier fishing check out the link below
http://skywaypiers.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=general


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## speechless33759 (Nov 27, 2008)

oh yeah, I prefer the last  1/3 of the south pier...if the macks aren't hitting, fish your greenback close to the pilings and you'll be sure to get some snapper around them. Hit the pier right at sunup...and right before sundown...Sunup being the most productive. At night, all you'll catch is a bunch of fiesty ladyfish (poormans' tarpon) if you're willing to risk it, use one of those as bait to see if you can entice a big snook or goliath to eat...that is always fun.


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## centerc (Nov 30, 2008)

dapper dan said:


> Yeah , i spent some time down there. I just didn't have enough line to get it to the water. You can see the south pier in the first pic. And in the second i'm one of the specs on top of the pillar. And the Skyway is down in st. pete, a good 30 miles from actual tampa. On the SKyway piers you may luck out and catch a grouper. In the bay you can catch anything from Tarpon, snook, jacks, sheepshead amd monster hammerheads.



why and how did you get up on top of the shyway?


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## smittyg (Nov 30, 2008)

I wanted to ask how but I didn't want to be the one.


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## dapper dan (Dec 1, 2008)

I am active duty in the Coast Guard, and it's a tradition that when you re-enlist you get to pick where you want to sign the papers. I told my Captain that I wanted to do it atop the Skyway never thinking it possible. Well needless to say he knew the right person. We met at the Blackthorn memorial, the gentlemen was a DOT worker I believe. He drove us up on the bridge, parked on the shoulder, ran to the center and took a super tiny elevator up to the top. Once we got out of the elevator we had to climb up a ladder and push open a grate to get on top. It's about a 9x9 square where you can stand up there. It was 481ft above the water if i remember correctly. It wasn't windy at all that day. They say if it's windy that you can feel it sway. We had a CG helo come out and take some pics. I think it will go down as one of the coolest places to sign the papers at.


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## Buckeye1 (Dec 1, 2008)

dapper dan said:


> I am active duty in the Coast Guard, and it's a tradition that when you re-enlist you get to pick where you want to sign the papers. I told my Captain that I wanted to do it atop the Skyway never thinking it possible. Well needless to say he knew the right person. We met at the Blackthorn memorial, the gentlemen was a DOT worker I believe. He drove us up on the bridge, parked on the shoulder, ran to the center and took a super tiny elevator up to the top. Once we got out of the elevator we had to climb up a ladder and push open a grate to get on top. It's about a 9x9 square where you can stand up there. It was 481ft above the water if i remember correctly. It wasn't windy at all that day. They say if it's windy that you can feel it sway. We had a CG helo come out and take some pics. I think it will go down as one of the coolest places to sign the papers at.




thats awesome


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## centerc (Dec 1, 2008)

Cool. I was an AE3 at clearwater on the C130 side I got out in 1997 I reenlisted in the office didnt think of anything that cool.


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## Russ Toole (Dec 1, 2008)

Congrats and your crazy.  I remember when the black thorne hit the bridge and the bus that went over.  I was in elementary school in clearwater.  Were you wearing a harness, even then i wouldnt have had the nerves to get up that high.


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## dapper dan (Dec 1, 2008)

No harness needed. The rails were chest high. Those pics were from may 2005. Trust me going up to the top was a blast. The bay never looked so cool. I was stationed on a 110ft patrol boat then also did a 210 for 2 years as a boot. 7 years 10 months till I can retire. For the next re enlistment. Maybe I'll do it in a shark tank.


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## RosadoM6 (Dec 3, 2008)

Hey smittyg, I always wanted to go to the skyway piers you think I can tag along on ur trip in March.


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## smittyg (Dec 3, 2008)

rosadoM6,maybe Imight need some help with the drive.I see you live in Athens,I'm about 20 miles outside of town.I'll send you a PM and we might can talk about it.


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## nickel back (Dec 21, 2008)

I enjoy fishing the sky way piers.......Ive caught Grouper...snapper
,macks,etc.....it can be a good time

the Grouper,none was bigger enough to keep,but I did make a meal
out of the Mango snapper and Spanish macks

also hung fish that I never stopped...... my 12 year old son had a blast

I would also get my 7 day fishing licenses and fish some other water

by the way  the pic in my avatar was take from the sky way piers


good luck


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## nickel back (Dec 21, 2008)

here is another link

http://www.skywaypiers.com/


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## Tim2hunt (Dec 22, 2008)

Yes, just moved here from there.  Was there 3 weeks ago.  I have been fishing TB for many years.  The last dolphin on  the Gulf Side, heading towards Saint Pete.  That's the honey hole.  Plenty of Gags, Spanish, Snapper.  Just do not tie up to the bridge or a Dolphin, MP will bust you.    Also makesure the tide is coming in, you can drop achor and drift the back of the boat right up to the dolphia.  We have never had a bad day there, I've even caught a 58 inch King , and jumped many Tarpon there!  Good luck, watch the weather things can get bad quick.  I've seen 10-12's inside the bay, and it was glass going out!!!


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## basser (Dec 23, 2008)

The Skyway pier is changing.  Now the east side of both piers is closed due to deterioration of the pilings.  This makes it difficult to grouper fish on an incoming tide.  Generally we would go to the south pier and drift pin fish over the rock toward the new bridge, but you can't do that anymore.  Grouper can still be caught on the out going tide by drift pin fish toward the gulf side rocks on both piers.  Mackerel fishing can be very good during the warmer months, and bonito can be caught in the winter by chumming with greenies, but it is hit or miss.  Also there is a good population of jewfish that live under the pier, but they are difficult to catch, as they usually run under the pier and rap you up on the pilings.


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