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Pier pressure leads to new fee

Anglers will have to pay more to fish at the popular end point. One balks.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTARADA, Times Correspondent
Published November 28, 2007

REDINGTON SHORES - So many fishing enthusiasts are crowding the reopened Redington Long Pier that it is becoming a safety issue.

So beginning Saturday, people will have to pay more for access to the popular "T" area at its far western end.

"We had more than 150 people at one time at the end of the pier. It wasn't safe," said pier owner Tony Antonious.

His solution to the overcrowding is to put up a gate blocking access to the last 100 or so feet of the pier, including a large square area called the "T."

Only those people who pay extra for membership in the new "VIP T-Club" will be allowed to fish at the end of the pier, Antonious said.

Extended-use pier pass holders can pay either $3 each time they want to fish at the end of the pier or an extra $12.50 a month for unrestricted access. Nonpass holders will be charged $5 on top of a regular $10 per day fishing fee each time they want to fish in the VIP area.

Antonious said the additional cost will keep the area from becoming dangerously overcrowded - and generate additional revenue to pay for maintenance and upgrades.

At least one longtime fisherman is not happy about the new fees.

On Monday, Michael Burrill filed a formal complaint against the pier with the Pinellas County Office of Consumer Protection.

"I bought a six-month pass that says I am entitled to all pier privileges and now am being told I have to pay more," Burrill said. "That is a breach of contract."

At the beginning of November, the Michigan resident paid $320.44 for a pass that allows him to fish anywhere, any time on the pier through next May.

Antonious agreed that the pass gives Burrill "all pier privileges" but said there was no guarantee on the price.

"Everybody wants something for nothing," he said.

Burrill fishes four or five hours a day at least three days a week and has been coming to the pier for more than a dozen years.

When the "fishing and the company is particularly good," Burrill has spent up to 19 hours at the pier.

Right now, he says he is catching a lot of Spanish mackerel, whiting and silver trout.

He tosses back the smaller fish and distributes most of the rest of his catch to fishing buddies or to his large number of friends at an RV park in Largo, where he spends the winter with his wife.

"It's a great place to fish, but I'm not going to pay the $12.50," he said. "A contract is a contract."

After a letter informing Antonious of Burrill's complaint is mailed, an investigator will be assigned to the case, which consumer protection officials say could take weeks or even months to resolve.

Antonious is no stranger to legal disputes over conditions at the pier. More than a year ago after part of the pier was damaged by a tropical storm, town and county officials declared portions of the pier unsafe to the public. The matter ended up in court, which required repairs Antonious says cost several hundred thousand dollars.

During the dispute, the pier was either completely or partly closed to the public.

Last month, the entire pier was certified safe and its entire length was reopened to the public.

[Last modified November 28, 2007, 09:34:43]