Outdoors

More than tourists hooked by allure of Pier

By RICK FRAZIER, Times Correspondent
Published January 4, 2008

It's mackerel-mania at The Pier in St. Petersburg as, from left, Chris Mucerino, Jimmy Jamison, Joann Mendenhall, Jimmy Kelley and Neil Dobson display their Spanish mackerel catches on Dec. 12.
	[RICK FRAZIER | Special to the Times]

It used to be called the "Million Dollar Pier" when I was a tyke.

I would pedal my bike from Gulfport to downtown St. Petersburg just to get the thrill of trying to catch the "big one" from it. Rumor had it that a 600-pound goliath grouper lived beneath it, and that fish would eat any boy, dog, or small man that happened to fall off the pier. Gave me goose-bumps just thinking about it.

Today, it's just called "The Pier," and it's known more as a tourist attraction than a fishing pier. But locals still fish from it and do pretty good. Just ask Jimmy Kelley.

Kelley is pushing his mid 70s now, and he has fished from the pier all his life. In fact, his family ran the bait shop on The Pier for years, so you can bet he knows the where, when and how of fishing from it.

On this particular December morning, Spanish mackerel was the target. When I arrived just before the sun broke over the bay, Kelley was there, a rod in one hand, pieces of chum in the other.

"Chumming's the key," he said. "Won't get the bite without it."

He was right on. One of Kelley's friends, Pastor Neil Dobson, was fishing an arm's length from Kelley but he wasn't getting any bites.

"You're too far out," Kelley scolded. "Get your bait closer in where the chum is."

As soon as Dobson heeded Kelley's instructions, his line was off to the races.

"Kelley's the real fisherman," Dobson said. "His daddy was the same way."

It's not unusual to have 100 or so mackerel caught from this pier in one morning. Of course, there are a few secrets to know. After a bit of prodding, I did pry a few from Kelley.

Dead greenbacks are the bait of choice, and Kelley uses his cast net to catch all he needs from the pier.

"Tried using whitebait a few times, and they just don't like 'em," Kelley said. "Don't know if they smell different or what."

Just because you have the right bait doesn't mean you're going to catch fish. If the bait isn't hooked properly, the mackerel won't touch it. Kelley runs the hook down the middle of the back toward the belly about half the body length. Then he brings the hook back up so the point sticks out of the back. This way the bait sits in the current straight and doesn't spin.

Kelley also swears by fluorocarbon leader, and he only started using it a couple of years ago.

"You'll get bites with regular leader material, but you'll get more with fluorocarbon," Kelley says. "They must not see the fluoro."

Kelley uses about a 2-foot section of it on his mackerel rig. He ties the leader on his main line with a small swivel, then attaches a small cigar float above the swivel. He uses a split shot weight just below the swivel and ties on a 2/0 long-shank gold hook.

Kelley likes to use lightweight spinning outfits loaded with 20-pound braided line for mackerel.

Braided line ... fluorocarbon leader? Who said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks?

Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at 727 510-4376. If you've had a great day fishing from land and want to share it with readers, call (727) 893-8775 or e-mail captainrick@luckydawg.com.

[Last modified January 3, 2008, 21:08:43]