Anna Maria City Pier Fishing

The Anna Maria City Pier has reached out into Tampa Bay from the north end of Anna Maria Island since 1911, a wooden T-end pier long known for snook and redfish working the pilings and a mixed bag of sheepshead and mackerel from its far end. Hurricanes Helene and Milton wrecked the walkway and battered the T-end buildings in 2024, closing the pier for close to two years. The City of Anna Maria has now rebuilt the walkway and is completing the last repairs to the T-end, with a reopening targeted for November or early December 2026.

The pier sits at 100 South Bay Boulevard in the city of Anna Maria, at the quiet north end of Anna Maria Island. The rebuilt walkway is complete, but the T-end platform and its buildings remain a closed construction site while contractors finish roofing, doors and interior repairs, so there is no public access to the pier deck yet. Street parking nearby is limited.

• Winter (Dec-Feb): sheepshead around the pilings, occasional black drum
• Spring (Mar-May): Spanish mackerel and pompano moving through, snook waking up
• Summer (Jun-Aug): snook and redfish worked tight to the pilings
• Fall (Sep-Nov): mixed schools of mackerel and jacks chasing bait past the pier

Regulars fished live pinfish or greenbacks on a knocker rig for snook and redfish tight to the pilings, small jigs and spoons for mackerel working past the T-end, and fiddler crabs or oysters on a sturdy hook for winter sheepshead. Until the pier reopens, the same baits and rigs work from Bean Point's beach and the other piers further south on the island.

Manatee County sits in the Tampa Bay region, where most days bring two uneven high and low tides. The pier fished best on an incoming tide pushing bait toward the pilings, with clean water and light wind; the same tide stage is worth timing a trip to Bean Point or Robinson Preserve around while the pier is closed.

The construction site is fenced and there is no public access to describe for the pier itself right now. Bean Point's beach access is a sand approach rather than a railed deck. Anywhere on this part of the island, watch for afternoon thunderstorms in summer and shuffle your feet for stingrays in the shallows.

None on site while the T-end finishes repairs, though the rebuilt walkway itself has no facilities of its own either. A restaurant is planned for the rebuilt T-end once the pier reopens, replacing the one that operated there before the storms. Bean Point and the island's other open fishing spots have limited or no facilities of their own, so bring water, sun protection and your own bait and tackle from one of the island's shops before heading out, since none of the nearby alternatives has a bait shop on site.

• Fish Bean Point's beach for the same snook and mackerel that worked the pier pilings
• The Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach is a similar structure still open further south
• Robinson Preserve offers calmer backwater fishing while the bay-front pier is closed
• Check the City of Anna Maria's updates before a trip, since the reopening date has moved before
• Early morning and the last light of day were always the pier's best windows, and still are at the open spots nearby

The City of Anna Maria manages the pier and its rebuild. A Florida saltwater fishing license is required at the open spots nearby unless an exemption applies. Check current FWC rules for size, bag and season limits before keeping anything.