St. Pete Pier Fishing Deck

The St. Pete Pier Fishing Deck is the dedicated angling platform at the end of the St. Pete Pier, the city's waterfront park that replaced the old inverted-pyramid pier. It is the easiest place in St. Petersburg to fish open Tampa Bay water with every comfort close at hand.

• The only part of the pier district where fishing is allowed
• Railed deck over deeper bay water than the downtown seawalls
• Bait and tackle shop on the pier
• Restaurants, restrooms and a tram in the pier district

The pier runs east from downtown St. Petersburg into Tampa Bay; the fishing deck lies east of the Pier Point building at the far end.

• Getting there: the pier entrance is on the downtown waterfront at 2nd Avenue NE; follow the signs for the St. Pete Pier
• Parking: the Dolphin and Pelican lots and metered spaces along Pier Drive are paid by the hour (pay stations, meters or the ParkMobile app), with a six-hour limit in the lots and no overnight parking; the Sundial garage and Al Lang lot take the overflow
• Getting out to the deck: a long level walk, or the pier trams and eco-shuttles (9 a.m. to 11 p.m.), which carry wheelchairs and walkers
• Fishing hours: 30 minutes before sunrise until 11 p.m., seven days a week, subject to change

The deck fishes like a bay pier: pelagics in the warm months, structure fish in the cool ones.

• Spring (Mar–May): Spanish mackerel and bluefish arrive with the bait, sheepshead finish their spawn run, cobia pass now and then
• Summer (Jun–Aug): Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, jacks and mangrove snapper; snook and tarpon roll at dawn and dusk
• Fall (Sep–Nov): the best mixed fishing, with mackerel, jacks, redfish and seatrout feeding before the first fronts
• Winter (Dec–Feb): sheepshead and black drum on the pilings, seatrout on warm afternoons

Light and medium spinning tackle covers almost everything here.

• Spanish mackerel and ladyfish: small silver spoons, gotcha plugs or jigs on 20–30 lb fluorocarbon leader, fished fast
• Mangrove snapper: a small circle hook and a split shot with live shrimp or a pilchard, dropped along the pilings
• Sheepshead: fiddler crabs or shrimp on a short leader and a 1/0 hook, tight to the structure
• Snook and redfish: live shrimp on a popping cork, or a soft plastic worked slowly at first and last light
• Bring a pier net; the rail is well above the water for a heavy fish

Tampa Bay has mixed tides, usually two highs and two lows a day of unequal size and some days only one of each, with a typical range of about 2 feet, so current matters more than height.

• A moving tide, in or out, brings bait past the deck; slack water is slow
• Early morning and the last hour of light fish best in summer
• Clean water after a calm spell suits the mackerel; a strong east wind muddies the shallows
• Winter cold fronts slow things for a day or two, then sheepshead feed hard as the water warms

This is one of the safest and most accessible places to fish in Tampa Bay.

• Railed, level deck with an accessible route through the pier district
• Clear the deck when summer afternoon thunderstorms build; lightning is the real danger
• Little shade on the deck: bring water, a hat and sunscreen
• Crowds of sightseers pass close by; watch your backcast and keep hooks tidy
• Pelicans take baits here; if one is hooked, reel it in gently and unhook it rather than cutting the line

The pier district is well equipped.

• Gator Jim's Bait and Tackle on the pier, open daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with frozen bait, tackle, nets and supplies
• A fish-cleaning station at the fishing deck
• Several restaurants and a cafe along the pier
• Restrooms in the pier district, shown on the pier map
• Tram and shuttle service along the pier from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Paid parking lots on site, larger garages within walking distance, and the free Downtown Looper trolley

• The bait shop opens at 10 a.m., so bring bait if you plan to fish the dawn bite
• Weekday mornings are quiet; weekends are busiest, and lot rates rise from Friday evening
• Watch for birds diving off the end; that is where the mackerel are
• Sheepshead fishing is best from January to March tight against the pilings
• A light jig head and a soft plastic will pick up seatrout on the grass edges nearby
• Keep your catch in a bucket in the shade; the deck heats up fast in summer

The St. Pete Pier belongs to the City of St. Petersburg, and city code bans fishing anywhere in the pier district except where the city allows it, which is the Fishing Deck.

• Do not fish from any other part of the pier district
• Fishing hours follow the posted times, currently 30 minutes before sunrise to 11 p.m.
• City code also bans cast netting from city property unless signs allow it
• A Florida saltwater fishing license is required unless you are exempt
• Shore-based shark fishing needs the free FWC permit; goliath grouper and tarpon have release rules, so check FWC
• Check current FWC rules for size, bag and season limits before keeping anything