Lessons learned and comments

Was down at the pier for the week of June 11th and wanted to share some of my lessons learned for any other saltwater newbies like I was.

1. Don't trust monofilament leaders to hold up to spanish or King mackerel - I read somewhere that 50lbs would be safe, but alas lost my first and only king hookup and then lost a good spanish close to the pier
2. Make yourself plenty of wire rigs: Some for lures (gotcha's and plugs and jigs), Some for bubble rigs (if you don't know how to make them please ask), some for live bait or dead cigar minnow rigs
3. Be nice and feel free to ask the locals plenty of questions - I got lots of help while down there and even had a few spanish thrown into my coolers by some great gentlement
4. Saltwater fish can hurt you: Some lucky fellow mouthed a ladyfish while asking me what it was and then I told him to be careful with anything else he caught holding them that way. He had no idea most fish caught there have teeth. Also, I don't recommend dropping a large catfish onto of your open toed sandled foot. Puts a nice hole in it and hurts like fire in your veins.
5. The sharks are hungry: Don't take your time landing that nice mackerel. They taste good to sharks too and I lost plenty to them through the week.
6. Be ready to move out of the way of people fighting a large fish. To add to that, remember that you can move up and down the pier past people if you have a good fish on. I didn't know this on my sons first hookup of a jack or a mack and tried to fight him from where we stood and lost him in the pier.
7. Bring the kids out fishing. I brought 1 or 2 of mine with me every day and they had a blast.

Special Thanks:
To the gentlemen that gave me a bubble rig when I was fishing with my daughters and struggling to catch anything, thank you! I didn't have any and it helped me hookup with 12 spanish that afternoon before a shark made off with it. I ended up going out that night and made 5 of my own up and then was able to provide one of them to some unlucky person that had just lost their only one.

To all of the other fine people that gave me advice and fish, I appreciate it.

Wish I could get back down there, but it is a long drive from KY.

Rat

Hurry back to see us, Rat. Sounds like you made good use of your time here. You're right about needing to use wire on kings, but I get a lot more spanish strikes using mono even when I get cut off now and then. If you see my cart next time you're down, with the yellow "Haywire" flag, come say howdy.

You won't find a better more friendly pier anywhere......I have fished all on the upper gulf coast and a few on the east coast......this is by far my favorite, mainly due to the fellow Fisher people...... they make my time very special on my trips...
.maybe one day I can move and call myself a transported local.....but for me this is the pier (well the old one) that I fished when we first started coming down 25 years ago.......my home pier.

Will do Haywire. Hope to see you guys again next year.

Rat

Rat, you did it right...watched and learned. I'll second Haywires assessment on leader. I've always had better luck on Spanish with 50# mono but, you have to keep an eye on it. When you see several nicks in it, re-tie. Wire doesn't provide nearly the action unless the bite is hot. Loose very few this way. However, with kings, wire all the way.