http://galvestondailynews.com/story/168902

61st Street pier finally reopens
By Joe Kent
Correspondent
Published August 14, 2010

Close to two years after Hurricane Ike, it appears we will see one of our beach-front fishing piers reopen. The 61st Street Fishing Pier is scheduled to open its doors at 6 p.m. today with a special entry fee of $5 per person. The regular admission price will be $12. Monday through Thursday, kids less than 40 inches tall and seniors will be admitted for $1.

Friday, I again visited with John Menna, the owner who has been battling the system to get the pier reopened, and now it looks like D-Day is upon us. Hurricane Ike destroyed all of our beach-front facilities, including the Flagship Fishing Pier, Galveston Fishing Pier (also known as the 91st Street Pier) and the San Luis Pass Fishing Pier.

The only other pier planning to rebuild is the Galveston Fishing Pier, and it will be a while before we see that facility back in operation.

this is wonderful news. at what age do they consider as a senior and what about handicap parking. i wish that the state or someone would come through and build another pier at san luis pass. we need a few more to take the load off of the one coming back as it will be very crowded

Good News

Am I just cheap or is $12 a bit steep to stand on a pier that is a bit further out than the longest jetty on the seawall.I understand that it's a business and they need to make there investment back.But 12 bucks during the week?Are the bait prices going to be $25 a pint?I drive down 2-3 times a week to get my salt water fix and don't really care what I catch but it's going to be hard to pay that kind of money to catch the same fish that I'm catching off the sea wall or jetty's.
Still I wish them luck and will probably try it.
Now I'll have to get a pier net.Really?

Very true.



No, you're not cheap, but I will see what it has to offer before I get too critical about the prices. I was shocked just to see how far out the pier goes. I was thinking it would be like the pier on 91st Street that goes way out. Then someone posted you can't keep a cart on the pier, which I use to haul my stuff out. I guess I put a lot of faith on 61st being the 'end all' for us pier fishermen, and at first glance, without going on the pier, I am a bit disappointed. But I will visit the pier and give it a chance. Anything is better than crossing lines on the weekend at Seawolf, and Sylvan beach and 18th in San Leon haven't impressed me as much as Bob Hall and Horace Caldwell down toward Port Aransas and Corpus have.

This is just collateral damage from Ike and I understand it takes time to rebuild, and I also realize that fishing is low on the priority list. These are things we must have to live with for another year or two.

i just drove by the pier about an hr ago and theres no way this pier is just as long as the 91st pier, and yea $12 is pretty high compared to fishing free at the rock groins on seawall, the only difference is night fishing part...hey who am i to judge, good luck with pier.

I agree about the night fishing part and for 5 bucks I'm tempted to drive down tonight to give it a try.I just need to fish today.

I would be hard pressed to find the words to tell of my disappointment on how absolutely short the 61st St. pier is. I was expecting something more toward 91st St. in length.

we have been going to bob hall now since last yr . it costs us just 6 dollars for the 2 of us to fish for 24 hurs. plus we get to take out the cast net. of course the down size to that is we have to drive 4 hurs to get there. but the fishhing has been wonderful there. i cant fish during the heat of the day and the groin fishing is out as hubby fell and it cost almost 25 thousand by the time the surgery and therapy was over all from a fall on the rocks.i will give it a try but would like to keep the dolly with us cause when you are older and handicap all the walking back and forth can get bad. plus how much handicap parking are they going to have

I gotta say I'm disappointed. I probably drove by that pier a dozen times or so in the last month and couldn't even begin to think $12/person. Parking? What parking? You park along the seawall where breakins are frequent. I hope the $12 covers an officer walking up and down the seawall to watch the cars. I thought Seawolf was really taking advantage of people with their $6/person plus $6 parking but I guess it isn't too bad. At least the water gets deep at Seawolf and bigger catches are there to be had. I might pay $5 but I guess I won't be fishing there until the owner has made his money back from the rest of you.

OK GO BUY A BOAT ONLY COST ABOUT 12-20 THOUSAND .Me I will gladly pay $12 to go on a GOOD PIER to fish . Piers are not cheap to build or maintain. MMMMM and people complain about their eletric bill , and John has about 1000 lights he is paying for . Yup I remember when gas was 12 cents a gallon too .

I don't mind paying 12 bucks there to fish, I pay 12 bucks to fish Seawolf also. However I have the rite to state I'm disappointed the pier isn't longer into the gulf.

You may be missing the point. Who needs a boat to get just past the end of the many tiny jetties along the seawall. It's not like it goes over a pass or anything. Why pay $12 when you can walk to the second sandbar without ever getting more than chest deep in water? Maybe they are expensive to build but how much more would it have been to get out to the green water?

Some of us are handicapped and can not walk on those rocks

Bob, I don't know if this will help, but there are a couple of jetties like this around 25-50th streets and Seawall.

I do hope this helps.