The wife and I went down the opening night to check things out.


Just out of curiosity, I called down there on Wednesday 8/18/10 (409-744-8365) to see what all had happened since our quick visit. They had opened up the toilets so that took care of that possible problem. The guy I talked to told me that at 5:30pm there wasn't anybody fishing on the pier. The only bait they had was squid.

I decided to head on down to throw a line or two in the water. I picked up some dead shrimp and about 5 live crabs at Aunt Margies, then found a great parking spot as close as I could get to the pier entrance. I loaded the cart and headed on down.

It took awhile to pay my $6.00 entrance fee, but once I paid it, I headed on out. The security guard checked my cart for beer before heading out.

Since I had seen the place opening night, I knew being at the 'T' would be best due to the lights being brighter. I fished from about 6:30pm to about 10:00pm as I had to be at work at 6:30am the next day. The lights were turned on around 8:00pm, but around 9:00pm the lights really shone bright on the water. The pier is really wide and well built. There are numerous bait cutting/fish cleaning stations all around, but no running water on the pier. There was something mentioned about carts not being allowed on the pier, but when the number of fishermen was around 30, they just asked us to place the carts in the middle so every fisherman had easy access to the water. No problem there, however I wonder how they will handle it when the pier is elbow to elbow.

At one time during just before darkness set in, I had to take a couple of minutes to look at a beautiful rainbow that appeared on the horizon. That alone was worth the drive from Pasadena and the $6.00 fee.

Outside of a couple of small sharks, there wasn't any fish being caught that one could speak of. A few croaker and many small hardheads. Those 4" hardheads were all over the place.

I really like the pier better than 18th St. and Sylvan beach. As mentioned before I wish the pier was longer, but it is what it is. Like a hot slot machine, I still like Seawolf better, but 61st is also good to go. Hopefully 61st being open will take away some of the Seawolf crowd. Maybe in a month or two the fishing will get better and they will start bringing in some good fish.

i had some friends who went tuesday night and they caught 5 specs and some other fish. not sure what else but they liked the pier

On Thursday 9/2/10 I made another trip out to 61st. I chose it over Seawolf this time. I get tired of calling Seawolf and being told the pier is almost empty, then get there less than an hour later and seeing the pier being pretty full.

Back to 61st. By now all the lights are up and the whole pier is real bright. In a prior post I had mentioned darkness near the concession area, but they put in lights and the whole pier is really well lit. Arriving there at around 1130PM I was able to get a really good parking spot, right behind the spots saved for handicapped parking. They also have running water on the pier for fish cleaning and they have opened both a mens and ladies restrooms. I guess the grand opening is behind them, as is most of the construction, so it is now fully operational, but this is just a guess.

I was able to take my cart on the pier, nobody checked or mentioned anything. I had 2 bait casting setups and one surf setup, and didn't have any bottles or alcohol.

The pier wasn't packed at all, but there seemed to be a bit of a crowd at the 'T', so I fished the right side near the concession area. My bait was live and dead shrimp. Nothing much came of the live shrimp, but the dead shrimp attracted many small hardheads (the 4" ones I had mentioned in a prior post had now grown to 6"), a lot of sand trout, whiting, and croakers. I managed several large hardheads and even 2' shark, on cut sand trout.

I did see on black drum caught, about 20 pounds and I saw a 4' or so shark landed. That was about it for the big fish.

I left at around 530am after giving away my live shrimp to a couple of nice ladies. I just hate to waste bait, and they could not find a bait store open at that time. I hope they did good and caught some fish with it.

Bottom line is that I like 61st. With most of the construction done, it is wide, comfortable, and the restrooms and concession area is very convenient.

If I were going to catch 'numbers', I would still choose Seawolf, but I feel really comfortable going to 61st.

Are you telling all of us that beer is not allowed????????????? How can a man fish without beer?????????

Call me weird, I've managed to fish without beer, however I believe they sell alcoholic beverages there, but I'm not sure.

U can have beer just not ur own lol. U have to buy there's..

oh,ok.......just wondering......I will have to check it out next time I am there.

HA! one of these days you beer drinkers will learn to live without that nasty stuff and enjoy life better.....especially when you're fishing.
but then again, thats just me....never was and never will be a beer drinker....I'll take coffee any day...
thanks for the reports on the pier...
anyone heard if the flounder is coming in yet?