Fishing in St. Petersburg, Florida: Piers, Licenses and Limits

St. Petersburg anglers have four public pier fishing sites: Skyway Fishing Pier State Park, the St. Pete Pier Fishing Deck downtown, the two Fort De Soto Park piers and the Weedon Island Preserve pier.

Skyway Fishing Pier State Park is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the entry fee is $4 per vehicle plus $4 per adult (Florida State Parks). Its listed location is 4905 34th St. South #5000 in St. Petersburg, at the north and south sides of the mouth of Tampa Bay, and the park phone is 727-865-0668. Florida State Parks says the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge was turned into the fishing pier when the new bridge was built, and anglers can park within a few feet of their fishing spot.

Downtown, the St. Pete Pier at 800 2nd Avenue NE allows fishing only on the Fishing Deck east of the Pier Point building, and fishing hours run from 30 minutes before sunrise until 11:00 PM every day (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Gator Jim's Bait and Tackle on the St. Pete Pier is listed as open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Sunday through Saturday, and the FAQ notes that hours are subject to change.

Fort De Soto Park, the 1,136 acre Pinellas County park of five keys at 3500 Pinellas Bayway South in Tierra Verde, has a Gulf pier with a food and bait concession and a Bay pier, both open from 7 a.m. to sunset (Pinellas County, Fort De Soto Park). The county states that a fishing license is required throughout Fort De Soto, piers included.

On the north side of St. Petersburg, the Weedon Island Preserve fishing pier and the oyster bars off it are named by Pinellas County as good sites for sea trout, snook and sheepshead, state saltwater rules apply, and commercial fishing is prohibited in the preserve (Pinellas County, Weedon Island Preserve). The preserve opens daily at 7 a.m. and closes at a posted time about 15 minutes before sunset, and it is closed the day after Thanksgiving and December 25 (Weedon Island Preserve).

Since October 27, 2025, Florida State Parks has barred vehicle and pedestrian access beyond the bait shop at Skyway Fishing Pier State Park after Florida Department of Transportation structural inspections.

Vehicles may still drive onto the Skyway pier up to a point just south of the bait shop, which remains open, and visitors are told to follow posted signs (Florida State Parks, Skyway Fishing Pier State Park).

A second notice, effective March 16, 2026, says the south Skyway at Skyway Fishing Pier State Park is without power, with limited service at the bait shop and limited lighting at night. Both notices were still posted on the Florida State Parks page on October 15, 2026.

Florida State Parks also requires every angler to complete the Skyway Fishing Pier Education Course online each year before fishing the Skyway. The course covers FWC regulations specific to the pier, and the Skyway bait shop gives out a free copy of the latest fishing regulations.

Most St. Petersburg saltwater anglers need a Florida saltwater fishing license, and FWC adds a snook permit, a shore based shark permit and a reef fish designation for certain fish.

FWC lists the Resident Annual license at $17.00 and the Resident Five-Year at $79.00; visitors pay $47.00 for a Non-Resident Annual, $17.00 for 3 days or $30.00 for 7 days (FWC, Saltwater Fishing Licenses). A Florida resident fishing only from land around St. Petersburg can use the no cost Resident Annual Saltwater Shoreline License, which covers the shoreline or a structure affixed to shore, such as the St. Pete Pier Fishing Deck, but not a vessel or a shoreline reached by vessel.

A snook permit costs $10.00 a year, or $50.00 for five years for residents, and is needed on top of the license even from shore. FWC warns that permit sales are final even when snook is closed, which matters in Tampa Bay, where snook harvest is closed for seven months of the year.

Anglers 16 and older who target sharks from St. Petersburg piers, bridges or jetties also need the no cost shore based shark fishing permit, required since July 1, 2019, after an online course. Boat anglers 16 and older fishing for certain reef fish from a private vessel off Pinellas County need the no cost State Reef Fish Angler designation.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida State Parks, Pinellas County and City of St. Petersburg websites.

FWC manages snook, red drum and spotted seatrout in St. Petersburg waters under its Tampa Bay Region rules, which run from Fred Howard Park south to State Road 64 in Manatee County.

For snook in the Tampa Bay Region, the closed seasons run December 1 through the end of February and May 1 through August 31, the slot is not less than 28 or more than 33 inches total length, and the bag is one fish per person per day (FWC, Snook). That leaves St. Petersburg snook anglers two harvest windows: March and April, and September through November.

Red drum in the Tampa Bay Region are open year round with an 18 to 27 inch slot, a daily bag of 1 fish per person and a 2 fish vessel limit (FWC, Red Drum). Spotted seatrout in the Tampa Bay Region are also open year round with a 15 to 19 inch slot and a bag of three fish per person per day; one fish over 19 inches may be kept per vessel, or per person when fishing from shore, inside that bag (FWC, Spotted Seatrout).

The Tampa Bay Region excludes Palma Sola Bay and the Anclote River and its tributaries, which FWC places in other regions. The figures above were read on the FWC pages on October 15, 2026.

Florida State Parks lists snook, tarpon, grouper, black sea bass, Spanish and king mackerel, cobia, sheepshead, red snapper and pompano as common Skyway catches at the mouth of Tampa Bay.

The old Skyway bridge over Tampa Bay is lighted at night, and the park notes that the light draws many species after sundown (Florida State Parks). Bait, snacks and fishing supplies are sold on both the north and south Skyway piers, though the south side is on limited service under the March 16, 2026 power notice.

At Weedon Island Preserve on Tampa Bay, Pinellas County names the fishing pier and outlying oyster bars as ideal sites for sea trout, snook and sheepshead, and notes that shell fishing is prohibited in Tampa Bay for health reasons (Pinellas County). The Skyway bait shop hands out a free copy of the latest fishing regulations.

The City of St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation boat ramp page lists nine city ramps: Bay Vista, Crisp, Demens Landing, Grandview, Jungle Prada de Narvaez, Lake Maggiore, Maximo, Northeast Exchange Club Coffee Pot and Sunlit Cove.

Listed addresses include Bay Vista Park at 7000 4th St. S., Maximo Park at 34th St. S. and Pinellas Point Dr. S., Demens Landing Park at Bayshore Dr. and 2nd Ave. S., Crisp Park at 37th Ave. NE and Poplar St. NE, and Coffee Pot Park at 1st St. NE and 31st Ave. NE (City of St. Petersburg, Boat Ramps). The city page states two different hours: its general heading says ramps open 30 minutes before sunrise and close 30 minutes after sunset, while each of the nine ramp listings says the ramp is open 24 hours. The ramp phone number is (727) 893-7441.

Maximo Park's ramp and the Skyway pier's listed address are both on 34th St. S. Fort De Soto Park also has an 800-foot boat launching facility with eleven floating docks, and its boat ramp is linked to North Beach, East Beach and the camping area by a paved multipurpose trail (Pinellas County); the county page gives that trail as seven miles in one list and as a 6.8 mile asphalt trail in another.