A beach built around a pier
Until 1931 you reached Pensacola Beach by boat or not at all. That changed in June 1931, when the Pensacola Bay Bridge opened and the sand across the bay suddenly sat within driving distance of town. Tourists followed, a Casino resort went up to entertain them, and a fishing pier was built as part of the same project.
The pier became the landmark people pictured when they thought of the place, and it took a beating for it. Storm after storm forced repairs until Hurricane Opal in 1995 did damage that could not be fixed. The old structure came out and a new one went in, with concrete piles, caps and beams under a wooden deck that is meant to give way in a catastrophic storm so the frame underneath survives.
Today the Gulf Pier stretches 1,471 feet into the Gulf, stands 26 feet above the water and runs 22 feet wide. It has handrails, benches and low pressure sodium lights chosen to be kinder to nesting sea turtles. Until recently it was the longest pier on the Gulf Coast, and there is a bait and tackle counter right on site.
The pier is deep water fishing without a boat payment. Depending on the season, people pull up king and Spanish mackerel, cobia, pompano, flounder, whiting, bluefish, bonito and redfish, and the occasional mahi or tarpon on a lucky day.
Pompano, mackerel and the humble whiting
Pompano is the fish most of us hope to find in the cooler. It is small, silver and rich, with firm white flesh that cooks quickly and needs very little help. The FWC sets the Florida pompano limit at six per angler, each at least 11 inches to the fork of the tail, and the season never closes. Whiting are the everyday catch: smaller, sweet and mild.
Spanish mackerel are the other easy win: up to 15 a day, each 12 inches or longer measured to the fork, and no closed season. They are oily and best eaten the day they are caught. Cobia are the trophy, with strict rules: a minimum of 36 inches measured to the fork, a single fish per angler, and two at most on any boat.
