# Jetty Park



## Orange (Mar 12, 2003)

I went down to Jetty Park yesterday, the first time I'd been there in a long time. It had been since before the hurricanes that I was there, maybe in July. I heard that the fishing pier was closed due to damage from the storms and that it wasn't scheduled to open any time soon. Also, I have been reading reports about people catching flounder and snook in the area. Since I always wanted to fish the surf just south of the jetty I thought it was a good time to do so.

When I got to the gate the ranger reminded me that the park closed for fishing at 6:30pm and that the pier was closed. I thought no problem, I'm going to fish the surf and it'll be dark by 6pm anyhow. So, I proceeded down to the surf. 

I didn't end up catching anything but I did see some interesting things. For one, there was a steady stream of people walking along the pier! I thought that sucker was closed. Some were fishing, some were walking. It looked like business as usual. The other thing that was funny was around 5:30 or so, I saw several guys with fishing gear and dark colored sweats climbing along the jetty rocks. I figured these guys were determined to fish at night and were wearing the dark colors to remain unseen by the rangers. The final thing I saw was this guy with shoulder high waders who was standing about chest deep along the jetty rocks casting a plug for snook presumably.

I packed up my gear when it got dark and headed back, but I had to take a closer look at the "closed" pier. There was a barricade that said DO NOT ENTER, but it had been pushed aside. So, I walked by it. There wasn't anyone fishing along the walkway, except on the pier. I saw one guy pull up something that looked like an undersized gag, but I didn't get a good look. No one else had caught anything as far as I could tell.


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## mblanken (Nov 4, 2003)

In my opinion, Jetty Park has gone downhill in the last year. First they jacked up the admission price to $5. Then they stopped letting us fish from the rocks leading up to the pier (you can still fish from the rail, but you can't hop the rail anymore). Since the hurricanes, they've had to dredge the channel, which pretty much kills the flounder fishing. 

But worst of all, the park-goers seem ruder than ever. They never really seemed to have any control over the people there, mainly because it's usually one poor "security" guy (part time security, part time maintanence guy) patroling the whole park. They're nice guys, but you can tell they catch crap from everyone. They yell a lot at folks climbing on the rocks, and just seem overwhelmed all the time. 

I've seen all the rule breaking you mentioned and more, Orange. The night fishing for snook goes on in and out of season. Sometimes the security guy will run the "fishermen" off the jetty and they'll leave their fish (which never seem to be in the slot-size) in the rocks to come back for when the overwhelmed security guy is on the other side of the park. It got really bad last year and they issued a few trespassing tickets, but they only did that once that I know of. 

I've seen kids diving off the pier when it's packed with people trying to fish, people WAY over their limits on flounder and keeping pitifully small flounder, and a guy with a bucket full of 18" sharks. I've seen a game warden there checking buckets once in the 3 years I've fished there. There's just no one there to make people act like sportsmen should act.

I had a 1-year pass there last year, but I didn't renew it...I'll just go to Sebastian...it's further away, but better regulated.


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## MarkDido (Jul 6, 2003)

I was out at Jetty Park last summer. There was an older couple there on the pier with an old Lab. We chatted for a few minutes and then we started walking off the pier.

About 1/2 way down the pier, one of the "Security Guards" came down the pier, fussing and fuming at the old couple for having a dog on the pier. Apparently this is not allowed. But rather than politely ask them to leave the pier, he continued to berate them all the way to the end of the pier, talking to them llike you would a "problem child"

These folks climbed into a high-end RV ($150,000 +) with Ohio tags and left the park.

I was quite disturbed by the attitude and conduct of the security guard (Johnson Controls) and sent a letter to the administration.

Enforce the rules politely, but don't treat visitors like unruly teenagers.

Ya think these folks will come back to Florida and spend money next summer?


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