March 20th, 2010 | 
Author: A Day Fishing Off Clearwater Beach Pier
I have previously written about my visits to Clearwater Beach Florida and just touched on this part of my trip. I feel that there is much more to say about this worthwhile pastime. This article shows how much fun you can have but you have to be a little careful too!
I am by no means a fisherman and suffice to say I have never lifted a rod back home in the UK. I was travelling with my wife and her son and his family. He has done a bit of fishing in the UK a few years ago but is no longer active.
We arrived at Clearwater on a day to trip from Orlando one of several during our 4 week stay. Jason the son of my wife gets a little bored just lying in the sun so he fancied going and doing a spot of fishing from the pier. I decided I would keep him company and have a go myself. We walked along the pier to about the half way mark and there is a turnstile and a booth/shop where you get rods and bait etc. I think it cost us around 19 USD for the rods and some live bait Shrimp. We headed on through the turnstile and took up our positions at the end of the pier. There were several other fishermen there mostly locals we thought. We figured out how to put these wriggling shrimp onto the hook and were soon dangling our lines over the edge. You don’t need to cast out that far really as there are plenty of fish around the legs of the pier although certain types of fish prefer this location. Other fishermen were pulling in Spanish mackerel using spinners. It wasn’t long at all till I felt a yank on the end of the line by the time I had reacted the fish had gone along with my bait! It took a while to get the hang of when to strike and it wasn’t long till we were reeling in some fish. Most of them were quite small and Jason got the job of taking them off the hook. He would use a towel and grab the fish with one hand and remove the hook with the other. This worked fine until the time I caught a catfish. For some reason unbeknown to both of us he grabbed the fish with his bare hands. The catfish then stuck one of his spines along the length of his ring finger. He had to pull it out with some difficulty too. The blood started to run from his wound. A couple of locals saw what had happened and made some unsettling comments like “that’s bad man you need to get that seen to” We went to the booth and the guy there advised Jason to go to hospital for some treatment. So we left the pier and headed back to where the rest of the family were and told them what had happened. It was decided that his Mom and I would accompany him to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital and I have to say they were great. He gave them his insurance details and that was it nothing else to pay. We were in there probably 15 minutes before someone took a look at him. We were told that Catfish aren’t toxic but as it had pushed it’s spine inside the flesh of his finger it may have pushed in dirt and bacteria. The thing was his finger had swollen quite a bit and he was in considerable pain. They gave him a massive dose of antibiotics and then gave him an injection for the pain. He was at on the bed at the time and within 30 seconds he felt it hit him he nearly fell off the bed! The pain just eased away. They also gave him a prescription for some more painkillers. He was told he couldn’t drive whilst on this medication. So we left the hospital and went back to the beach. We finished off the day with a meal at a local restaurant.
This experience didn’t put him off doing it again because we have been a few times since catching many varieties of fish. I have even seen small sharks being caught including a small hammerhead. Jason has caught a Copia which is a member of the shark family it was quite big and we had a job trying to land it. But if you are not sure there is always someone there to tell you what it is you have caught.
Have a great time!
About the writer: Steve Sewell is a Florida Villla owner and has been traveling to Florida since 1990 and regards it as his second home. He has owned his own businesses since leaving the RAF in 1988. His current business is Perfect Florida Villas a vacation villa rental website that he started in 2007 with his business partner Guy Harwood.
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