See The Pier in a New Light

ST. PETERSBURG, FL Nighttime visitors to The Pier now see this icon of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront in a new light - make that lots of new lights, which was unveiled on New Year's Eve 2006. It is a dramatic LED lighting display that illuminates The Pier on the weekends and during special events. The display is designed to attract attention of the local residents as well as visitors. The lighting project, funded by the City of St. Petersburg, and designed by Metaforma Productions and Wannemacher Russell Architects, Inc., debuted on New Year's Eve 2006. The energy-efficient lighting design is an integral part of many of today's retail projects. Just as artwork draws a crowd, so can attractive lighting. It's an opportunity for the City, at a nominal cost, to bring The Pier into the twenty-first Century. "The goal of the project was to create a really interesting, fun environment and experience for the residents and visitors who come to The Pier and to give a reason for people who haven't been here in a while to come back and see us in a whole new light!" stated Susan Robertson. Pier management hopes the display will act as a beacon to attract visitors and tourists to its mix of Shopping. Dining. Adventure. venues. For further information, contact Susan Robertson, Advertising/Promotions at 727.821.6443 or email to robertssm@urbanretail.com. Visit www.stpetepier.com for all event information and a complete listing of other activities. The Pier is owned by the City of St. Petersburg and managed by Urban Retail Properties LLC.

Check out the latest news on The Pier Design Competition:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/pier-project-finalists-tour-st-petersburgs-downtown-waterfront/1192448

Fishing on the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier

Skyway Fishing Pier Information Excuse me for again talking about the great fishing going on at the Skyway Fishing Pier right now. The root function of outdoor journalism is to help readers catch fish and take game. Because hunting and fishing are really far more complicated than we let on, it is constantly a challenge to connect readers with these activities. And by many multiples, more challenging when the reader doesn't have access to a boat. But all of this is lifted where the north county pier is concerned. Kingfish and mackerel are stacked around the pier, and with a minimum of tackle and skill available for any and everyone interested. As you read this, chances are I will be crowding the pier railing and casting a big shiny spoon for anything willing to play tug-of-war. For the first couple weeks in May, practically everything with gills in this part of the planet will be sucking in or crashing into any and every offering proffered. The actual taking of snook is closed for the summer, but it is still perfectly legal to catch and release them. The various flats, passes and the western most portion of the Manatee River is harboring good numbers of these stripe-flanked brawlers. A few snook should be showing just outside the surfline of the island beaches and hitting live shrimp, live shiners or any light hued artificials. Far and away, the best time of the day is at the approach of first light in the morning and in the half an hour or so between sundown and full dark in the evenings. The beaches and near gulf are hot with mackerel and kingfish as is Tampa Bay between the Skyway and the passes. Jump a few (or 100) miles inland and freshwater fishing is absolutely exploding. This is easily my favorite time of the year to cast to emergent vegetation or docks and seawalls with tiny popping bugs for bluegills, shellcracker, warmouth and stumpknockers. Yellow or white will both work, but generally I give a tiny round bug in lime or fluorescent green the first shot of the day. Most days that is all that is needed to gather a bucket full of tasty panfish. Any flyrodder capable of tossing a bug 30 or 35 feet can ice down a mess of bream fishing the rim and residential canals at Okeechobee this time of the year.