On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 10:00:46 -0500, John H.
wrote:

When we lived in Tampa there was a lot of tarpon fishing going on. This was in early
'70s. I never went because I'd heard they weren't much to eat. I didn't have a boat
at the time. A friend and I would go to the south end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge,
walk out into the inlet and catch a mess of trout using shrimp as bait.

===

That's still a very popular fishing spot but I don't know what they
catch. They've turned both ends of the old bridge into fishing piers
and recreational areas. Florida is good about that sort of thing. In
New York they would have put up no parking signs and torn the whole
thing down.

On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 10:11:45 -0500, Wayne.B wrote:

On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 10:00:46 -0500, John H.
wrote:

When we lived in Tampa there was a lot of tarpon fishing going on. This was in early
'70s. I never went because I'd heard they weren't much to eat. I didn't have a boat
at the time. A friend and I would go to the south end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge,
walk out into the inlet and catch a mess of trout using shrimp as bait.

===

That's still a very popular fishing spot but I don't know what they
catch. They've turned both ends of the old bridge into fishing piers
and recreational areas. Florida is good about that sort of thing. In
New York they would have put up no parking signs and torn the whole
thing down.

Times have changed. There was a small park of some sort there, with a small parking
lot. I don't remember ever seeing many other folks fishing there. We'd go after
classes, catch enough for dinner, and get home to do homework!
--

Guns don't cause problems. The behavior
of certain gun owners causes problems.

In article ,
says...

On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 10:00:46 -0500, John H.
wrote:

When we lived in Tampa there was a lot of tarpon fishing going on. This was in early
'70s. I never went because I'd heard they weren't much to eat. I didn't have a boat
at the time. A friend and I would go to the south end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge,
walk out into the inlet and catch a mess of trout using shrimp as bait.

===

That's still a very popular fishing spot but I don't know what they
catch. They've turned both ends of the old bridge into fishing piers
and recreational areas. Florida is good about that sort of thing. In
New York they would have put up no parking signs and torn the whole
thing down.

Yes, I always thought it commendable what Florida did with the pier.
But they're not keeping the bridge spans structurally sound.
About 5-6 years ago they closed the eastern side of the piers because of
that. The western side is 17 years newer, but its time will come.
Cutting the available space in half made it much less attractive for me.

On 2/22/15 1:14 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 11:00:09 -0600, Boating All Out
wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 10:00:46 -0500, John H.
wrote:

When we lived in Tampa there was a lot of tarpon fishing going on. This was in early
'70s. I never went because I'd heard they weren't much to eat. I didn't have a boat
at the time. A friend and I would go to the south end of the Sunshine Skyway bridge,
walk out into the inlet and catch a mess of trout using shrimp as bait.

===

That's still a very popular fishing spot but I don't know what they
catch. They've turned both ends of the old bridge into fishing piers
and recreational areas. Florida is good about that sort of thing. In
New York they would have put up no parking signs and torn the whole
thing down.

Yes, I always thought it commendable what Florida did with the pier.
But they're not keeping the bridge spans structurally sound.
About 5-6 years ago they closed the eastern side of the piers because of
that. The western side is 17 years newer, but its time will come.
Cutting the available space in half made it much less attractive for me.



I guess it will come down to how much money they can afford to spend
on this.


I thought you loonytarians were in favor of government not doing
anything even if stuff falls apart.

--
Proud to be a Liberal.

On 2/22/15 8:33 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 13:26:38 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 2/22/15 1:14 PM, wrote:

Yes, I always thought it commendable what Florida did with the pier.
But they're not keeping the bridge spans structurally sound.
About 5-6 years ago they closed the eastern side of the piers because of
that. The western side is 17 years newer, but its time will come.
Cutting the available space in half made it much less attractive for me.



I guess it will come down to how much money they can afford to spend
on this.


I thought you loonytarians were in favor of government not doing
anything even if stuff falls apart.

You really do not want to start a discussion about deficient bridges.
Maryland doesn't look so good and the reason is, Florida does not
divert road tax money for other pork barrel projects.
The question is how much fishermen are willing to chip in to maintain
an interstate bridge ... just for a fishing pier.

You don't fish. How much of your tax money would you want to spend on
these piers? Maybe they could raid the bike lane money. ;-)



The reason is Florida doesn't have freeze-thaw-salt cycles for the most
part on its bridges and highways.

--
Proud to be a Liberal.

wrote:
On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 20:35:10 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 2/22/15 8:33 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 13:26:38 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 2/22/15 1:14 PM, wrote:

Yes, I always thought it commendable what Florida did with the pier.
But they're not keeping the bridge spans structurally sound.
About 5-6 years ago they closed the eastern side of the piers because of
that. The western side is 17 years newer, but its time will come.
Cutting the available space in half made it much less attractive for me.



I guess it will come down to how much money they can afford to spend
on this.


I thought you loonytarians were in favor of government not doing
anything even if stuff falls apart.

You really do not want to start a discussion about deficient bridges.
Maryland doesn't look so good and the reason is, Florida does not
divert road tax money for other pork barrel projects.
The question is how much fishermen are willing to chip in to maintain
an interstate bridge ... just for a fishing pier.

You don't fish. How much of your tax money would you want to spend on
these piers? Maybe they could raid the bike lane money. ;-)



The reason is Florida doesn't have freeze-thaw-salt cycles for the most
part on its bridges and highways.

Not much freezing but plenty of salt, up under the bridge, not up on
the deck and it is warmer here so corrosion is speeded up (I assume
you took a little chemistry). We just fix them, we don't ignore them
and spend road tax money elsewhere.

... and you dodged the other question. Would you as a non-fisher, want
your tax money spent on fishing piers. That IS what we were talking
about.

They are trying to pass a new tax for road repairs in California. Say we
do not have the money. We passed a law a few years ago that says gas tax
money has to go for roads, unless we have a financial crises. They are
still stealing the gas tax. There is probably a $100 billion in iou's from
the general fund for money from the gas tax ripped off. Plus they use it
for car pool lanes, bike lanes, mass transit.