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New Navarre Beach pier draws crowds

Northwest Florida Daily News

Dusty Ricketts - June 23, 2010

See photos at: http://nwfdailynews.emeraldcoastphotoswest.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1029801&CategoryID=26558&ListSubAlbums=0

NAVARRE BEACH — Fishermen in Santa Rosa County waited nearly six years to be able to fish on the new pier after the old one was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The new Navarre Beach fishing pier opened June 5, and visitors have shown up in large numbers during the past two weeks.

“We have been doing great. We are averaging about 800 people a day on the pier,” said Dorothy Slye, who manages the fishing pier with her brother, Everett “Junior” Ratliff. “It’s just as many locals as it is tourists because obviously we don’t have the tourists this year. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a year when we have tourists and locals coming.”

Slye said the breakdown is about 75 percent walkers and 25 percent fishermen, but many of those who fish are getting good catches.

In recent days, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, hardtails, pompano and threadfin herring have been caught from the pier. A website for the pier has been set up at www.navarrepier.com that is updated daily with pictures of the different fish caught.

The 1,545-foot pier opened just one day after the first tar balls from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill arrived on Navarre Beach. With the threat of more oil always looming, most of the pier’s regulars have been fishing as much as possible in case the state waters are eventually closed to fishing, Slye added.

One unfortunate benefit that has come from the oil spill is that the fishing pier in Gulf Shores, Ala., has been closed and many of those anglers have made regular trips to Navarre to fish. Slye said the Gulf Shores group was even scheduling a king mackerel shootout that will feature teams from Gulf Shores, Navarre, Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola.

The Navarre Beach fishing pier is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. It cost $1 a day to walk on the pier, and adults will pay $7 a day to fish. Weekly and annual passes are available.