[Sticky] South Beach Pier

To the South Florida Shark Fishing Community.
My name is Albert Poledri, and even though I am not a shark fisherman I could appreciate all the shark fishing moments that I was exposed to while growing up on South Beach during the 70's and 80's.
South Beach being south of 5th street or Miami Beach Boulevard and extending south to Harley street; the most southern street on Miami Beach which was behind the old dog track, named the Miami Beach Kennel Club.
There was a pier on first street which at the time was the epicenter of shark fishing in south florida. Many great Florida sharkfishermen fished at one time or another on the south beach pier (SBP); there are to many to name.

But, the point of my comments are to establish a point of reference (in this forum) in which we could begin to remember and I encourage all who read this to recall your personal moments and if not the memories of others that have shared with you their times that were experienced on the pier.
Hopefully, we could all share and rejoice in the long-ago times where we have seen shark fishing at its finest from a non-moveable object such as was known the "South Beach Pier".

In thoughts,
albert poledri

by Bob Michals

Calling all South Beach Pier Rats. I grew up in Allapattah during the 1950's and early '60s and some of my fondest memories are about the countless hours my friends and I spent fishing on the old South Beach Pier, surfing on the beach between the pier and Government Cut, and especially checking out the bikini babes who worked so hard to catch our eye! Back in those days, the beach south of the pier was the exclusive meeting ground for both the kids from Miami Jackson as well as those from Miami High. The beach backed up against a high concave concrete wall that contained the parking lot of the Miami Beach Kennel Club dog racing track. The wall's unique concave shape helped diffuse the power of the waves during tropical storms ... which, of course was when the surfing waves were best!

Surfing was just becoming popular in Florida and there was even a surf board shop down the street from the beach that sold and rented boards.

But for my friends and I, the chief draw for South Beach was the old pier, which if memory serves me was built around 1928 and initially called the Million Dollar Pier. It was a gathering place for the early local residents during the first real estate boom and the pier featured a band shell where free concerts were held. By the time '50s and '60s, most of South Beach was populated by transplanted retired Northerners.

For obviously reason, my friends and I couldn't have cared less about the Old Folks and their concerts, we came for the wonderful fishing the pier offered. During the winter months, I could literally make upwards of $20 a day catching and selling fish to the locals. The usual catch was Spanish mackerel and we used to catch them by the dozens. Unlike the piers built today with wood planking decks, the South Beach Pier had a solid concrete deck, so the water beneath the pier was always in perpetual shade. This shade helped to spur the growth of a beautiful worm rock reef beneath the pier that was a snorkler's paradise. There were lobsters, octopus, moray eels and countless colorful reef fish. More importantly, the reef structure was like a magnet for little menhaden baitfish which -- in turn --kept the mackerel, tarpon, snook, cobia, and everything else gathered close by for a quick tasty meal.

In those days, Miami was sooooo different than it is now, my parents would allow me to ride the city bus from Allapattah to South Beach with my fishing rods and then Mom would come to the beach later that morning and I'd drive home with her. Can you imagine letting a 12-year-old kid ride a bus at 5 a.m. by himself now? But back then, it was perfectly safe.

Our first stop upon arrival was always the South Beach Bagel factory, which was directly across from the pier. We'd buy a bag of fresh, hot bagels, a carton of chocolate milk and that was breakfast. When we got to the pier, for 50-cents we'd get our hands stamped by "Fish Mary" who had the concession for catching and selling live bait. I believe the story was that her husband was a Miami Beach Police officer killed in the line of action and the city gave her the concession in lieu of a settlement. She had a big bait tank on wheels with an electric air pump she plugged into the pier sockets and a large square dip net she'd lower over the side to periodically refresh the baitwell's contents. The bait schools were so thick in those days, you couldn't see the bottom even in crystal clear water conditions. Back in those days, I received $2.00 allowance each week. It broke down to 50-cents for the bus, 50-cents for bagels, 50-cents for bait, and 50-cents for a delicious cheeseburger and soda at Schrager's Drugstore which was at the corner of Ocean Drive and 2nd St. I loved Schrager's for lunch, because they used to have those bowls of homemade halfsour pickles, tomatoes and saurkraut on the counter and you could really fill up at lunch for 50 cents. If I didn't catch and sell fish, I would be broke for the rest of the week, but fortunately, I was usually able to parlay that $2 bucks many times over with sales of fish.

There also was a famous old bar on that same block facing Ocean Drive called the Tack Room. The walls were filled with old timey pictures of famous people who had visited the bar after visiting the dog track down the street. Occasionally, we'd have a sandwich at that bar, but it was pretty expensive for our budgets. There was also a small bait and tackle shop in the middle of the block called Hi's Bait and Tackle.

I met my first girlfriend on the South Beach Pier, her name was Ruthie ... she and her sister were students at Ida M. Fischer Jr. High ... where the Porky's movies were filmed.

I saw my first person die at the pier. One chilly winter morning, an old man climbed over the railing and committed suicide. Two of my teen friends dove in after him, but by the time we were able to get a roe around him and haul him back up onto the pier to start artificial respiration, he was already blue and dead. The firemen arrived a few minutes later and took the body away. I can still remember the guy's blue face after all these years.