Cedar Key Fishing Pier

UPDATE 09/16/2023 - THE PIER IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO HURRICANE IDALIA DAMAGE. WILL POST WHEN IT'S BACK OPEN AGAIN. Cedar Key Pier is a great place to visit and fish in Cedar Key! You can catch almost anything from the pier. I have caught almost every kind of game fish, and have seen even more caught from there! While Channel Catfish are very plentiful, you can also catch some great eating fish and some that are just fun to catch! I have caught Black drum up to 26 pounds (big ones have worms in them and should be released to be breeders, smaller ones are better eating anyway), Red Drums (reds), Spotted and Silver Sea Trout, Sharks (several kinds with Bonnett Head being the most common) rays, sheepshead, Snook, Tarpon and more. A drop net for pier fishing is a must. The pier is a good 12 to 18 feet off the water depending on the tide. And you need to have the right gear for the pier. You shouldn't fish with lightweight fresh water gear. You will lose it or break it. Some of the fish are just downright big. Saltwater rods and reels of fairly stout kind are best. You may see dolphin out on the channel and the occasional mantee will glide by. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful when the weather is right and worth getting up a bit early to see from the pier! The current here is strong and during tide it moves fast enough to require a 4 oz or heavier pyramid sinker to keep your bait in place. Bottom fishing is the only way to fish here during tides. During slack tide you can fish almost anyway you want. Single or double hook setups are the standard. The most common all around bait that works best is live shrimp and cut baits for most. Blue crab works well for drum. There is a bait shop, the Rusty Hook, right next to the pier and is very convenient. The pier has very nice restrooms and is kept up by a very nice lady who cleans them every morning. There is no charge to fish from the pier! So if you decide to try it out, look for me! I fish it once or twice a week, mostly during the weekdays, but now and then on the weekends when I take a friend out there! You can follow my fishing there at @outdoorswithCW

I went fishing on my birthday in May 2021. I had a good time, even though I lost a big fish. The pier isn't too big, but it's a sturdy concrete pier with clean bathrooms. It's really high up off the water which led me to losing a massive fish because I couldn't reel it up, and there's nowhere to walk the fish to in order to land it (and the bathrooms are also in the way even if you wanted to attempt to walk a fish to "shore"). It was very windy that day, but that's not the pier's fault. Lol All in all a pretty great place to fish! I'm planning to go back again soon.

Went there today to check it out and do some fishing. The fishing was terrible but that just happens sometimes. The pier itself was ok but obviously some people who fish there don't seem to care about picking up after themselves even though there are plenty of trash cans that are easily accessible. Both bathrooms were out of order as was the handicap ramp. I might try fishing there again. As another poster said, I would definitely recommend a drop net for hauling up fish as the pier is a good ways above the water line.