Anglers all throughout the Sunshine State may now find their new favorite fishing spot with ease.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has just debuted the Florida Fishing Pier Finder, an interactive map that lists over 600 fishing spots across the state.
The website is intended to assist anglers in locating publicly available freshwater and saltwater fishing piers, jetties and fishing-specific bridges around Florida.
“I am thrilled with the FWC’s new Florida Fishing Pier Finder,” said FWC Commissioner Gary Lester, who also serves as The Villages’ vice president for community relations. “This innovative platform helps anglers find areas where they can enjoy the diverse fishing opportunities found here in Florida, the fishing capital of the world.”
Anglers can search through more than 600 fishable structures throughout Florida, the majority of which are free to use, using color-coded dots to represent different sorts of structures.
Fishermen can also search for a location by county, city, feature name and feature types, such as a fishable bridge or pier, using the search option.
The Sport Fish Restoration program, a government initiative that collects taxes on purchases of fishing equipment and motorboat fuel in order to fund projects that improve fishing opportunities, provided financing for the Florida Fishing Pier Finder.
The Florida Boat Ramp Finder and Artificial Reef Deployment Locator are already live, and the platform joins two other interactive maps created by the FWC. The artificial reef finder specifies accessible diving reefs by material, depth and location, while the boat ramp map emphasizes all known hand launch, stand-alone and marina-based boat ramps around the state.
With a combined total of 29 spots listed for Lake, Marion and Sumter counties, the local tri-county area offers a variety of fishing possibilities.
Aside from The Villages’ more than 30 fishable ponds, there are two places indicated by the new FWC finder that are only a short distance away.
Lake Miona Park (10501 County Road 115, Oxford) is a 418-acre lake with a fishing pier, dock and boat ramp for anglers to explore. The 530-acre Lake Deaton Park (5300 County Road 155, Wildwood) features the same on-shore facilities.
“There’s a lot of great fishing around our area,” said Robed Tatum, a Wildwood resident who frequents Lake Miona often. “If I can find even more places to fish by just pulling up my phone and using (the finder), I think that’s great.”
To use the FWC’s new Florida Fishing Pier Finder, go to myfwc.com/pierfinder and use the interactive map.
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
