EAT ME: The ultimate in low food miles: Catch tilapia at a St. Pete lake (it's also called Nile Perch) and save the $8/pound the farmed crap from Publix costs. Credit: regani via Wikimedia Commons

EAT ME: The ultimate in low food miles: Catch tilapia at a St. Pete lake (it’s also called Nile Perch) and save the $8/pound the farmed crap from Publix costs. Credit: regani via Wikimedia Commons
Through Labor Day 2017 you can legally fish from the shore at 22 St. Pete lakes. While you need a license (except for kids under 15, anyone over 65 with ID that proves it and — quite specifically — anyone fishing with a reel-less fishing pole in their home county when the moon is full and they're facing east {OK, you caught us, we made that last part up}) — shore fishing in the 'Burg doesn't take much other than that, some bait and a pole. 

You can fish between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily. Get your license here, at any Pinellas County Tax Collector office or at most bait shops and sporting good stores (the good ones, anyway).

Someone — the press release doesn't specify who, and no one at Parks & Rec knew whether it was a staffer or outside fish-stocking company, but either way it's funded by St. Pete's 6.755 millage rate — stocks these lakes with bass, bream, catfish and Nile perch (also called tilapia and selling for an overpriced $8/pound at Publix). So put your tax dollars to work and go catch fish at the following lakes:

  • Booker Creek Park Lake, 23rd St. and 13th Ave. N.
  • Childs Park Lake, 11th Ave. and 42nd St. S.
  • Crescent Lake Park, 22nd Ave. and Fifth St. N.
  • Eagle Crest Lake, Sixth Ave. and 66th St. N.
  • Euclid Lake, 25th Ave. and 17th St. N.
  • Moon Lake, 13th Ave. and 42nd St. N.
  • Kelly Lake, 40th Ave. and 20th St. N.
  • Jude Lake, Sixth Ave. and 55th St. N.
  • Lake Vista Park, 62nd Ave. and 14th St. S.
  • Lynch Lake, 70th Ave. and 18th St. N.
  • Mastry Lake, 64th Ave. and 14th St. N.
  • Ruby Lake, 26th Ave. and 35th St. N.
  • Sheffield Lake, 24th Ave. and 49th St. N.
  • Sirmons Lake, 33rd Ave. and 41st St. N.
  • Teresa Gardens Lake, 32nd Ave. and 71st St. N.
  • Viking Lake, 75th Ave. and 14th St. N.

Also, guys, use your head. If all the lawns near these lakes are lush fields or verdant grass, don't fish there after a heavy rain unless you don't mind ingesting unhealthy amounts of cow shit (common name: fertilizer).

And hey, the 'Burg also has saltwater lakes, where you might catch speckled trout, silver trout, redfish, sheepshead, mullet, catfish and Nile perch. You don't need a license to fish at these lakes (again, from the shore only):

  • Bartlett Lake, 22nd Ave. and 4th St. S.
  • Fossil Park Lake, 70th Ave. and 7th St. N.

You can fish here all year if the spirit moves you: The following lakes remain open for fishing year-round:

  • Bartlett Lake, 22nd Ave. and 4th St. S.
  • Fossil Park Lake, 70th Ave. and 7th St. N.
  • Lake Maggiore, 38th Ave. and Dr. MLK, Jr. St. S.
  • Lake Eli (Little Lake Maggiore), 25th St. and Lamparilla Way S.
  • Mirror Lake, Second Ave. and Mirror Lake Dr. N.
  • Walter Fuller Lake, 26th Ave. and 78th St. N.

Here the rules:

  1. Don't be an asshole. To wit: Clean your fish at home — this isn't a marina; use the damn trash cans; don't litter (dude, do we really still have to say that?); don't trespass; remember you're in a neighborhood and not out on the open sea; and don't get trashed and loud, OK?
  2. No crab traps anywhere on any of these lakes (or any other city lakes).
  3. Cast netting permitted only at Lake Maggiore and Lake Eli (Little Lake Maggiore).
  4. If there are signs with rules we didn't mention here, you need to follow those, too. 
  5. Fish only from the shore or fishing docks (for some reason this excludes Lake Maggiore).

This article appears in Jun 1-8, 2017.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...