James T Wilson Fishing Pier — Attraction in Hampton

I came to this fishing pier to have an enjoyable time watching the fireworks from across the water. As I stood closest to the beach, pointing out to my fellow onlookers the fireworks of Portsmouth and Newport News, I hear a piercing whistle sound and a white woman with unruly hair and no identification yells, “Yall need to get back!” No indicators of who she’s talking amongst many bystanders. Once realizing she is talking to us, we move back. She keeps rudely telling us to move back and we move back more. She is not clear as to how far to move back nor where she wants us to go even though I have asked several times at this point. She then starts speaking Spanish. I tell her I’m not hispanic and that I can speak English very well. She says, “Well so can I”. I then explain that despite that, she has not been clear in her directives. She gets mad and starts calling us all kinds of “babies” and keeps telling us different locations where she wants us to go. It is now clear to everyone else on the pier that she is being disrespectful, demeaning, and confusing. Because we pointed this out and doesn’t like it, she then says she is calling the police and LIES, stating that we were being aggressive. The police comes, aggressively, and she lies AGAIN to the police saying we were combative, hostile, and threatening to her, further escalating the situation. Another bystander on the pier had to yell down to the officer and say WE were in the right and that she was unclear. She the. Tells that man, HE has to go too. I ask her name and she says “City of Hampton”. All of this just to find out that adult site seers can be there for $1 dollar. She was an instigator, a liar, and absolutely unprofessional and should not be in a position of authority at this location. The city will be hearing from me Monday because her actions of escalation could have cost me my life had that white bystander...

Overall, it was a good experience.

The pier was nice and clean, the sight seeing was absolutely fantastic. People there were polite and courteous. The weather was perfect for sightseeing. However, I was there for fishing, not for sightseeing.

The fishing was uneventful. The waters seemed uncharacteristically cold and thus, only skates and red drums were in the waters. I didn't catch anything. Note, the pier is open 24/7 and the admissions were cheap. I even got a discount for having a saltwater fishing license.

To conclude, definitely fish in the summer for spot, croaker and other migratory fish. But if for those planning on going sightseeing, then it's a perfect time before it warms up too much. I would give a 5 star for the pier and review later for...

You can tell there is a definite shift in the way things are being done. The ladies at the counter stated that there was a capacity issue, and ppl would have to wait to get on the pier to fish. I did not see a posting of how many ppl can be on the pier at one time. I would think that capacity would be ppl elbow to elbow with no breathing room. That was not the case. There were gaps between most ppl fishing. Not once did I see either of those women walk and do a head count. As we were waiting, 4 ppl came off, and we still had to wait. It was just the 2 of us! We collectively have decided that we will have to go to another pier. Seems like the culture at BuckRoe pier has...