Fast forward a few decades from my father-led nautical lessons and I ended up living in Miami and started fishing again once I graduated from grad school. It was like starting over from scratch: getting fishing license, learning limits, buying wrong fishing gear, and searching for jetties/piers/partyboats to fish from.
The life-altering thing that happened to me was when I got introduced to kayak fishing. All of a sudden the mangroves opened up to me, and I was also able to go beyond casting distance from the fishing piers and beaches. I fell into a good group of people that fished together and I have been all over the coast in my little 13ft piece of plastic. I've also been able to catch a variety of fish that I didn't think possible: Snapper, Jacks of all types, Mackerel, Kingfish, Mahi, and Blackfin Tuna! Fishing from Kayak also requires you to be keenly aware of your surroundings and the weather, so when I'm out there, I feel more engaged and I know its cheesy but "one-with-nature" comes to mind often.