Destin - World's Luckiest Fishing Village

Sunrise on the Anticipation

That's what it is called and it has the largest charter flishing fleet in the state of Florida -- so, why shouldn't I take a charter before leaving this state after 4 months of travelling and fishing its beaches and piers?  Call me (and the others on our boat) lucky as well, because it is raining this morning and some thunder and lightning woke me at almost the same time I had to get up yesterday morning to make the 6:00 a.m. departure from the dock's of Pelican Adventures.

We (me and 9 others) were on the "Anticipation" and we were the first boat to pull away from the dock yesterday so, they had to call and have the bait boat run out to catch us before we passed the jetty to open waters.  As soon as we passed the choppy waters above the near shore sand bars, the first mate (Travis) put out a couple lines with lures as big as some of the "keepers" I have struggled to catch.  The captain (Bo) weaved us in "S" turns as we headed for the deeper waters offshore and before long it was "Fish On" and the fun was underway.

There were four chairs on the deck of the 42 foot boat and I took the second from the stern on the starboard side as three other guys had taken the other three.  The first fish caught was a nice King Mackerel and the second was also a King Mackerel -- the biggest fish of the day caught by the next to smallest guy on the boat -- what a memory maker for him.  We bottom fished at a spot some 15 miles offshore and were catching lots of nice Red Snapper (which we couldn't keep) so, the captain moved us over to another spot and we started catching lots of Mingo Snappers, White Snappers, Triggerfish and a Porgy or two.

While we were fishing and catching fish off the bottom, Travis had put a "floater" line out as well and that is when I had my most fun trying to land a big fish on the lighter spin casting rig -- fought him for 5 or 10 minutes as he charged left and right then, toward the boat (causing most on the starboard side to reel in their lines).  Two or three times, the fish started tearing line off the reel (so I let it) as it dove for the bottom and on its third dive, it got off -- first mate said I did everything right and it turned out that the fish had bent the hook straight to get off.

Travis and our catch

A little later, I did catch my biggest fish -- the biggest Bonita of the day.  While reeling in my line to clear the stern of the boat for another guy with a "Fish On", the fish hit hard when I was about two thirds of the way up -- probably a small school running through the shallower water.  The other guys fish got off which may have been a Bonita too.  On the way back to Destin, another nice King Mackerel got on one of the trolling lines but, spit the hook just as it was brought up to the stern.  A bit later, another "Fish On", this time on the smaller top running lure and this was the second Bonita caught by the smallest kid on the boat.

Everybody caught fish and we lost a few other nice ones -- a reeling fun day.  Hardy, Har! Har!

Destin Harbor - Waterfront