Fishing

Fishing is coming back around towards the summer season with more and more species showing up in close to shore. As I said in my last report, the arrival of the big bait schools up in close is quickly followed by the pelagic predators.

We have been seeing Kings around just about every day as well as bigger Spanish, Bonita, even a few Black Snappers on the close in spots. The sharks have showed up thick as well. If you hook a good fish and don't get it in quick there as a good chance you won't get it in at all.

The weather has still been back forth a bunch with the prognosticators wrong about as often as right. The other morning had a small craft advisory and it was the prettiest day we've had in weeks. I've had to cancel a few days when the forecast was for "nice" as well.. oh well, as Mark Twain said, "everybody talks about the weather but no one ever seems to do anything about it".

The 11th Annual CCA Kid’s Fishing Tournament will take place on beautiful Grayton Beach on Sunday, April 24 from noon to 4pm. Make plans for a great day of fishing, fun and learning. The annual fishing tournament hosted by Coastal Conservation Association Florida - South Walton Chapter is a great opportunity for parents and young anglers to enjoy!

Been a wet and windy Spring this year at the beach so far. Plenty of Fish to catch when we get a pretty day but there have been a shortage of those the past couple weeks. On the bright side, the Cobia are here!

It's time to register and sharpen your hooks for Stinky's Outfitter & Bait Shack 6th Annual Pompano Tournament, sponsored by SoWal.com. The Captains' Party is on April 1st - LIVE @ the Shack with Forrest Williams Band from 6-9 p.m. Register on or before April 1st and receive free food & drink tickets to Stinky's 9th Anniversary Celebration! Bring it!

It's a sunny, warm spring break this week but the surf is huge ! I got 4 days in a row in last week and then another 2 this past weekend but the Gulf started getting rough Monday and the current forecast has the surf to big to go fishing for the foreseeable future. On the bright side, while it was nice it was beautiful and now there is no question about not being able to go. I hate it when it's "marginal" and I second guess myself all day if I cancel someones fishing trip.

Hard to believe that's it's Spring Break all ready here at the beach. I saw my first big group of (obviously out of town) kids on the beach today when we came back in from fishing. The past two months of slow time have sure been nice for all us that live here. My schedule gets pretty busy starting the first full week of March and the weather looks like it it starting to get better as well with at least a three day window of calm Gulf right now.

Once again, it's been a while since I wrote a report but it's that time of year here at the beach in SoWal. Not many vacationers and lots of cold fronts with windy conditions, surf and chilly mornings where it's just hard to want to launch the boat.

I showed up at the beach a couple mornings the past few weeks where I had locals that wanted to fish and calm seas but the North wind had blown so hard the day and night before there wasn't enough water left to float a boat!

In our area, we are fortunate to have two premier beach destinations that merge almost seamlessly together. While they are neighbors, each offers a unique experience. The remarkable communities of which we speak are, of course, South Walton and Destin. 
 
South Walton is comprised of a varied collection of “towns” that nestle predominantly along Scenic Highway 30A. Each offers their own interpretation of a life well lived by the beach. 

Happy New Year to all South Walton fishing fans! I realize I haven't written a fishing report in about a month. I took two weeks off for my daughter's wedding the start of December and the last 2 weeks of the year were nothing but wind and rain.

I ran a Flounder trip a week before Christmas and the gulf wasn't fishable again 'til New Year's day. Luckily the first three days of the year had everybody on my boat catching lots of fish.