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Posts: 2330
Location: Chisholm, MN | Has anybody been to Destin Florida and fished? Looking for guide recommendations. Will be there at the end of March through early April.
Edited by Kirby Budrow 11/13/2022 5:18 PM
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Posts: 333
Location: SE Wisc | Nope |
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Posts: 1415
Location: Brighton CO. | My dad's job took him to Panama City (next door to Destin) he and his boss/family friend had a boat together and caught a lot of fish. I was born there and left when I was a year old. Went to Destin in 2007 for a wedding and there was boats and sea food everywhere, you should have no problems finding a boat/guide. I didn't fish but was glad we moved. |
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Posts: 333
Location: SE Wisc | chuckski - 11/16/2022 6:06 PM
My dad's job took him to Panama City (next door to Destin) he and his boss/family friend had a boat together and caught a lot of fish. I was born there and left when I was a year old. Went to Destin in 2007 for a wedding and there was boats and sea food everywhere, you should have no problems finding a boat/guide. I didn't fish but was glad we moved.
I believe he said he was looking for guide recommendations, not whether or not guides are there. |
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Posts: 320
| Not a guide recommendation but I’ve always had good luck fishing early morning off the pier at Dewey Destins just north of the 98 bridge. As long as you get there early and don’t park close to the restaurant they are cool with it. That time of the year the sheepshead should be there. Just drop a shrimp along the pilings and you’ll get bit. Fish until lunch then grab a fish or shrimp sandwich and a couple beers and sit out over the water. A hole in the wall place but great food and view. |
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Posts: 393
| I can agree with ToddC. In the last couple of days fished the piers in that area of Destin and had some luck. Deweys is fantastic. Highly recommend. |
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Posts: 72
| I used to live near there. Most of the guides there just catch small stuff.
But you can catch sharks off the beach. Many of the guides won't charge you unless you catch one. Big John is a good guy: https://bigjohnsharkfishingadventures.com/. |
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Posts: 2330
Location: Chisholm, MN | Well we just got back from Destin and I thought I would give you guys an update. We hired Captain Justin Hall of Maximus Fishing for two days. The first day we targeted reef and wreck fish. Grouper, Snapper and Amberjack were the primary target. The second day we targeted swordfish. Both days were amazing and blew my mind with the strength of these fish. It was my first time deep sea fishing and I was warned that the fish will test your limits but I was not prepared for the reality of it. I'm sure some of you know. I would recommend this guide to anyone. He was professional and personable. His knowledge of the ocean and the fish was incredible. We had the time of our lives and will definitely go back!
Attachments ---------------- Sword.jpg (175KB - 78 downloads) Gag.jpg (134KB - 61 downloads) Erin.jpg (119KB - 71 downloads) Amberjack.jpg (90KB - 68 downloads) Snapper.jpg (136KB - 66 downloads)
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Posts: 320
| Nice fish Kirby! Those sure beat sheepshead off the piers! Did you do two full days or two half days? What were the run times to get fishing? Again, nice job! |
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| Oh boy, that looks like fun! |
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Posts: 2330
Location: Chisholm, MN | ToddC - 4/6/2023 1:31 PM
Nice fish Kirby! Those sure beat sheepshead off the piers! Did you do two full days or two half days? What were the run times to get fishing? Again, nice job!
Thanks! It was 2 days. The first was an 8 hour day fishing reefs and wrecks in 150-200' about 45 minutes off shore. Non-stop action for amberjacks, grouper and snapper but the sharks were a problem with landing a lot of the fish. They were also just incredibly strong and would pull you into the structure and break off. The second day was actually a 12 hour day for just swordfish. That was over a 2 hour run to 1500' of water. We did not have as much action that day but it was just as fun. More like muskie fishing - you just don't get many bites but the one bite is worth it. In fact the one sword we did catch bit within a minute of dropping the line down. After that it pretty much went dead. The guide talked about the moon having influence on the fishing and the correlations were the same as muskies. He said a visible moon is the kiss of death, which is often my experience. If you ever have the chance to fish swordfish - highly recommend.
Edited by Kirby Budrow 4/7/2023 9:28 AM
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Posts: 1415
Location: Brighton CO. | Sounds like a good time of course a good time to be way from mud season, The late Ray Kennedy used to fish in salt water in the British Honduras and in Tom Hollatz book "Guides Of The Wisconsin Northwoods" he said a 40 pound Tarpon would drown and 40 pound Muskie if you hooked them together. |
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Posts: 557
Location: deephaven mn | nice ! sword fish is really cool and a hard one to get! thanks for the update |
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Location: PA Angler | Looks like a great time on the water. Some very nice fish. |
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