We can bottom fish year round. Early in the year (Jan-April) we live bait fish for Amberjacks and and do some reef fishing for triggerfish, vermillion snapper, scamp & red grouper.
We also target big Cobia in April and May. . Sight fishing for monster cobias on light tackle is a challenge. One on one, with a big cobia on the surface. We also fish several cobia tournaments during that time looking for that monster fish.
In May as the water warms up the sport fish like Wahoo and black fin tuna show up offshore and king mackerel show up inshore.
As the water heats up in the summer the Marlin, Sailfish and mahi mahi fishing gets better and better and usually peaks in late September and Oct.
Black fin tunas usually show up in the fall and bite Sept., Oct. & Nov. with them peaking in Oct.
We normally do bottom fishing and some trolling both in the same day unless we are concentrating on Marlin or Tuna. We also catch allot of sharks. We do not keep them unless they are a Mako, hammerhead or big Tiger shark. Red Snapper and Gag grouper open in June and is just outrageous bottom fishing.
In the summer months (mid May thru mid Sept.) you never know what the day is going to bring. You could be presented with any number of different species all in the same day.
2-day marlin, tuna & swordfish trips are very popular. Fishing up to 150 miles offshore around the deep water floating oil rigs. We fish 2 & 3 day trips in April & May and also in August, Sept., Oct. and November.
Defiantly not for the meek or mild!
When the weather cools down in the fall the fish get charged up just in time for the October Fishing Rodeo. Black fin tunas usually show up around 20 miles offshore, the yellow fin tuna are at a peak on our 2 & 3 day trips and fishing is damn good!! The “Big Fish” fishing is good in late Sept thru November and we run allot of 12,14,16 & 18 hour trips in the fall of the year.
The Destin Fishing Rodeo is a month long fishing tournament with many different categories to fish in. The rodeo is a 50+ year tradition in Destin and makes October in Destin a special time of the year. The Destin Seafood Festival is always on the 1st weekend in Destin and is also great tradition in Destin not to be missed.
Sword Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico on the FISH N FOOL & the LADY EM. Sword fishing offshore of Destin is done around the 100-fathom curve, which is 50-60 miles offshore. We typically set the boat up to drift over the depth contours that we want to fish that night. The swordfish come up in the water column at night to feed near the surface. We like to swordfish! We like it a lot!!! For us, it's a chance to go one on one with a big mean fish both of us down on the deck, working with the angler and loving life. Swordfish are awesome and they get our blood pumping! And their good to eat!!! No matter how much of a sport fisherman I am, I still like to kill something to eat. It?s just practical. Yes it's a big beautiful, strong fish, and it's also good to eat! BONUS!! We love to fish for swordfish!! Its normally slick calm with a full moon or a partial moon, the boat is drifting in the current with the motors off and all the lights shining. It's just nice, its quiet and its peaceful!! And then of course you get the bite and it's on!! What a blast. Drifting at night in 1-3 thousand feet of water with the underwater lights lighting up the water around the boat. Whole squids and glow sticks fished 150 to 300 feet below the boat. The music's playing, there are a couple of million stars out and life is good!! Typically we will fish 3 or 4 lines at a time staggered at a couple of depths. Sometimes we wait hours for a bite and sometimes we get a bite within a few minutes. Sometimes we have two on at a time. If you get three or 4 bites and catch one or two swordfish, it's a good night. Swordfish are big powerful fish with a 3-5 ft sword attached to the swordfish's face and he knows how to use it to his advantage. Swordfish have a thick tail and a powerful stroke and the fight is typically a straight up and down battle with the swordfish occasionally coming to the surface to jump. Of course it is at night so all you see is the glow stick out there jumping up and raising cane and the line stripping off the reel. Very exciting!! Gain 30 ft; lose 40 ft, give and take. Keep steady pressure on him and hang on for the long battle. The tackle that we use for sword fishing is custom-built stand up rods with gold Penn International 50 wide reels with a full body harness, so that you can fight them with a harness or with the post on the boat.
The boat is drifting in the current with a large sea anchor. (a parachute in the water) off the bow. With the boat drifting in the current, sometimes you have to fight the fish all the way around the boat a couple of times before bringing them to the side of the boat.
Sword fishing on the FISH N FOOL or the LADY EM is typically done on a 24 hour trip or on an overnight trip.
We can swordfish during the night and either bottom fish during the day or do some offshore trolling for Wahoo’s, dolphins, sailfish and blue marlin.
We can sword fish on a 18 hr trip if we leave the dock around 7 pm and make the ride out to the 100 fathom curve with lines in the water around 10:30 / 11:00 and fish until daylight. We pull our lines shortly after daylight, make a fresh pot of coffee and get our day started. Either make a run inshore to start bottom fishing or put our lines out to start trolling for a big blue marlin or some wahoo dolphin action.
If we swordfish on a two day trip we will do it that on the night that we stay offshore and finish up our trip the next day either bottom fishing or trolling.
Sword fishing is something we do in combination with either bottom fishing, offshore trolling or tuna fishing around the rigs.
In the fall months of Oct. and Nov. the weather starts to cool off and the fish get to snapping.
We fish for all kinds of bottom fish as well as do a lot of offshore trolling. "Offshore fishing on the breaks (what we call the Edges) 23-28 miles offshore, we target schools of blackfin tuna, king mackerels and the occasional wahoo, big dolphin and cobias. There is no telling what you might hook or catch live bait trolling with down riggers in the deep water."
November turns to Indian summer in Destin November turns to Indian summer in Destin and there are no people in Destin and the Fishing offshore is awesome. The Red snapper go into off-season Nov. 1st and we concentrate on the blackfins, amberjacks and groupers. An incredible month to fish in Destin. Great weather and great fishing.
All during the year we have a lot of different options to fish for. The trick is to have a long enough trip to get to the less fished offshore fishing grounds and having the time to work and fish once you get there.