FISHING: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (with CATCH-OF-THE-DAY PHOTOS)

When walking the docks Monday morning and hearing the talk and seeing the catches, I was quickly reminded of the title of one of Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns from the 1960s — The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The “good” would be the pretty catches I saw. From red snapper to king mackerel, with a few grouper and black snapper mixed in.

The “bad” would be the talk of the coming oil spill.

As Capt. Mike Knight of the Knight Rider put it, “It’s the big blob that goes out of sight.”

 Knight said he usually fishes a little southwest of Destin, but Monday, “I couldn’t even go to my first spot,” he said.

The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon as he put it “is here.”

“They say it’s the stuff,” Knight said. At least that is what he is hearing from the boat captains that are out patrolling as vessels of opportunity for British Petroleum.

“Yesterday it was off the Navarre Pier, now it’s off White Hill,” Knight said, which is five to six miles due south of Fort Walton Beach. Knight had tried to fish that direction but was turned around by one of the contract vessel.

“I expect the worse and hope for the best,” he said.

“I hope to get tomorrow in,” Knight said. “I’m going to fish until they tell me I can’t.”

Capt. Knight managed to get Monday’s trip in. He and his anglers from Arkansas pulled in king mackerel and red snapper.

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For more  photos, click here

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Anglers from Texas and Florida on the Lucky Lina with Capt. Steven Lathi brought in a nice catch of red snapper, king mackerel, a grouper and a Jack Crevalle.

“It was beautiful out,” one of the anglers said.

“We consider ourselves extremely lucky and blessed,” to fish during these last few days, said Tom Ferguson of Nolanville, Texas. “The only regret I have is we should have been doing this the past five or six years,” he said.

Some of the captains are starting to realize fishing may soon come to a halt.

“I’m thinking Tuesday or Wednesday is it,” said Capt. Mike Graef of the Huntress. “I hope I’m wrong.” Capt. Graef has been doing one and two trips a day on a regular basis for the last several weeks and bringing in good catches.

On Monday, he moved one of his Wednesday trips up to Monday. And they did quite well. His group from Texas brought in three black snapper, the limit of red snapper and a couple of king mackerel.

“It was non-stop,” one of the anglers said. “We could have caught forever.”

Capt. Rob Broestler on the Dawn Patrol and his group brought in a nice rack of red snapper and a king mackerel and Capt. Jimmy Miles on the Kelly Girl and his group landed seven red snapper and a couple of king mackerel.

The “good” is — fishing is good.

The “bad” is — oil is on the way.

The “ugly” — is yet to be seen.

But for now, as the one angler put it, we are “extremely blessed” to fish while we can.

See you at the docks, I hope.