FISH FLASH: Midweek fishing mighty fine

Fishing is not just for the weekends, several of Destin’s finest made it out on the Gulf earlier this week for some mighty fine midweek catches.

The partyboat Destiny with Capt. Dennis Kendrick at the helm backed in Tuesday afternoon with the fish boxes filled to the brim.

The 21 anglers aboard loaded up on triggerfish, mingo, white snapper, lane snapper, amberine and amberjack.

“We had lots of action,” Kendrick said.

“It was beautiful and calm and the fish wanted to bite,” he said, noting they were fishing about 25 miles out of Destin on the eight-hour trip.

“We had a great day,” said Marty Torreano of Michigan, who’s been fishing out of Destin for the past five years. Torreano filled his stringer with mingo and triggerfish.

Triggerfish was added back to the catch list on Jan. 1. The bag limit is two per person and they must measure 14 inches to keep.

“It was good day,” said Cal Kania of Minnesota as he held up his two triggerfish for a few photo ops. Kania, who’s been coming for the past 20 years, had no problem filling his stringer with mingo and white snapper to go along with his triggerfish. He also had an amberjack.

Amberjack also opened back up on Jan. 1 with a limit of one per person and a minimum size limit of 34 inches.

Capt. Judah Barbee on the Stelluna and his group from Washington, Pennsylvania and Alabama filled the racks with triggerfish, mingo and white snapper from a four-hour afternoon trip.

“We found some hungry ones today,” Barbee said.

West Virginia and Wisconsin anglers aboard the Only Way with Capt. Curt Gwin also came in from a four-hour trip with a board full of fish. They had several white snapper, mingo and triggerfish on the nails.

Capt. Allen Staples on the Al-Lin and his group backed in from an afternoon four-hour trip with a top rack full of triggerfish and a few mingo as well.

Wednesday proved to be just as good on the water. Capt. Reid Phillips on the Destin Princess took 30 folks out for a six-hour trip.

“It was gorgeous. The fish were biting good … nothing to complain about,” Phillips said, noting it was calm seas and perfect temps for a day on the water.

His group of anglers pulled in 200 head of mingo, 35 triggerfish, 60 white snapper, three amberjack and three lane snapper.

“And we threw back 105 red snapper,” Phillips said.

“I love fishing out of here,” said Ron Stewart of Ohio as he held up an amberjack.

Stewart explained that fishing regular Tom Milliren hooked the amberjack and then it got wrapped up in the lines. However, they were able to get it loose and Stewart reeled it on in.

“It was a team effort,” he said.

Later in the day, Capt. Alex Hare on the Silver King went out for an afternoon trip and came in with a good catch of triggerfish and mingo.

Just before 6 p.m., Capt. Chris Couvillion and his group of anglers came in from a 10-hour trip on the Sea Winder with a big variety of fish. They had two amberjack, two scamp, a small snowy grouper, a limit of triggerfish, white snapper and several mingo.

“This was my 10th year in a row to come fish here,” said Dale Sprouse of Minnesota who was fishing on the Sea Winder.

“And Destin is the place for variety and quality of fish … this is the best. I’ll take fishing in January any time,” Sprouse said.

Fishing is good, so book a trip and give it a try.

See you at the docks.