Casting through the fog

Although it’s been a bit foggy the last couple of days, it hasn’t slowed down the fishermen.

On Wednesday, a couple of Destin’s party boats ventured out for a day of fishing and brought in some pretty good catches.

The Destin Princess with Capt. Chris McConnell at the helm came in a little after 2 p.m. from a six-hour trip and had several stringers filled with mingo and white snapper. There was also a few amberine in the mix.

“It was another gorgeous day on the water,” deckhand Mike Miller said as he stepped off the boat.

However it wasn’t so gorgeous when the 25 people boarded the boat in the morning.

“It was foggy this morning,” Capt. McConnell said. “And we stayed in the fog until we got about 3 miles from the pass. We only had about 100 feet of visibility.”

Driving through the fog can be tricky but for these seasoned captains, no problem.

In addition to the mingo, fishing regular Tom Milliren hooked into a shark as well as a few red snapper.

Milliren wasn’t the only angler to tangle with a shark on Wednesday.

Capt. Cliff Cox and the crew aboard the Sweet Jody also encountered a shark.

“It was like hauling up the bottom,” said local angler and Chef Al Massa who hooked the shark. “It took a long time but the mates helped.”

The shark was tail hooked so it was hard getting it to the boat.

Deckhand Clifton Cox said it was about a 200-pound thresher shark.

“It stayed straight out … we didn’t know what we had at first. It didn’t act like a shark,” Clifton Cox said.

They finally got it to the boat and cut it loose.

Massa didn’t go home empty handed though. He had a stringer filled with mingo and white snapper, as did several of the folks that stepped off the boat.

The Sweet Jody had 35 people aboard and arrived at the docks about 6 p.m. amidst the fog.

“It was thick,” Capt. Cox said coming through the rocks.

“When we left it was clear in the harbor until we got halfway out of the pass … then it sunk in,” Cox noting it was about the same on the way in.

But despite the fog, the fishing was good.

“They (the fish) weren’t real aggressive today … but we kept after them and had a good day,” Cox said.

The anglers came in with stringers filled with mingo, white snapper and a few lane snapper.

Come on down and drop a line.

See you at the docks.