By Cali Hlavac
For us locals, it’s time to begin getting ready for this year’s Fishing Rodeo season—a Destin tradition since 1948! And each year it gets better and better with several new events in the upcoming lineup.
New for 2022: The Extended Voyage Division will get an expansion, adding five...
By Frank Berte
Destin Fishing Rodeo’s Weighmaster extraordinaire. A seemingly simple man with a complex, tangled past. A man who, to some, has become synonymous with the very Rodeo itself has lived a far more tangled past. His fascination with fish has been lifelong, as has his chronic sea sickness....
By Cali Hvalac, To Do In Destin
The Boathouse Summer Slam fishing tournament runs through Aug. 7 and is a way for captains to compete for bragging rights and cash prizes by weighing their fish daily. Organized by Boathouse Oyster Bar, weighmaster Amber(jack) Helton is on site every day meeting...
In celebration of World Coral Reef Awareness Day, Starborough Wine partnered with Reefmaker, the largest reef builder in the U.S., to deploy its first limestone reef two miles off the coast of Fort Walton Beach in June. It is designed to help maintain and rebuild ocean habitats off the...
On April 28, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Eglin Air Force Base’s Integrated Test Team demonstrated a new low-cost, air-delivered capability for defeating maritime threats, that successfully destroyed a full-scale surface vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel was the COURAGEOUS and our Coastal Resource Team was...
The recreational red snapper season started June 17 in Gulf state and federal waters off Florida and will remain open through July 31 with 12 days in the fall.
The Gulf federal season for for-hire operations with federal reef fish permits begins June 1 and will close at 12:01 a.m....
By Cali Hvalac, To Do In Destin
The Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic at Sandestin (ECBC) is a multi-day event that happens at Baytowne Marina at Sandestin during the peak of blue marlin season. The 20th annual tournament June 22-26 welcomed 84 boats with a total of $1,987,100 in cash...
By April Sarver, Okaloosa County PIO
Congratulations! Divers participating in the 4th Annual Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament successfully removed 13,835 lionfish from local waters. The invasive species prey on native fish and have no known predators due to their venomous spines. Hosted by Destin-Fort Walton Beach, alongside Florida Fish...
2022 Lionfish Challenge!
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announces the 2022 Lionfish Challenge tournament, which ends Sept. 6. The Lionfish Challenge is a summer-long lionfish tournament open to competitors around Florida. The goal is to remove as many lionfish as possible in just three-and-a-half months.
Participants will compete...
The Gulfarium’s C.A.R.E. Center successfully released four rehabilitated sea turtles on Thursday, May 12, 2022, at Inlet Beach.
It was a beautiful morning as crowds gathered to watch the endangered turtles head back into the Gulf of Mexico. All of the rehabilitated sea turtles had fallen victim to fishing hook...
