Bookings for charter fishing were up this season despite all the rain.
“We had a bad week during Fourth of July, but things have been good,” said Francis Thomas, manager of HarborWalk Charters. “We’ve had a lot of longer trips than we normally do, and companies are coming back to fish with us.”
Local captains say they hope the increase will spill over into the fall season with the 65th annual Destin Fishing Rodeo Oct. 1-31.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering lengthening the red snapper season to 21 days in October, which should significantly increase business during the shoulder season.
“It’s up in the air on how we’ll do until we hear about the red snapper,” said Bud Miller, captain of the Miller Time. “We’ve had a better year than we did last year and we expect a better year the next year.”
Snapper, cobia, grouper and amberjack were biting this summer, but some captains said mackerel were harder to find.
Bookings are strong going into the fall and the fishermen are largely optimistic.
“It looks like this should be a good season, but you never know,” said Dennis Kendrick, who runs the charter boat Finest Kind.
“Fishing is fishing,” Kendrick said. “Some days you can’t do anything wrong and some days you can’t do anything right, but we stick with it.”