Today I fished with a couple of co-wokers and some of my software customers aboard the charter boat Silver Lining while I was in Destin, FL on business.  Captain Ed and first mate Joe worked really hard to provide us with a fantastic day on the water.  Talk about a completely different experience from what we typically do out on Lake Ontario!  We used live bait and fished anywhere from 60 ft down all the way down to the bottom over 110 FOW to catch a bunch of Red Snapper and a few Trigger fish.  We kept 37 fish and easily threw back another 100 fish that were too small to keep.  The action was fast and furious, and I completely trashed a shirt and a pair of shorts from all the carnage!  I lost track of my personal catch, but I'd have to say that I boated at least 35 Red Snapper today.  Every time I dropped my bait in the wather I had fish biting it.  What a cool sensation. 

When we were all done fishing for the day, we took our fresh catch to AJ's restaurant, which is located directly behind the boat, and we had fresh fish for dinner.  We had the fish blackened, deep fried, and baked.  It was easily some of the tastiest fish I've ever eaten in my life, and I look forward to having some more Red Snapper again soon.

One of the coolest things about the whole trip was seeing the Destin Fishing Rodeo weigh-ins.  The Rodeo is a month-long derby that runs out of AJ's restaurant, and they have the weigh-ins there every day for the entire month.  They have bleachers set up near the scales, and each time that we stopped to watch there were several hundred people there enjoying a beer, eating fresh fish and watching the boats come to the scales.  It was a huge scene, and was completely unlike our LOC Derby weigh-ins.  The closest thing I can compare it to would be the weigh-ins at the Pro-Am's that we fish, except it runs for an entire month and there are hundreds and hundreds of boats entered and the boats come directly to the scales and just step up onto the stage to have their fish weighed.  The Rodeo is a big deal down there, and it certainly was a highlight of my trip.

Here are a few pictures of our catch:



A typical Red Snapper and a Trigger Fish.  Both were caught on the same line at the same time.  Crazy stuff...



Our entire crew with the catch we brought home.



What a great sight at the end of the day!

Gotta get to bed....tomorrow is my first day in the tree stand with my bow this year and I need some sleep.

Until next time, Fish On!

~Capt. Bill