The marlin on the roof of AJ's Seafood & Oyster Bar made it through Hurricane Isaias. The Northwest Florida Daily News ran a photo of it the afternoon after the storm, when almost every other picture from town showed downed lines, standing water, and trees across the road. The Rodeo scales sit on the docks below that marlin, and The Destin Log reported they were ready to weigh fish again by Monday morning.
Isaias came ashore near Destin around 9:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with 105-mph sustained winds, according to the governor's office. The City of Destin called it the city's first hurricane in about 20 years. Nearly two weeks later, the town is recovering on two schedules. On the harbor, things were close to normal within days. In the neighborhoods, the debris trucks are still on their first pass. The 78th Destin Fishing Rodeo is the easiest way to see the gap between the two, and its last ten days run from Thursday, Oct. 22, through Halloween.
Three days dark, then the scales came back
The Rodeo lost three days to the storm. The Destin Log's Oct. 13 photo gallery called Monday, Oct. 12, the tournament's "first day back in business after being shut down for three days due to Hurricane Isaias." In The Destin Log's account of the weekend, the Rodeo board asked for help getting things running again, "and the people showed up." By Monday morning the scales were up, the merchandise trailer was restocked, and the Rodeo was ready to weigh fish at 10 a.m.
That restart depended on the charter fleet coming home first. Here's how The Destin Log reported the return, day by day:
- Thursday, Oct. 8: Captains moved their boats out ahead of the storm. Some went to St. Andrew's Marina in Panama City, some to Bay Point, and some anchored in the Intracoastal or in the bays and bayous. Capt. Taylor Waterfield of the Twilight took his boat to Panama City, came back to get his house ready, then went back to stay with the boat.
- Saturday, Oct. 10: Capt. Mike King brought the Hiliner home through the Intracoastal, which fishermen call "the ditch." There was "lots of lumber in the water," he said, but things eased up west of the Mid-Bay Bridge. By noon his crew was grilling triggerfish at the docks. Waterfield also had the Twilight back that morning.
- Sunday, Oct. 11: Capt. Cliff Atwell of the Reel Grace had planned an early-morning caravan back from St. Andrew's by way of the Gulf. Debris washing off the banks made the inland route "kind of dangerous to drive in," he said. Churches around town held services outdoors, and businesses started reopening.
- Monday, Oct. 12: The scales went back up at 10 a.m.
Missy and Chris Schofield of Boathouse Oyster Bar spent Saturday morning taking the tarps and boards off their place. "It's not bad at all. We boarded up ... it is completely dry in there," Missy Schofield told The Destin Log, adding, "We're just waiting on power." Boathouse was open again by Sunday. She also described a storm that never delivered its second half: "The eye gets all eerie and calm, and then you get another three or four hours. But we didn't get it."
So the harbor reopened before most of the town had finished cleaning up. Boats were back in their slips and the docks had come through dry, and the Rodeo needed both before it could weigh a single fish.
The fish kept coming
Return day did not look like a slow restart. The Destin Log gallery shows Jason Wommack's 64.8-pound amberjack aboard Un Reel with Capt. Justin Destin, and two more amberjack over 54 pounds from Sexton's Pride. Wommack also weighed a 3.2-pound scamp and a 20-pound barracuda on Un Reel that day. The 100 Proof brought in mingo for the board.
Six days later the live standings showed a full spread of species. On Oct. 18, Tommy Ballew weighed a 9.2-pound king mackerel aboard Muscle Memories. Zack Alderman brought in a 3.8-pound speckled trout from On the Bite Too. Lance Story weighed a 4.6-pound triggerfish from the Twilight, the same boat Waterfield brought home through the debris eight days earlier. Muscle Memories also put a 5.2-pound red snapper on the board that day. Red snapper has its own calendar this year, and that calendar shapes the final stretch.
Red snapper's last window closes this week
Red snapper is on the Rodeo leaderboard for the first time since 2013. The Destin Log reported in May that the board voted unanimously to add it. The board has long held that a species stays off the board unless every boat can fish for it. Jim Green, who chairs the rules committee, told the paper that this year "red snapper will be available for everyone just on different days."
The different days come from two regulators. Florida manages private recreational and state guide vessels, and set up a Friday-through-Sunday fishery for October. The National Marine Fisheries Service manages federal for-hire charter and party boats, whose season runs continuously from June 1 through Oct. 25. Here's what those rules leave for the last ten days of the Rodeo:
| Dates | Party boats and federal for-hire charters | Private boats |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Can weigh red snapper | No red snapper |
| Fri.–Sun., Oct. 23–25 | Can weigh red snapper, last days | Can weigh red snapper |
| Mon.–Thu., Oct. 26–29 | No red snapper | No red snapper |
| Fri.–Sat., Oct. 30–31 | Season closed | Can weigh red snapper, last days |
That makes the weekend of Oct. 23–25 the last time charter and private snapper overlap at the scales. Oct. 26 through 29 are the only days of the whole Rodeo when nobody can weigh a snapper. Capt. Allen Staples of the 100 Proof, a board member who supported the change, put the imbalance plainly: "This is the first time we can weigh them, and we can weigh a lot more days than they can." Federal for-hire boats get 25 days and private boats get 14. The storm took three of the Rodeo's days, so those limited weekend windows count for more than they did when the rules were written in May.
The trucks are on a different clock
Away from the water, recovery is moving more slowly. The City started citywide debris collection on Thursday, Oct. 15. It estimated the first pass would take about 17 days, with a second pass to follow. Counting forward from Oct. 15, that first pass runs to about the end of October, the same week the Rodeo ends. Crews from contractor T.F.R. Enterprises started in West Destin with one truck assigned to Crystal Beach. Volkert, Inc. is monitoring the work. The City's Oct. 14 notice says crews work from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week.
The City's instructions for curbside piles, from the same notices:
- Keep vegetative debris separate from construction and demolition debris.
- Place piles along the public right-of-way without blocking roads, sidewalks, drainage structures, or utility equipment.
- If one type of debris gets picked up and the other stays, that's expected, because trucks may collect each category at different times.
The contractor is also handling eligible hazardous leaning trees and hanging limbs. Questions go to Destin Public Works at 850-837-6869. Isaias hit the harbor and the side streets differently, and the two recovery schedules reflect that. One was back in a weekend. The other will take the rest of the month.
How the last ten days line up
The Rodeo's published schedule was posted before the storm. These are the dates on the calendar, and it's a good idea to check with the Rodeo office before planning around any one of them.
- Every day through Oct. 31: Weigh-ins are free and open to the public, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., on the docks at AJ's Seafood & Oyster Bar, 116 Harbor Blvd.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: The 4th Annual Miss Destin Mingle. Past Miss Destins gather for an afternoon harbor cruise and photos at the weigh-in.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Halloween on the Harbor, billed as the largest Halloween party on the Destin Harbor. Costumes are encouraged, with Rodeo captains, anglers, judges, volunteers, and Miss Destin on hand.
- Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30 p.m.: The 78th Annual Rodeo Awards in the downstairs restaurant at AJ's, where anglers, captains, and mates collect their prizes.
Other events on the area calendar include the Destin Songwriter Festival on Oct. 24–25 at 302 Harbor Blvd. and the City's 26th Annual Fall Festival on Oct. 26 at the Destin Community Center. Confirm those with the organizers before you go. The Destin-Fort Walton Beach visitor bureau said in its Oct. 14 recovery update that "some service disruptions remain" across the area.
That leaves one quiet midweek gap between the Oct. 25 snapper cutoff and the final weekend. In those four days the scales stay open, the trucks keep working through the neighborhoods, and the board fills in with amberjack, king mackerel, and triggerfish while snapper is off the table. The weekend of Oct. 30–31 brings private-boat snapper back for the last two days and ends the Rodeo with Halloween on the Harbor.
The scales behind AJ's close for the year at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31. If storm recovery has you thinking about your own place on the water, or how the harbor's quick comeback figures into owning in Destin, I'm glad to talk it through. Sherry Smith is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.
