BlueWater Outriggers Fishing Report 11-14-2025

It was blistering cold when I pulled into a parking space at Clifford Sims Park on Tuesday.  It was around 2:15 in the afternoon and the winds had only recently died down enough to make casting a soft plastic feasible.  I had just picked the boy up from preschool, and he was running his mouth about something; I was not particularly paying attention.   I’ve told him time and again he is only allowed to ask me 400 questions a day, and he had managed to run over this allotment within the ten-minute drive from his school to our destination.  While still bumping his gums as he clumsily climbed over my center console to exit the vehicle, I slapped a toboggan on his head and grabbed my ultra-light from the bed of the truck.  Hastily making our approach to the seawall I couldn’t help but notice how the conditions seemed absolutely perfect for great fishing.  The weather was nice and cold, the water clear, and the rock jetties aligned with pesky pelicans eagerly awaiting to steal a hooked trout as it’s reeled in. Even the thieving cormorants were present, briskly swimming and diving all around.   It was only after my first cast that the excitement for what should have been wore off and the sad reality of the situation was made as clear as the water I was fishing.  The seafloor was littered with the carcasses of fish that on cue made their way into the deeper water.  The poor creatures had no way of knowing they were swimming into a red tide toxin riddled basin.  A commotion at the surface caught my attention and I noticed several fish splashing around in the midst of a death throe. One eager pelican dove on the fish but promptly released him and went on his way.  The situation was so disheartening I only gave it about 20 minutes and left having only caught one small red. Wednesday morning I fished the mouth of the intracoastal and had the same kind of luck.   

While bay fishing is currently in a sad state of affairs, those fishing off the beach, oceanside, are having a bit more luck reporting catches of some pompano, redfish and whiting.  Better yet is the offshore fishing.  Last week I was talking about my fellow colleague Jake Harpe and how he was planning on chasing after some Wahoo.  I’m not trying to give ol’ Jake a hard time, I would never do that, but as a mandated reporter it would be remiss of me to inform you that he did not catch one.  In case you’re just skim reading, let me repeat that.  Jake did not catch a wahoo.  However, because we are such good friends, I will redeem him.  On Wednesday when Jake called in sick to work but actually went fishing, he loaded the box up with some very nice fish (above right).  They had snowy grouper, yellow-edge grouper, vermillion and red snapper.  Jake’s dad, Jeff Harpe (above center), can be seen holding a massive red snapper he caught; and just check out the size of the beeliners (above left).  That thing is pushing 22 inches!  Wahoo or not, that’s an impressive haul, Jake. 

There you have it, folks.  That’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of our fishing situation here in Port St. Joe.  We’ll just have to take this red tide situation one day at a time and see how it plays out.  One thing’s for sure, no good will come of it.  We’ll just have to pray that the long-term effects will not be too devastating, and our fish population will recover.  Until next week, I hope to see you out there. 

-Jeremiah Beasley