BlueWater Outriggers Fishing Report 4-10-2026
I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on things recently. I’ve had time while waiting for what seemed like hours to make a left-hand turn down Main street. I’ve had time waiting in a McQuarter mile line of cars for my son's Happy Meal. I’ve had time while trying to find a parking space at the Piggly Wiggly, and I’ve had time while standing in a ½ mile long line at said Piggly Wiggly for a LB of ground beef. There’s no doubt about it folks, the tourists are here! I had to poke fun at them a little because it’s such low hanging fruit, but the fact of the matter is, we love our tourists here because they are what keeps this otherwise one-horse town afloat. I mean, could you imagine if here at the Bluewater Outriggers there were no tourists? I’d have to stand around and listen to Captain Jake go on and on about himself and what a great fisherman he is until I suffocated under the weight of his pomp and embellished fish measurements. That’s not the way I want to go out. So I say, “bring it on!” We love our tourists here at Bluewater Outriggers even if we have to put off ordering a Hungry Howie’s pizza until somewhere around November.
Speaking of low hanging fruit, I took my son to pick some blackberries around the Tapper Bridge a few days ago. It’s that time of year when they come in and the flounder should be soon to follow. I’ve fished there over the last several days and while I’m mostly targeting trout with light jig heads, I always skip a few jerk shads along the bottom to see if I can find a flounder. I have not found them there yet, but I know they’ve made their way to Mexico Beach. The intracoastal canal is still holding trout and reds. You can see an excited Gabriel Pfeifer (above right) holding a trout that his dad, David, put him on.
Surf fishing is still proving productive with increasing reports of pompano being caught. Several anglers have told me they were also able to catch a few specks while fishing the surf. To me, that is good news. As always, there are plenty of reds out there to be caught as well. Check out the impressive red that Dirk Raspotnik caught (above center). That monster was 43” long and weighed 28 pounds. The location has been sworn to secrecy.
The Spanish Mackerel have still been hanging around. Just this morning while heading into work, I saw my neighbor Ted on his aqua colored golf cart driving back from Clifford Sims Park. He informed me that he and his wife would be having fish for dinner. At the same spot, Jason Caputo and his son Jack (above left) made a morning of it catching some monster mackerel.
The wind has been non-ceasing here in Port St. Joe keeping those with smaller vessels at the docks. Because of this, there’s not much to report on offshore fishing. The National Weather Service indicates it should lay down around the weekend, so I’m sure next week I’ll have more information about what’s biting farther from our shoreline.
There’s plenty of fish to be caught around Port St. Joe; so get out there and make it happen! It may take you a little longer to get there because you’ll be stuck behind some lookie-loo that’s driving dangerously under the speed limit to catch a glimpse of a rare seagull or pelican...but it will be worth it!
-Jeremiah Beasley