BlueWater Outriggers Fishing Report 7-31-2025
Well, it’s been another hot, yet exciting week here in our fishing town of Port St. Joe, Florida. MBARA sponsored its 29th annual Kingfish Tournament and what a success it was. The results are in, so I’ll get right to it. In the recreational division first place went to Royal Flush with a 24.84 lb. King, and in the open division Nauti Heifer took first place with a nice 33.84 lb. King. Congratulations to these winners and thank you to the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association for hosting yet another wonderful event. While Red Snapper season is about to take a break, the bite was on over the last week. You can see the haul that Reel Fun pulled in above. NOAA is predicting the next 5 days winds out of the Southwest with seas around 2 feet so be sure to exercise caution if going out; the ride will be a bit bumpy.
Tuesday I was driving around and noticed the seas were so calm around Mexico Beach they were beckoning me to wade out and fish in between the sandbars to perhaps pick up a nice flounder as they seem to be turned on here recently. I had my rod in the truck, so an impromptu fishing session was very doable. In the truck as well, was my three-year-old (above), as he is out of school for the summer. I devised what I thought was a genius plan and drove the boy down to the Shell Shack and let him pick out a new toy net and a bucket for making sandcastles. Seeing that it was really time for him to be taking a nap rather than trying to drag him on yet another fishing expedition, the "Pièce de résistance" was an ice cold Yoo-hoo I purchased and let him chug down on the way to a beach access. Fifteen minutes later I was parking the truck at an access site with a very excited little boy in the midst of a sugar high. He took off like a bat out of you know where when we got there, excited to make use of his new toys. Satisfied he would preoccupy himself for a while I waded out and began casting. After catching a croaker right off the bat, I turned to see that the boy was sprinting about ¼ mile down the beach to a family that had other little ones and a nice shade tent. Frustrated, I waded back in and began the hike to collect my son. While he knows he’s the center of my world, he doesn’t understand he’s not the center of everyone else's. He was starting a conversation with the parents and kids, helping himself to their shade and by the time I arrived, came to me with a frown saying he wanted one of their sandwiches. Folks, there was no reasoning with this boy that was hot, tired, and coming down from a sugar high. My trip, as well as my patience, was over. I picked him up along with my rod, his bucket, his shoes (he’d lost his new net) and started the 1/2mile walk back. With all the extra weight my flip flops were digging in the sand that might as well have been hot coals from a fire. It was miserable, but I learned a valuable lesson. After the two of us had a nap, we hit the intracoastal about an hour and a half before dark; It’s much cooler. The last two evenings I’ve ran into a nice trout bite with a few reds and some small flounder fishing root beer/gold plastics on a 1/8 oz jig head. According to other anglers and some guides, the Redfish bite has picked up in the Bay as well.
Terry Gizesky, reported in that he had done well fishing freshwater creeks in the Wewa area having a nice haul of Crappie caught using micro finesse baits from Z-man. You can see his catch above.
That’s going to do it for this week folks. I hope to see y’all out there but be careful in this sweltering heat!
-Jeremiah Beasley