BlueWater Outriggers Fishing Report 8-7-2025
Well, it’s another beautiful morning here in the little fishing town of Port St. Joe, Florida. We’ve noticed a slight ebb in the flow of visitors to our quaint community as Red Snapper season has been put to a momentary halt. This is, as they say, the calm before the storm; things will be very different next week with the opening of our famous scallop season. The lure of the Sturgeon Moon happening this Saturday will have anglers itching to get out there over the next few days to see if fish are in a feeding frenzy with the rising currents and stronger tides. If you are looking to get out there, be forewarned the ride could be a bit “sporty.” For the next five days NOAA is forecasting East winds with a wave period of only 2-3 seconds and seas around 2 feet. I had the honor and the privilege to speak with local fishing legend Jake Harpe this morning and he informed me that he would most likely not be heading out this weekend due to offshore conditions. If The Legend isn’t going...should anyone? Be careful out there! This last week was a good one though. The Wahoo bite has remained consistent trolling in depths from 150-300 feet. The Madmacs by Nomad Design seems to be a popular high-speed rig for anglers targeting Wahoo. The MBARA LAARS reefs were a good spot to troll for Kings but good luck getting out that far this next week. It may just be a good idea to keep it inshore and enjoy the light traffic on the bay this weekend, as next weekend you will not have that opportunity.
Although we’ve had our fair share of showers and thunderstorms over the last few days, it made for some pleasant times out on the bay as everything was cooled down a bit and the clouds brought some much-needed relief from the blazing sun. One of the great pleasures I experience working at Bluewater Outriggers is the opportunity to talk with and help people that share the same passion for fishing that I have. This last week that opportunity came in the form of the Clint and Mandi Howell family. After helping them outfit their boat with good rods and tackle they invited me and my three-year-old partner in crime out on a boat ride. I use the term “boat ride” because it wasn’t a serious fishing trip as there were young kids on the boat, but you better bet we were going to give the new equipment a spin. In the middle of the afternoon, we launched from Eagle Harbor and headed right, around the point. With no specific spot in mind, we pointed the boat towards land and slowly drifted in until we were over grass in 4-6 feet of water. I tossed a Ned Shrimp in the middle of a grass patch which immediately drew the attention of smaller fish; then from out of nowhere a Jack Crevalle flew in and smashed it. Mandi landed the fish and can be seen holding it above. Clint snagged a small pigfish with his Ned Rig and we transferred it to a small circle hook under a popping cork. Within minutes that rod was bent with a nice keeper trout that you can see me holding above next to my son. That was just one stop we made. I have no doubt we could have filled a cooler if that’s what we wanted to do, but my son, enthralled with the 300-horsepower engine on the back of the boat insisted about 500 times that he wanted to go fast. Having had our bit of fun, Clint and Mandi indulged little Captain Ahab and much to his delight we flew across the bay at a high rate of speed while taking in the sites of sea turtles surfacing and pods of dolphin porpoising. The point is, if we can do that on a leisurely cruise, midafternoon, imagine what you could do if you were to get serious about it and hit those grass flats early in the morning or late evening.
That’s going to wrap it up for this week. There’s still a lot of good fishing to do so I hope to see you out there! Thanks again Clint and Mandi for your generosity towards me and my boy. I wish you many tight lines in the future!
-Jeremiah Beasley