After a slow start Monday morning, the 59th annual Destin Fishing Rodeo had a big finish with 66 fish total weighed for the first day.

At 6:45 p.m. there were five boats waiting in line to weigh their fish - Cari Lynd, Miss Willie May, First Light, Big John and Perfect Shot. And that’s not counting the folks that walked up with fish from party boats or catches they reeled in off the pier.

The two biggest fish of the day were brought in on the Big John with Capt. Todd Allen. First his crew pulled out a 14-pound scamp. Then they brought out the big guns. Angler John Martin weighed in a 56.4-pound warsaw grouper and then a 61-pound grouper to take two top spots on the leaderboard. Capt. Allen said they caught the two big fish about an hour apart in about 320 feet of water.

The first day finished up with Capt. Brady Bowman and the crew aboard the Perfect Shot hitting the docks last and claiming three spots on the leaderboard - black snapper (8.8 pounds), ladies amberjack (19 pounds) and triggerfish (4 pounds).

-Tina Harbuck

After waiting for more than a half hour, the first fish, a 4.6-pound red snapper, was finally weighed in at 10:35 a.m. to kick off the 59th Destin Fishing Rodeo.

Carl Jiroux of Wing, Ala., fishing aboard the Mollie with Capt. Jeff Shoults, was the proud angler who received an etched glass plaque and the honor of being the first on the Rodeo leaderboard.

As a matter of fact, the Mollie was cruising by when weighmaster Bruce Cheves yelled at him to come in and weigh a fish if he had one. Capt. Shoults didn’t hear the yell, but his mother, Jean Melvin, did reach him by cell phone to bring in a fish.

“I know he always has one,” she said.

Capt. Shoults turned the boat around and Jiroux weighed in his fish and the rest is history.

The scales are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily throughout the month of October on the docks behind AJ’s.

-Tina Harbuck

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