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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