Not only was his amberjack the last fish, No. 790, but it became a first when it tilted the scales at 76 pounds. He took over in the Amberjack Division, daily largest and weekly.

He was fishing aboard the Sunrise with Capt. Kelly Windes, who is known for bringing in the whoppers when it comes to Rodeo fishing.

Click below for a link to video of the Rodeo’s closing hours.

http://www.thedestinlog.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1225901529&bclid=1227699971&bctid=1299109575

— Tina Harbuck

Roman Centurions, devils, wet T-shirt contestants, a patient with his behind exposed and the rare pink spotted grouper all prowled the docks on this Halloween night. Rodeo officials with shark hats circled the harbor — a tip of the hat to the 844 pound shark that was seen ’round the world. Even Miss Destin Emily Kaltz got in the act donning a garbage can as the Trash Can Slam.

At 7:00, Weighmaster Bruce Cheves called to the boats still idling in the harbor.

“Bring up your dead,” Cheves said.

And then the big ones came in. Stay tuned!

Long a Rodeo tradition, Cheves has assembled a list of names of those from Destin’s fishing community and from the community at large that have passed away in the past year.

When he deems appropriate, Cheves will ask the crowd to be quiet and he will ring the bell once for each name on the list.

Normally a pretty jovial, fun-loving guy, Cheves takes the tradition very seriously.

“Well, let’s just put it like this. If someone wants to talk while I’m ringing that bell, we’re going to turn that cannon around,” he said, referring to the small but noisy cannon used primarily for fish gut art, positioned toward the water.

-Patrick Donohue

Rodeo Chairman Tim Broom is already decked out and I’m sure others will be as the day progresses.

The weather is great and the boats are out, which means they will be coming in with lots of fish.

Don’t forget the scales close today at 7 p.m. for the last time for the 59th Rodeo.

-Tina Harbuck

The last night of the Rodeo is always a pretty festive occasion. Weighmaster Bruce Cheves, Rodeo chairman Tim Broom and others will likely be dressed up in their ghoulish best.

Cheves will also be partaking in one of his favorite Halloween pastimes - fish gut art. The art happens when Cheves loads a cannon with fish guts and other equally nasty components and fires it against a white board.

For this year’s art, Cheves has promised an array of colors.

“Along with fish guts in our fish gut art, we will be incorporating the use of different spherical containers of color,” he said.

What else will Cheves be doing to close the Rodeo in style?

“We are going to do whatever we can get away with without getting arrested,” he said.

Could be a great night. Let’s hope the weather keeps up its end of the bargain.

-Patrick

Such was the case for the crew aboard the Perfect Shot.

Perfect Shot was the last boat in Monday evening, but it was worth the wait for the crowd gathered on the docks at AJ’s.

Just minutes before 7 p.m. (close of scales), Capt. Brady Bowman and his crew backed in at the Rodeo scales with a whopper of a king mackerel.

A couple of hours earlier, we had received word that Capt. Bowman had a big king, but you never count it until you see it on the docks.

Well it was a NICE one. Fourteen-year-old Tyler Heikkinen of Shalimar pulled in a 43.4-pound king mackerel that took over first in the charter division and first in the King Mackerel Jackpot. If his catch holds until close Wednesday evening it could be worth some big money for the captain and youngster.

Before the king was gutted it weighed 45 pounds.

Catching big king mackerel is nothing new for Capt. Bowman — last year he won the division with a 51.6-pounder.

There are two days left in the 59th annual Destin Fishing Rodeo and the count is now at 758 fish weighed.

Don’t miss out on the last two days. Anything could happen.

See you there.

-Tina Harbuck

One tradition that was started four years ago by Miss Destin Amanda Sumrall is gutting a fish. Day after day, fish come in and weighmaster Bruce Cheves has his hands full gutting the fish before they are hoisted onto the scales. Of course he has help from Richard Laedeke and Ann White. But four years ago, Amanda decided she didn’t mind getting her hands dirty and wanted to capture the “whole Rodeo experience” so she decided to try gutting a fish.

Since then, it has been something that every Miss Destin has tried her hand at.

Well, this year’s Miss Destin Emily Kaltz gave it a try over the weekend. She said she gutted a dolphin on Friday, then on Saturday evening I watched her gut a king mackerel first hand.

Cheves calmly guided her through the process of where to cut, what to pull out and then toss aside. She grimaced a little, but she made it through with flying colors.

Way to go Emily.

-Tina Harbuck

However the sun is shining and the scales will be open until 7 p.m., so come on down to the docks behind AJ’s. You never know what might come in.

Late last night we had one of those unusual catches come in.

Local angler Jordan Couch came walking up with a fish in a bucket. But it wasn’t a flounder or a trout — it was a freshwater bream he caught out at Sandestin.

Rodeo Weighmaster Bruce Cheves put the frisbee-size bream on the scales and it titled at 2 pounds. Now, I’ve caught my fair share of bream, and it certainly was a sight to see.

Even as big as it was, there is no category for bream on the Rodeo leaderboard.

However, the crowd got a charge out of seeing the fish.

-Tina Harbuck

On Saturday, Capt. Steve Lathi took his daughter Katrina Ann out fishing on the Lucky Lina - and luck was with them. The 13-year-old landed a 17.4-pound amberjack to get on the leaderboard. Yes, the children of charter boat captains have their own category in the Rodeo.

And getting on the board is nothing new for Katrina Ann. A couple of years ago she landed the winning sailfish.

Don’t forget the scales open at 10 a.m. tomorrow and close at 7 p.m. So come on down to the docks at AJ’s and enjoy the fun.

-Tina Harbuck

Why, would you go swimming on a chilly afternoon, you might ask?

Well it wasn’t because he wanted too. He did it out of tradition.

Young Williams landed his first-ever billfish while fishing with Capt. Mark Walker on the Bounty Hunter. And tradition at the docks calls for first-timers to get tossed in the water.

The youngsters pulled in a 52-pound sailfish and found a place on the leaderboard.

Now he didn’t bring the sailfish to the docks, they tagged and released the billfish to swim another day.

However, we did see a 110-pound bull shark brought in this afternoon. The crew aboard the Just B Cause brought in to the docks for a courtesy weigh. It didn’t make it on the board because the minimum weight for a shark entry in the Rodeo is 200 pounds.

As of 5:30, 26 fish have been written up, but there is still plenty of time left in the day. Scales don’t close until 7 pm. So come on down.

-Tina Harbuck