One would be hard-pressed not to feel like The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore walking down to the docks behind AJ’s earlier this afternoon. Simply put, the weather is nasty today. The rain has finally let up but the wind is still blowing to the tune of 24 to 41 mph and has kicked up whitecaps in the harbor.

If you manage to make it to the Rodeo tonight, you may be in exclusive company.

Rodeo executive director Helen Donaldson said the judges for this morning and tonight have been called off and Miss Destin, Emily Kaltz, will be getting a call soon to inform her that she will have the night off as well.

Longtime Rodeo weighmaster Bruce Cheves isn’t going anywhere though. The weighmaster’s scales have been moved under an overhang to protect Cheves and any potential, and perhaps fearless, anglers and their catch from the elements.

With 5 to 7-foot seas and 20-knot winds in the forecast for the rest of the day, the docks could be a pretty desolate place tonight.

Tomorrow isn’t look any better. The National Data Buoy Center is calling for 10 to 20 knot winds out of the Southeast with widespread thunderstorms.

-Patrick Donohue

We now have a new leader in the Trash Can Slam Division.

Josh Nelson, of Shalimar, fishing on the Inshore Angler pulled in the lucky three - the Jack Crevalle, sailcat and ladyfish. 

Nelson said they landed the 10.4-pound Jack Crevalle early this morning around 9 o’clock, but it took until about 2 p.m . to come up with the ladyfish. The sailcat weighed 2 pounds and the ladyfish, 1.2 pounds.

-Tina Harbuck

After about an hour-and-a-half without a fish, Capt. John Funk on the Shark Hunter came in with five blackfin tuna and a mahi mahi.

He weighed in all five tuna, but none made it on the leaderboard. They had to break 26.2 pounds to get on the board. The largest he had was a 24.6-pounds.

Funk also had five tag and release cards to turn in for the shark division. All five sharks were under 40 pounds.

Still plenty of days left to try and get on the board. Don’t forget the scales are open daily from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.

-Tina Harbuck

Weather wise, Sunday afternoon was great down at the docks behind AJ’s for the 59th Annual Destin Fishing Rodeo.

The fish, however, were a little slow coming in. But that didn’t dampen the spirits of the people that packed the bleachers.

As a matter of fact, there were a couple of times when they started chanting — “FISH, FISH, FISH.”

At one point, they started doing the wave. One thing about the Rodeo; there is never a dull moment.

Most of the talk on the docks today was still about the huge Mako that was hauled in last night.

Weighmaster Bruce Cheves said all they want to know is “will they bring in anything big tonight?”

Last night proved it.  You just never know.

“That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever weighed in the Rodeo,” Cheves said about the 844-pound mako. Cheves has served as Rodeo weighmaster for the past 17 years.

Once the shark was gutted it lost about 200 pounds. Cheves said about 70 to 80 of the lost pounds was the shark’s liver.

“It had a red snapper in it that could have been a daily,” Cheves said. In addition to the 10-to 12-pound red snapper it had a 5-pound white snapper in its belly.

“It also had the remnants of a lot of other fish,” Cheves said.

-Tina Harbuck

Click button to view video

The docks were the place to be Saturday night as an overflow crowd marveled at the monsters and the midgets.

The warm-up to the evening came from Mike Echols, angling aboard the Special K, who hauled in a 64.4-pound Warsaw grouper after fighting it for a half-hour.

“It was like pulling in a Volkswagen,” the first-time rodeo fisherman said.

But if the grouper was a Volkswagen, then Adlee Bruner of Bruce landed a Mack truck. Bruner hauled in the heaviest fish the Destin Fishing Rodeo has seen in the past 10 years. The 11-foot mako shark first weighed in at 844.4 pounds. After being gutted, the fish tipped the scales at 638 pounds, shattering an earlier shark division record of 338 pounds.

“It was a hard fight,” the angler said of the 35-minute battle with the beast.

The shark was a stunning contrast to Savannah Eidson’s earlier catch. The 10-year-old Atlanta, Ga., resident was dangling her estimated .3-pound pinfish in the water to keep it alive.

She caught the tiny fish, which she named “Mr. Limpet,” off the docks after she lost the big one when her mother, Mary Jo, grabbed the rod to help. Any kid with a catch is a winner and after getting her pole and certificate, her father, Rick, set the fish free.

“I think we’re gonna tag it, too,” he laughed.

Check out Wednesday’s edition of The Destin Log for much more on the record-breaking shark.

— William Hatfield

When it comes to Rodeo fishing one thing is for sure — the leaderboard is constantly changing. And Friday night was no different.

In the last hour, the size of the red snapper kept growing and growing.

Koby Kennison of Destin weighed in a 15.2-pound red snapper just before 6 p.m. for a daily award in the 25-foot and under private boat division. He was fishing on the Chasin’ Tail.

Minutes later, another private boat came in with a 9.6-pound red snapper caught by Mike Young.

He was

fishing on the Un Hooker. Now I know that one doesn’t sound that big, but it was big enough for a daily in the grand prize private boat category.

Not done yet, the Follow Me 3 came in with a 13.6-pound red snapper pulled in by Jim Shaw of Birmingham, Ala.

However his 13.6-pounder was knocked off 20 minutes later by a 17-pound snapper caught by Greg Britton of Navarre on the Perfect Shot with Capt. Brady Bowman.

Between all the snapper, Destin’s Zac Tuffnell walked up with a 5-pound flounder for a spot

on the leaderboard. Catching flounder is nothing new for Tuffnell. He’s won the flounder division a couple of times in the past. As a matter of fact, two years ago he won it with a 6-pounder. Where’s his “honey hole?” He told me “the water.”

When the competition is tough, fishing spots are secrets.

Still plenty of days left to get on the board so book a boat and try your luck.

The count as of close Friday was 412. Remember the scales are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily throughout the month.

See you at the docks.

-Tina Harbuck

If you catch a fish on a boat that’s entered — stop and weigh the fish. You never know what might take a daily. Here’s a look at a couple of daily winners on Thursday.

-Tina Harbuck

When it comes to bringing fish to the scales, youngsters bring them in any way they can. On Thursday afternoon, 7-year-old A.J. Kenney of Ohio walked up with a red snapper in a plastic bag, instead of the usual bucket.

Kenney’s snapper weighed 2.6 pounds and was good for a rod and reel and a certificate. He was fishing aboard the party boat Swoop.

Weighmaster Bruce Cheves said he gave away about 25 rod and reels to youngsters on Wednesday and already 30 or more today.

Rodeo Executive Director Helen Donaldson said they have given away about 150 rod and reels so far, and this is only Day 11.

Every kid that enters a fish that weighs a pound gets just what Kenney received: a rod and reel and a certificate.

As of 4:30 p.m., the count of fish entries is 370. And remember that’s just the ones that make it on the leaderboard; that’s not counting all the fish the youngsters bring in and the ones that are just not big enough.

Don’t forget the scales are open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the docks behind AJ’s.

-Tina Harbuck

With the bleachers packed and crowds huddled around the scales, Jon Warrington weighed in a 170.8-pound yellowfin tuna, earning the Albany, Ga., angler an immediate top slot on the leaderboard in the private boat division. The easy win was a stark contrast to the hard fight of two hours and 20 minutes it took to haul in the monster tuna aboard the Legal Dose.

Sitting in the sea of faces was Destin Mayor Craig Barker, back in town after a week in Louisiana.

“I’d come out on the docks every afternoon if I could to watch the history being made,” Barker said.

With boats backed up five deep, there was no evidence of the red tide that Okaloosa County officials had issued a warning about a few hours earlier.

“The fishermen are noticing it, but hopefully there will be enough of a north wind to blow it out of here,” said Helen Donaldson, executive director of the Rodeo.

With the yellowfin tuna being the heavyhitter of the night, 8-year-old Destinite Rachel McMullin’s catch was the lightweight. But the crowd favorite savored a big victory with a 17.4-pound king mackerel that she landed in the fare-carrying division aboard the Merri Kohl.

— William Hatfield

The Rodeo docks got a visit from a scalloped hammerhead shark Wednesday afternoon, courtesy of the party boat Gentle Winds.

Though the shark wasn’t big enough to weigh, Rodeo weighmaster Bruce Cheves estimated the fish weighed about 15 pounds. That didn’t stop curious spectactors from getting a closer look and stopping in front of the scales to snap a picture or two of the small shark.

As for last night, Cheves’ pre-evening forecast yesterday proved to be pretty spot-on. The weighmaster said the Rodeo had a busy, if uneventful evening.

“We had some snapper, some amberjack — nothing earth-shattering but it was busy,” he said.

The docks have quieted down some after a busy start to the afternoon.

Cheves’ plans for the afternoon?

“Just waiting on Godzilla,” he told one Rodeo spectator.

- Patrick Donohue