Return After a Long Hiatus

Well, it’s true that family changes everything. When our daughter Samantha was born in 2011, our life changed a lot to say the least. We had to reprioritize basically everything in our life, including fishing. We did not return to Destin until 2016, almost 5 years later. It was only her second time seeing the ocean (first time was at Hilton Head Island in 2015), and her first exposure to saltwater fishing. Just the anticipation for our return to Destin was just so much to bear at times. Unlike our previous trips, we had more things to think about. There were more things to pack, including more food, snacks, smaller fishing pole, kid’s sunscreen, books to stave off her inevitable boredom, etc.

It was the last week of September so the weather was still warm. We did not go fishing on the first day. Instead, we went to the East Jetty to enjoy the ocean view. It was Samantha’s first time seeing such a beautiful white sand beach. Only thing we had to watch out for was jellyfish on the beach. To step on one would cause a painful swelling. 

We went to the Okaloosa Island Pier the following day, and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the action was slow. We caught a few small fish, but nothing to brag about. We were really hoping to see some great action so Samantha wouldn’t get bored. Thankfully, several dolphins made their appearances around the pier, and Samantha was absolutely enthralled. It was her first time seeing a dolphin in the wild. Seeing her fascination gave us such a great sense of satisfaction.

 But after a long hiatus, we were really hoping to catch some nice fish in Destin. We all had a great time and it was nice to be back on the beach, but we became a little bit desperate. We really didn’t want to go home empty handed. So on our last day, we decided to take the gamble and drive over to Panama City Beach. It was a beautiful drive, and we became very hopeful that our luck would be much better. Two piers on the same day sounded so cool. Thankfully, action was much more brisk in Panama City Beach Russell-Field City Pier. We caught a few hardtails, a few small crabs, and some nice person gave us his Spanish mackerel. We took a little break at the Pier Park to enjoy some nice ice cream and pizza. The atmosphere at Panama City Beach seemed more festive. We resumed fishing near dusk and caught a few more small fish and decided we had enough fishing for a day. The overnight return trip to Atlanta was long and tiring, but it was very much worth it. A few days later, we had a tasty fried fish for dinner.