Saltwater Fever LLC

05/30/2026

The Murphy family scored some nice bonus fish during our snapper trip yesterday. Grouper nuggets!

05/21/2026

05/21/2026

Newlyweds Luke & Emma chose to spend a day of their honeymoon offshore with me! We spotted the Reefmaker on the way out, they were deploying some nearshore pyramids. Emma wasn’t quite feeling up to dropping a line, so I got to be Luke’s fishing buddy today. The Vermillion bite wasn’t nearly as hot as it has been, but we did find some big Triggerfish and the Jacks were really fired up! The hook pulled on at least 5 jacks and we lost another to the reef before Luke finally pulled this guy past the sharks. For the ride in we made a little detour at dolphin beach and then visited Half-tail before heading back to the dock. Videos in comments. Congrats y’all!

05/19/2026

Not the best conditions yesterday, but longtime buddies Jim & Jeremy were very impressed with their first Gulf experience. We ran out and hit the hot Vermillion bite and loaded the box up with dinner before trying to snag something big. We took a few shots at stopping an amberjack, but they were just a little too big to turn yesterday. Afterwards I took them over to pull on a few Red Snapper but the dolphins and heavy wind showed up, so we started trolling our way back in. The dolphins were following behind and quick to grab and battle Jeremy for our first hookup (Bonita), so we ran back nearshore before putting lines back out. We caught & released a nice Spanish but no other takers. We stopped and visited with Half-Tail for a few minutes too (video in comments). It’s shaping up to be another fishy year out there, call me let’s go fishing!

05/11/2026

Our Red Snapper season was finally announced 140 days!!! May 22-July 31 then September 1-October 4 before switching to weekends and special holidays. Give me a call/text and let’s go get em!

05/05/2026

Johnny J came joined me last May for a trolling trip and landed his first King & Spanish Mackerels. This year we headed offshore and added Triggerfish, Amberjack, Gray Snapper, Red Snapper and Vermillion Snapper to the list. 4 of the Reds were in the 26-30” range, the Gray went a bit over 24”, and the largest Vermillion was 14.5”. We found a decent weedline with a bunch of flying fish and were hopeful to add on Dolphinfish, but no luck on the troll today. Pretty much a perfect weather day, water temp was 73.5.

05/02/2026

We finally had a pretty weather day last week, and I got to do a little fishing with my dad. Short shark video in comments.

05/02/2026

The 51st annual Optimist Family Fishing Rodeo is approaching 5/16-5/17. There will be 23 species available for prizes in the open division(all ages $25) and 15 species in the kids(14 or younger free) division. You need to be registered by 8am 5/16 to compete. Tickets are available at Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle and online at the attached link gulfbreezeoptimistclub.org. 100% of the net proceeds will go to the local community. The scales and the fish fry(donations appreciated) will run from 2-5 each day. I have sponsored Lane Snapper this year, and I am crossing my fingers for some good fishing weather for the family. Just another reminder to take your kids fishing!

OPEN DIVISION: Bluefish; Bonita; Cobia; Croaker; Dolphinfish; Flounder; Grouper-Red; Grouper-Scamp; Ladyfish; Mackerel-King; Mackerel-Spanish; Pompano; *Redfish(most spots) Sheepshead; Snapper-Gray; Snapper-Lane; Snapper-Vermillion; Triggerfish; Trout-Speckled; Trout-White; Tuna; Wahoo; Whiting.

KIDS DIVISION: Bluefish; Croaker; Flounder; Ladyfish; Mackerel-King; Mackerel-Spanish; Pigfish; Pinfish; Pompano; *Redfish(most spots); Snapper-Lane; Snapper-Vermillion; Trout-Speckled; Trout-White; Whiting.

Good Luck & Tight Lines!

The Gulf Breeze Optimist Club (GBOC) is an civic organization of approximately 75 men and women who raise and distribute funds for youth projects.