Every year during the entire month of October, the Destin Harbor swells with excitement as amateur and professional anglers bring in their daily catch to be weighed and logged against the others of the day and the entire month. Generally, most of the excitement takes place around dinner time and into the evening as all the boats come back one after another.
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This exciting fishing tournament called the Destin Fishing Rodeo happens annually in Destin, with the cities tagline calling Destin “The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village.”
About The Destin Fishing Rodeo
The rodeo is an annual event that takes place between October 1st and October 31st of every year and has been taking place since 1948, making 2023 it’s 75th year running. Back in the early 1940s and 50s, it’s hard to imagine as Destin as beautiful as it is now with the true charm of a sleepy fishing village. No high-rises, no traffic, just beautiful beaches and world class fishing. Does it get much better than that?
The Destin Fishing rodeo takes place on the Destin Harbor Boardwalk near AJ’s restaurant where a big float barge holds the judging stage and last years Miss Destin winner will be present helping MC the event almost every night of the event.
Boats bring in their catch, sometimes professional fisherman on private boats, and sometimes chartered amateur anglers looking to compete in the tournament and claim some of the large cash prizes available. The results of what each boat brought in are visible to the public up close and personal as the scales used to weigh the fish lift them up right in front of the main visitor seating area. Weigh ins take place from 10am until 7pm every day, but the best times tend to be from the 4pm-7pm hour because of the frequency the boats return to offload their catch.
On a huge leader board close by, you’re able to keep track of the types of fish caught since the beginning of the event including weight, size, type, what boat, and more. Registered anglers fish for prizes based on how much the catch weighs, or the length of a fish, based on a specific time, each catch documented by photo.
Cash & Prizes
The entirety of the event is run by volunteers in both the organization of the event as well as sponsored prizes given out to the winners. This includes local businesses giving away products and services as well as charter captains giving their time to take out anglers looking to take the prize in their respective category.
Because of the immense scale of this event, the categories for prizes are broken down into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for all categories which include seniors, juniors, and teens. In addition to that, there are additional prizes awarded each day, week, overall, and jackpot prizes for those lucky one-of-a-kind catches.
To further the list of available categories even further, there are around 33 eligible species of fish that fall into the previously mentioned placements so you can see that there’s plenty of excitement for people of all skill ranges, ages, and interests.
