Fort Walton Peer

There is one thing that I have always wanted to do , but haven't, until this year. In previous years, the kids and I have walked past the peer and thought, "That looks like fun", but we didn't have the right equipment to go out and fish on it. After all, ocean fish don't bite a finesse worm from an All Star Rod and Pinnacle Reel. This year, I was talking to a guy after a walk out to the peer and he told me that they have all you need in the peer "clubhouse" to fish. After checking it out, we rented 3 fishing rods, bought some bait, a couple of Gatorades, and a Got-cha plug. I had $46 in the entire trip. Sounds easy enough, huh?

Now we didn't have very high expectations of the trip, just some well deserved "hang out" time. I baited my oldest son's rod and he dropped it in the water. Bam, a fish was on its way up to the hands of my 12 year old. I baited my 10 year old's rod, and after sliding in to his brother's spot while he wasn't looking, another fish was on its way up the long crank from the water to the peer. Two fish in two minutes.....not too bad. The kids proceeded to absoplutely rip fish from the water and drag them over the rail and down onto the peer deck.

Fort Walton PeerA little later, I decided to tie on the Got-cha plug and see if I could hook up with something on artificial bait. Ater a lesson from a local in liters, I re-rigged the plug with a #30 flouracarbon liter and sailed the plug out into the deep. Immediately, I got a strike and hauled in about a 16" Bluefish. The next 9 casts produced fish. I was amazed to say the least. We ended up catching about 40 fish in a couple of hours.

The cool thing about the rod rental is that the rental is good from midnight until midnight . We turned our rods in at around 3:30PM and went back after dinner at 8:00PM and picked them back up to fish until midnight at no additional charge. I love to take charter boats in Destin, but I tell you, I had more fun on the peer and for a heck of a lot less money. Also, its a great place for kids. You don't have to worry about them falling in or getting sea sick. Its worth the small amount of money and is a great gettaway from a fun filled day of shopping!