King Mackerel Tournament prizes:
I was able to present Danny N., winner of the 2025 BCO King Mackerel Tournament, with his prize package of tackle today. Thanks to our sponsors, Rapala, Third Coast Lures and Bay Co. Recreation for their generosity!
Raffle: Saturday, December 20th, at 4:00p.m., we will do the drawing for the prizes originally slated for the second-place position. There will be nine separate groups of tackle ranging from $145.00 down to $50.00 in value. All qualified/registered anglers names will be placed into the bucket for the blind drawings. We will secure a non-registered person to draw the names. We will begin with the top value prize and continue until all nine prizes are won. You do not have to be present to win but you will have to pick up your prize from me. I will not be shipping the prizes. I will notify any winners that are not present by email after the drawing.
Daily activity:
Thursday 11th. water temp New Moon 62.8 NNW 6-9mph in the a.m. / 64.0 W4-7mph in the p.m. The water was clean. Flounder and Pompano were the catches of the day. Several legal Flounder were caught. Chuck O. got three and Terry H. got one. They each got a legal sized Pompano too. Schools of Mullett were passing through as well. One Spanish Mackerel was caught on a Sabiki rig.
Friday: water temp 63.1 NE 11-14mph in the a.m. / 63.7 S 7-9mph in the p.m. The water was clean. Mullet schools continue to move through. There was a Bluefish caught in the morning. Chuck O. invited a nice 26-inch Red Drum for dinner in the afternoon. I bet those were two nice filets. Pompano came in late afternoon in the very skinny water. At least 8 were caught.
Saturday: water temp 63.5 NNE 6-10mph in the a.m. / 64.9 SSE 9-12mph in the p.m. The water was clean. The pier was crowded for this time of year. Fish were biting. Over a dozen nice size Pompano, several slot Red Drum, a number of Black Drum and an under sizes Tripletail were caught. There were also small Sharks and several different trash fish caught.
Sunday: water temp 64.1 E 1-5mph in the a.m. / A strong cold front moved in midmorning with north winds from 18-25mph. Late afternoon the water temp had climbed to 64.6 and the winds had dropped to 11-15mph still out of the north. The water was clean. There were not many anglers, but a few Bluefish were caught.
Monday: water temp 61.5 NNE 10-20mph in the am. Then continued to drop all morning. By 11:00a.m. it was a chilly 59.4 degrees. It recovered a little by late afternoon but only to 61.9 with a ENE wind 7-13mph. The water was clean. Dom caught a couple of Bonita. There were a few Flounder and Bluefish decked as well.
Tuesday: water temp 59.9 ENE 13-16mph in the p.m. / 61.9 ENE 2-5mph in the p.m. The water was clean. Only a couple anglers braved the elements early morning. Paul and Terry got to invite their 15-inch Flounder to dinner but Ivans’ fell a little short and had to be released. A few Bluefish were in the catch for today.
Wednesday: water temp 60.8 NE 9-14mph in the a.m. / 62.1 ESE 4-8mph in the p.m. The water was clean. It was another typical day for this time of year and water temperature. There were a few Whiting, a couple of Bluefish and a small Flounder caught.
Red Tide status: In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to medium concentrations in both Bay and Gulf counties, and background to very low concentrations in Franklin County.
Tides Link
https://tides4fishing.com/us/florida-west-coast/panama-cityngin g
New Moon Friday Dec. 19, 2025 - Full Moon Saturday Jan. 03, 2026
Tides for the upcoming week:
Sunrise: 6:33am Sunset: 4:45pm
Thursday 18th. 6:37am Low -0.6 7:41pm High 1.4
Friday 7:18am Low -0.6 8:24pm High 1.4
Saturday 7:58am Low -0.7 9:08pm High 1.4
Sunday 8:33am Low -0.7 9:52pm High 1.4
Monday 9:02am Low -0.7 10:32pm High 1.4
Tuesday 9:24am Low -0.6 11:10pm High 1.2
Wednesday 24th. 9:40am Low -0.5 11:45pm High 1.1
Sunrise: 6:36am Sunset: 4:48pm CST
The Marine forecast for the next several days is:
THURSDAY
Southeast winds 15 to 20 knots, becoming south. Seas 3 to 5 feet, occasionally to 6 feet. Wave Detail: Southeast 5 feet at 6 seconds. Protected waters choppy. Showers with a chance of thunderstorms.
THURSDAY NIGHT
Southwest winds 15 to 20 knots, becoming west near 20 knots after midnight. Seas 3 to 5 feet, occasionally to 6 feet. Wave Detail: South 5 feet at 6 seconds and west 4 feet at 5 seconds. Protected waters choppy. Showers with a chance of thunderstorms, mainly in the evening.
FRIDAY
Northwest winds 20 to 25 knots, becoming north 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Seas 4 to 6 feet, occasionally to 8 feet. Wave Detail: Northwest 5 feet at 6 seconds and south 3 feet at 7 seconds. Protected waters rough.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet. Wave Detail: Northwest 4 feet at 5 seconds and south 2 feet at 6 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop.
SATURDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet, subsiding to 1 to 2 feet. Wave Detail: East 2 feet at 4 seconds and northwest 2 feet at 5 seconds, becoming southeast 2 feet at 5 seconds and west 1 foot at 5 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas around 1 foot. Protected waters a light chop.
SUNDAY
East winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas around 1 foot. Protected waters a light chop. A slight chance of showers.
SUNDAY NIGHT
East winds 5 to 10 knots, becoming northeast 10 to 15 knots after midnight. Seas around 1 foot. Protected waters a moderate chop.
MONDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas building to 2 to 3 feet. Protected waters a moderate chop.
MONDAY NIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Protected waters a moderate chop.
winds and waves higher in and near thunderstorms.
(local forecast).
THURSDAY (67/54 rain 99% wind SSE-15-25 in am / SE-15-25 in pm)
FRIDAY (62/45 rain 02% wind NNW-10-20 in am / NE 5-10 in pm)
SATURDAY (64/55 rain 06% wind SE-5-10 in am / SE 5-10 in pm)
SUNDAY (68/53 rain 13% wind E-5-10 in am / NE 10-15 in pm)
MONDAY (66/52 rain 04% wind ENE-10-20 in am / ENE 10-15 in pm)
TUESDAY (65/55 rain 06% wind ESE-10-15 in am / E 5-10 in pm)
WEDNESDAY(66/56 rain 07% wind ESE-5-10 in am / LIGHT & VARIABLE in pm)
PIER MANAGEMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bay County Parks and Recreation – 5304 Majetti Tower Road Panama City, FL 32404
850-248-8730
Vince Martin – Bay Co. Parks Division Manager - vmartin@baycountyfl.gov - 850-896-6580
Timothy Pentice- Bay Co. Asst. Div. Mgr. – tprentice@baycountyfl.gov – 448-217-4219
Tight lines and screaming drags,
Sam
SLP053@BELLSOUTH.NET
770-265-2879
