Destin, FL fishing?

[cavemann]

You'll have a blast off shore.  Keep in mind, a rough day there is a Monday bar crossing here.  My brother in law lives there and guides a little.  I'll see if he has a recommendation, he is out of the business now.  I will say, bay fishing is fun but felt like bass fishing and similar experience to home.  We went offshore one day and it was a blast. 

Either way it's a great "resort" town for families.  Very low key but still get the beach town feel.

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[thinkingman]

I'm a little late to this party but Destin has a deep family history with me.
My parents went there on their honeymoon...1963.
My dad fished there regularly.
He won the Destin Rodeo in 1968...36lb 8oz Red Snapper. $1250 prize was big money in those days.
They dressed them out at the weigh in dock back then....Not sure what it weighed whole.
He was a celebrity in town for a while.

My sister was there last year with her boyfriend and stopped in the Destin Fishing Hall of Fame looking for pictures of my dad. She found one and the gentleman standing behind her was an older guy, one of the local tour guides, and he casually mentioned he was the captain of the boat that day...Ben Marler Jr.
My sister just lost it when he told her he remembered that day in 1968 when my dad caught that fish.

Anyway, the Marler Family is pretty much the founding family of Destin and has been running party boats for deep sea fishing forever.
That's who I would use.
I would rather pay to have kids on a party boat than the expense of a guided charter.
Not sure how deep sea fishing is in April. The tournaments were always run in late summer/early fall to extend the tourist season.
Good luck.

[turkeyfeather]

I was stationed at Eglin AFB right there near Destin. Beautiful place and the couple time we went fishing......we caught a variety of things. Including a little shark.

[pickardjw]

Back in Alabama for a couple weddings. Went out yesterday and our sheepshead trip turned into a redfish trip. Got a 31", a 29" and a 28" and lost a couple. Almost forgot what it's like fighting fish like this! If you can get on some reds in Destin they are insanely fun.

[jackelope]

Figured I’d circle back on this. Went to Destin. Didn’t fish. We were booked on Wednesday to go offshore and the guide canceled due to forecasted thunderstorms. Rescheduled to Friday because it looked good. Thursday came. Wind was cooking. Double red flag warnings on the beaches. Huge waves. Sheriffs patrolling the beaches to make sure nobody was going in the water. Calmed down Thursday evening.  Great communication with the guide. Talked to him Thursday night and we agreed to wait to decide till Friday morning. Friday morning came and the buoy he got weather info off of 30 miles out wasn’t transmitting. Asked if we were ok waiting a little for daylight. He ran his boat out a ways to see what was up. Came back and called. We agreed to cancel because of the kids. He said if it was just adults going, he would have gone but the kids would have got their butts kicked out there in 6’ seas. All in all I wish we could have gone but the guide was great in communicating and doing what he could to get us out there. We ended up renting some canoes that day and paddled to Crystal Spring in the Ponce de Leon State Park. Wow what an experience that was. The water was so clear it was like snorkeling in air. Freshwater mullets and bass all over the place. No gators were seen.
This is who we tried really hard to use:

https://www.strictlybusinessfishing.com

I wish I could be posting a review for a fishing trip but I’ll say Capt Nick did all he could to get us out there.





Also hit Crab Island one day.

[idaho guy]

We were in Florida around same time and went fishing out of Marco island. We fished the backwater and it was not good. Caught some really small snapper. Like not even 10” ha ha. Oh well I probably should have done my homework before randomly getting a charter. Fun to get out of the snow