The 2025 BCO King Mackerel Tournament (09-28 to 11-09, 2025) began Sunday morning at 06:00. We are 25 days into the event and six fish have been submitted. The current leader is 1st. place Danny N. 24.38# 10-17-25 4:30pm and 2nd. Place Chung K 22.66# 10-18-25 12:00pm. We have 1417 registered participants as of today, 10-22-25
You can still register (free) by text, messenger or email to Sam at SLP053@BELLSOUTH.NET or 770-265-2879 You can see the full announcement with all the information including the current leader standings and the latest participation list at:
www.facebook.com/sam.patrick.315
Daily activity:
Thursday: water temp 79.2 NE 5-7mph in the a.m. / 80.6 WSW 9-12mph in the p.m. The water was clean. The morning was dead. The afternoon started very slowly but picked up at about 5:00. Jim S. caught a 26-inch King Mackerel on a jerk bait. Danny N. was throwing a small Hardtail and had a huge boil. He made a second cast and got hammered. The fish began peeling line off the reel and made a couple of passes across the front of the Tee. Danny brought the fish to the gaff (thanks Nory for the great gaff). It weighed 21.91 pounds to put Danny in first place for the
Tournament. This moves Jim S. into second place with his 16.01-pound fish. There were 3 Spanish Mackerel caught, and a Sheepshead hooked. There were also a couple of Red Drum hooked in the shallow water. Several small Sailfish came through, but none were hooked. There were Cigar Minnows available for live bait.
Friday: water temp 79.9 E 7-9mph in the a.m. / 80.8 S 9-12mph in the p.m. The water was clean. The morning had a slow start, but a school of Bluefish moved into the shallow water. The bite was on. The afternoon began slowly, but the wind switched to the South and gave us a good chop. We thought this was going to turn the fish on. However, the fish had other plans. There was a couple of average Spanish Mackerel and Jim S. decked a snake King on his Jerk Bait. Then in the same spot on the pier and 30 minutes earlier than yesterday, Danny struck again. This time with a live Cigar Minnow. The fish took a long run and danced Danny around the front of the Tee a couple of times. Finally, he got the fish to the gaff. It weighed 24.38 pounds. We have a new Tournament leader that currently sits in both first and second place. He has the top two fish, 34.38# and 21.91#. We are only halfway through the tournament so it’s still up in the air. Several small Sailfish came through, but none were hooked. Noah caught a 27.5” Red in the shallows. There were Cigar Minnows available for live bait.
Saturday: water temp 79.3 E 8-12mph in the a.m. / 79.9 SSE 18-22mph in the p.m. The water was clean and very choppy. There were some Red Drum in the skinny water early morning. There were a few Bonita in the morning and a couple in the afternoon. Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish were caught throughout the day. Several King Mackerel were caught. There were some small ones, a 10-pound, an 18-pound and I weighed two fish for the tournament this afternoon. Chung K. caught a 22.66-pound King @12:10pm to move into second place. A little while later, Jason N. decked a 22.22-pound King. The conditions on the pier were great but the rail was crowded. Later in the afternoon Jose decked a 29-pound King. He is not participating in the tournament so there were no changes to the leader board. Danny hooked another much larger King but lost it to a pulled hook after a long fight. It was estimated to be well over thirty pounds. There were Cigar Minnows and a few Speedos available for live bait.
Sunday: water temp 78.1 S 19-24mph in the a.m. / 79.2 N 9-14 mid p.m. then SSW 4-9 in the late p.m. There were thunderstorms and strong winds in the morning. The water was rough but clean. Kings, Bonita and Spanish were biting. There were at least a dozen King Mackerel up to 15-pounds, quite a few nice sized Spanish Mackerel and nine Bonita caught. One angler got his limit of Kings. The afternoon was slow. Only a couple of Spanish were caught.
Monday: water temp 75.6 ENE 12-20mph in the a.m. / 78.3 W 2-5mph in the p.m. The water was clean. Three small King Mackerel and a few Spanish Mackerel were decked in the morning. There were a few Red Drum working in the shallow water. One under sized Pompano was caught. The afternoon was flat and very slow until about 5:00 when a few Spanish Mackerel were caught. Dom spotted some small Amberjacks working close to the pilings and began jigging a small artificial shrimp. He caught several Hardtails but finally decked and released a juvenile Amberjack. There were Cigar Minnows available for live bait.
Tuesday: water temp 77.2 ENE 2-5mph in the a.m. / 78.6 SSW 7-10mph in the p.m. The water was clean. Two small King Mackerel were hooked in the morning but only one was decked by Jim. There were a few Spanish Mackerel. The shallow water saw a few Whiting caught and a school of Red Drum prowling the area. A small Sailfish swam by midafternoon. Spanish Mackerel schools were occasionally coming through in the afternoon with several caught. One big “axe handle” was decked by Larry L. that weighed 4.59-pounds. At sunset, Mason hooked and decked a King Mackerel that was about 18 pounds.
Wednesday: water temp 77.2 N 8-12mph in the a.m. / 78.4 N 6-11mph in the p.m. The water was clean. The morning was painfully slow with only one Spanish Mackerel caught. The afternoon started the same until about 3:00 when a few Spanish Mackerel came in. Late afternoon, the Spanish came in good at the first Tee. Quite a few were caught. Many of them were large size like this one George caught. Shallow water produced a few Whiting and there were a few Red Drum prowling around. There were Cigar minnows and a few Spanish Sardine available for live bait.
Red Tide status: FWC released a status update regarding Karenia brevis, aka the red tide organism, on Friday. In the update, they wrote, “In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample collected from Bay County and low to high concentrations in six samples collected from Gulf County."
They also included that fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported to FWC’s Fish Kill Hotline or other partners over the past week in Northwest Florida (Bay and Gulf counties).
According to FWC, the next status report will be issued on Friday, October 24.
Tides Link
https://tides4fishing.com/us/florida-west-coast/panama-cityngin g
Full Moon Wednesday Nov. 05, 2025 - New Moon Thursday Nov. 20, 2025
Tides for the upcoming week:
Sunrise: 6:50am Sunset: 6:03pm
Thursday 23rd. 8:32am Low 0.2 10:24pm High 1.8
Friday 9:32am Low 0.2 11:06pm High 1.9
Saturday 10:33am Low 0.2 11:53am High 1.9
Sunday 11:33am Low 0.1
Monday 12:30pm Low 0.1 12:42am High 1.9
Tuesday 1:20pm Low 0.1 1:32am High 1.8
Wednesday 29th. 1:59pm Low 0.2 2:24am High 1.7
Sunrise: 6:54am Sunset: 5:57pm CST
The Marine forecast for the next several days is:
THURSDAY NIGHT
Northeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a light chop.
FRIDAY
Northeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a light chop.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Northeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a light chop.
SATURDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a moderate chop.
SATURDAY NIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a moderate chop.
SUNDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a moderate chop. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
SUNDAY NIGHT
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a moderate chop. A chance of showers. A chance of thunderstorms, mainly in the evening.
MONDAY
East winds 10 to 15 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a moderate chop. A chance of showers and thunderstorms.
MONDAY NIGHT
Northeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Waves 1 foot or less. Protected waters a light chop. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening.
(local forecast).
THURSDAY (81/57 rain 00% wind NE-11)
FRIDAY (83/62 rain 00% wind ENE-10)
SATURDAY (81/66 rain 03% wind E-13)
SUNDAY (78/69 rain 57% wind ESE-14)
MONDAY (79/65 rain 55% wind NE-08)
TUESDAY (77/61 rain 36% wind NW-10)
WEDNESDAY(77/54 rain 23% wind NNW-13)
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
