Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament: Randy Howell wins the fish
The Georgia-based crew responded by landing the top fish at the VyStar Credit Union Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament on Friday.
Florida is full of lakes, rivers, ponds and streams with plenty of fishing opportunities, but have you ever wondered where the best fishing is in the state?
It depends who you ask, but Fishingbooker, an online platform for booking fishing guides, just released its list of the best fishing spots in each state and found that a city in the Florida Panhandle offers the best fishing in the Sunshine State.
To find the best fishing spots in each state, Fishingbooker analyzed reviews of over 100,000 fishing trips and compared the number of fishing trips available, average review and recommendation scores, the minimum price of a fishing trip, the number of bookings, and the number of local guides who have received an Angler’s Choice Award.
Find out which city won Fishingbooker’s Best Fishing in Florida title and why.
Which city in Florida has the best fishing?
Again, it depends on who you ask – your favorite uncle, brother or cousin might swear that the best fishing spots in the state are hidden in a place few people know about…
But if you ask Fishingbooker, Destin in the Florida Panhandle is the best city in Florida for anglers.
“In Florida, 202 cities were rated in six different categories on a scale of 1 to 10. Destin took first place with 59 out of 60 points, followed by Panama City Beach (53 points), St. Petersburg and Islamorada (51 points each),” the study says.
Here are the 15 best places to fish in Florida according to Fishingbooker’s study:
- holiday destination
- Panama City Beach
- St. Petersburg
- The hotel is located in Islamorada. It is only 1 km from Islamorada city center.
- Key West
- Saint Augustine
- Marathon
- Naples
- Crystal flow
- Cape Coral
- Pensacola
- Key Largo
- Fort Lauderdale
- Sarasota
- Fort Myers
Where is Destin, Florida?
If you love fishing and also like Taylor Swift, you’ve probably already made the connection, but Destin was mentioned by name on the pop star’s latest album in her song titled “Florida!!!”
“You didn’t know that home was really just a town where you were just a guest. So you work your whole life just to pay for a timeshare in Destin,” Swift’s song goes.
And she seems to have a pretty good idea of why people come to Destin – sun, sand and all things beach.
Destin is located on Florida’s Emerald Coast, directly on the Gulf of Mexico, in the Florida Panhandle.
“Calm waters and shallow depths create the perfect runway for kiteboarding, a viewfinder lens for snorkeling and a playground for beginner paddleboarders,” says the Visit Florida website.
“Destin is ‘the luckiest fishing village in the world’ because the edge of the continental shelf – the gathering place for blackfin tuna, grouper, amberjack and king mackerel – is just 20 miles offshore.”
Destin is located about 50 miles east of Pensacola and 150 miles west of Tallahassee, the state capital.
Why is Destin “the happiest fishing village”?
According to the City of Destin website, the city’s geography makes it great for fishing.
“A glance at any nautical chart will show that Destin is distinguished from surrounding ports by its quick and easy access to the deepest depths of the Gulf,” the city’s website states.
“Because different fish species live at different depths, anglers can quickly reach all depths of fishable waters with 20 species of edible wild fish.”
