https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/dead-fish-wash-up-in-port-st-joe-as-red-tide-continues/
Well that sucks!!
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Yeah, I was there in October as it was just starting. I still caught fish, though there were a lot of floaters. I went back last week and fished only one day it was so bad. I ran a loop around the flats, intermittently fishing and observing. It was a 31 mile run. I saw two living fish the entire day.
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Whats interesting is this past Sunday the wind was off the Gulf at ~15 (blowing onto the Cape), and you couldnt go out side for very long without hacking and coughing. We all thought the Gulf was clear, no dead fish seen (except west of here, MX Bch), but it must be out there also to cause the significant irritation with a westerly wind. Everyone at the local hangout confirmed the same irritation on Sunday.
The first report of Karenia brevis I saw was at Windmark Beach, where there is a lot of new houses and lawns. The Karenia brevis counts started low there a couple of months ago, then as they climbed they spread over the Bay. Counts were high before it reached the head of the Bay.
That article makes me laugh. Red Tide should last a week? What is the City Council going to do? Typical “activist” mentality.
For some reason the FWC reporting of it in the bay has been spotty lately. Looking at the spreadsheet listings of levels illustrates this.
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@Tarponhead is right, the FWC sampling map has been inconsistent. They went for a week showing no samples in the bay, but now it’s back. They sampled at Presnell’s when I was there on Saturday, but it’s not on the map. Go figure.
It’s also showing in Indian Lagoon and near Panama City now. It’s an odd thing for me to be cheering for a blustery winter now.
I would’ve figured with the cold days we’ve already had, that it would’ve been gone by now. I was surprised to see it was still there.
Media reporting is definitely gone to â– â– â– â– these days. Nothing but headline reporting with very little pertinent information. This one just happened to come up in my feed.
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I agree and was hoping it would kill it.
Maybe the concentrations were so high it couldnt kill it all.
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Here’s a good article featuring one of the guides I know in PSJ. https://gulfcounty.news/2025/12/01/red-tide-problem-going-to-get-worse/
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Great article. Thanks for sharing.
Based on the latest FWC sampling, it looks like it has moved out of St. Joe Bay for the most part but unfortunately settled in at East Bay and West Bay in Panama City. It will be interesting to see how the fishing season goes at PSJ next spring. I saw miles and miles of dead fish this fall. I’m not optimistic for next season. This happened to the bay maybe 10 years ago or so and it took a couple of seasons to recover.
Your right, its not good. My son and I spent a good bit of time on SJB over the Thanksgiving break. Hit most all the “spots” for fish. My son summed it up well: “ its eerie not seeing anything alive at all”. We saw a handful or mullet out by the tip, clearly they came in from the ocean side. Never saw a single Pinfish, Crab, Trout, Redfish, even Sea Urchin. Nothing. In the head of the bay there was plenty of decaying corpses of Tarpon, Stingray, and other smaller fish that were unidentifiable due to decomposing ( Trout, Redfish, Mullet?).
I was here in the last event you mention, its as bad as that. It took at least 3 years to recover from that one.
It’s moving East too. Red Tide - Franklin County
@Tarponhead When I was there earlier in November the corpses were still in the bay. You mentioned sea urchins. That was so weird to see because they were still bobbing on the surface like thousands of golf balls at the time. I suppose that will be good for the sea grass, but not much else.
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