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NEWS
The Destin Log
The announcement of waters surrounding Eglin Air Force Base and range area being restricted has some area fishermen wondering what to do next.
The new restrictions will limit access to six specific waterways, which are now only open to ID cardholders and visitors with a pass. The change comes from base officials identifying "emerging air and waterborne threats against defense installations," as previously reported in the Northwest Florida Daily News.
The affected areas now include:
+ 1,000-foot boundary near Eglin's main shoreline.
+ 300-foot boundary on Camp Pinchot shoreline.
+ 200-foot boundary on the North side of Santa Rosa Sound near Hurlburt Field.
+ 150-foot boundary on the South side of Santa Rosa Sound.
+ 150-foot boundary near Wynnhaven Beach
+ 150-foot boundary on the Poquito Bayou housing area shoreline
“It basically puts everything I used to fish in the Sound out of bounds,” said Capt. Royce Dahnke of Team Cast N’ Blast Charters LLC.
Dahnke says he fishes up and down Santa Rosa Sound “very, very often.”
“My charter clientele is a lot more niche base ... sight fishing and fly fishing for redfish. And whenever I do that, it is in shallow water so we can see the fish and cast to them,” Dahnke said.
So, with a 150-feet buffer, Dahnke said, “it’s impossible for me to run those types of charters here anymore.”
Dahnke fished on Feb. 26 but had to run all the way to Navarre Beach to get past the restricted areas.
“I can’t fish anything I used to fish for almost a 20-mile span,” Dahnke said. “It’s bad.”
Dahnke said he doesn’t typically fish the bay around Destin because it does not have as much grass.
“I typically go into the Sound because it's a bit more marshy ... more like back country, away from everybody. But now that’s out,” he said.
“This is detrimental to anybody who likes to fly fish recreationally or just go sight fishing. You have to be in 2 to 3 feet of water,” he said, which is now off limits.
His options now to sight fish are Navarre or Pensacola Bay or even Choctaw Beach, which he says is a bit far.
“It puts me in a big situation for sure,” Dahnke said.
“I wish they (Eglin) would have at least held a meeting or talked” before imposing the restrictions, he said.
“That’s a lot of shoreline we depend on,” Dahnke said.
“It takes away trips ... going to have to have a new game plan,” he said.
Destin’s Capt. Nick Kirby of Scallywag Charters is also affected by the restrictions.
Kirby said he fishes the Sound, Poquito Bayou and some of the other waterways that will be restricted on a regular basis.
“We would have to fish around them. It will absolutely affect our day. That’s what most of my business is, inshore charters,” Kirby said.
The areas up and down the Sound are known for holding redfish, speckled trout, mangrove snapper and flounder.
Potential threats?
One reason given for restricting fishing in the areas was “emerging air and waterborne threats.”
Local Pastor Eric Partin, a part-time charter fisherman, is completely against the shutdown of the shoreline.
“I get it, that you have to protect national security, but there has to be some conversation with the state of Florida,” Partin said, which he’s not sure has happened.
Partin has contacted Gov. Ron DeSantis, Jimmy Patronis and five of the Okaloosa County commissioners about the access restrictions. He also has started a petition to revoke the closure of the waterways. As of Friday, the online petition had more than 1,650 signatures.
“I’m always against over regulation,” Kirby said.
Kirby said he grew up fishing with his dad on the Eglin flats.
If the areas outlined are closed, Kirby said, he will not have clearance to get in there to fish.
Kirby pointed out the area that is being restricted is close to U.S. 98, which is heavily traveled daily.
“When you have thousands of unregulated vehicles driving right by the Hurlburt airstrip every day, it nullifies that in my opinion,” Kirby said in reference to the security threat.
Clearance to fish?
“As a charter captain, not sure how a visitor pass would work for clients, or at all,” Kirby said.
“There’s no way to get a visitor pass in advance for clients. It may be more trouble than what it’s worth,” he added.
As previously reported, the restricted areas are only open to ID cardholders and those with a visitors pass.
“It’s being selective to who can fish it,” Kirby said.
“You’re shutting off a natural resource ... an entire estuary,” he said.
Partin said 60 percent to 70 percent of his fishing is done in the now restricted areas.
“I’m an inshore flats fisherman,” Partin said, noting he predominately fishes in the Sound and around the Eglin flats.
And the idea of a visitors passes, he’s not sure how that would work.
"You would have to do that every day,” Partin said.
He explained if you have a 5 a.m. fishing trip planned, you must go to Eglin and get a pass.
“I don’t see that happening,” Partin said.
But as he understands it, a military person with an ID can go fish those areas.
“It will have a negative effect on what I do, for sure,” Kirby said.
Partin said he hopes they will “reconsider what they are doing, take it back or at least have some conversation with us.
“They are just closing it all together ... that’s wrong,” Partin said.
In a statement to the Northwest Florida Daily News, Eglin Air Force Base declined to provide further details on any emerging air or waterborne threats to the base.