Now, I was just down at the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier, at the Fish Sandwich Snack Bar.

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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he saw a patch of light oil sheen some three to four miles from Pensacola Beach on Thursday afternoon from a reconnaissance flight over the Florida Panhandle.

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"I'm getting tired of catching no fish, " said Robert Strazi, a 23-year-old mackerel enthusiast, as he cast his line in vain off Pensacola Beach's 1, 471-foot fishing pier, flanked by just two other anglers.

WSJ: Gulf's Fishing-for-Fun Culture Also Takes Hit

In fact, when Morse boated over to pick me up at a Pensacola Beach marina on what he called a weather-perfect "Chamber of Commerce morning" last January, he was late because the marine patrol had stopped him to admire his Caribiana.

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The London Eye opened in 2000 and started the trend, which continues with the High Roller and with attractions like the smaller 360 Pensacola Beach, a 200-foot-high observation wheel overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, which just opened in early July.

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Ms. Yates, a 40-year-old paralegal, was one of about 50 female mackerel enthusiasts gearing up for the weekend's ladies-only Queen of Kings "rodeo" essentially a fishing tournament which was canceled as the oil approached the Panhandle, with a sheen about one mile south of Pensacola Beach's fishing pier on Sunday.

WSJ: Gulf's Fishing-for-Fun Culture Also Takes Hit