The Seasons Are Changing

Capt. Larry Pentel
October 27, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Been a lot happening and changing on the fishing scene in the 10 days since my last report. The biggest change is of course the weather. The cold fronts have started making their way this far South and the times; they are a changing. The beach water temp has dropped 10 degrees in this time frame. This has caused the bait to start leaving the shallows and the big schools of pelagics always follow the food. The reef fish that eat the same critters have started moving in-- to intercept the bait that is moving out. It's such a great and simple system, I love being able to be a part of it every year!

The few days after my last report we were confined to fishing right up on the beach to hide from a howling North wind. This condition keeps it slick in close but way to rough to handle just a few miles offshore. Luckily the bait was still thick in close with lots of hungry critters chasin' 'em. On Saturday we boated and released a sailfish, kept a limit of Kings (10) and 2 big Spanish. We even came in an hour early 'cause it was chilly and we couldn't keep anymore fish. Sunday we boxed a limit of Kings and released several more. Both days we were never more than a half mile off the beach. Monday we found the bait much thinner in close but still landed and released another sail...

Fishin' Hard, Runnin' Late

Capt. Larry Pentel
October 15, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Okay- I know it's been almost 2 weeks since I wrote a report. I have been fishing hard, enjoying this wonderful warm (and calm!) October weather. The fish have been enjoying the warmth too. There are huge schools of small cigs and herrings up on the sandbar and lots of pelagics up in the shallow water chasing them. We have jumped Sailfish on 4 days this past week , putting a really big (80#+) fish in the air today. Plenty of kings up on the bar although most are of the "regular" size there are a few bigger ones thrown in just to surprise you every now and then. Another great surprise this week has been the Mahi- there have been a lot of 10 to 20# fish right up on the beach in 20' of water , chasing the small baits around. I have not been able to spend a full 4 hours up in close trolling- I have run out for at least half a trip every day to take my anglers bottom fishing. One of the other Grayton capts. (Jody Wesley) was able to spend his whole day riding the tower and looking up on the bar a couple days ago and found a BIG school of Mahis-- I think they ended up landing 16 fish in the 8 to 15# range as well as their limit of kings.

The best surprise for me and some of my anglers though was a big galvanized fish that hit a slow trolled minnow the other day....