Summers End

Capt. Larry Pentel
September 8, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




It's the day after Labor day and all the crowds are gone. What marks the end of summer for some signifies the start of the nicest time to be at the beach for those of us who live here. Perfect temps, no crowds at the beach or the grocery, crystal clear water and a little more laid back lifestyle.

I ran trips of course for the holiday weekend and we managed to come in with a good catch everyday though the fishing is not as red hot as a few weeks ago. There are Kings and Spanish around, not ganged up in tight schools but scattered out without much reason to being where you find 'em ( at least not to the folks fishing for 'em ). There are also still quite a few Mahi around if you are lucky enough to find a piece of floating debris or a tide line. Yesterday ( Labor Day) we trolled around for just about all of our 1/2 day trip and came in with 3 nice Mahi, 5 Kings, 2 Spanish and 2 Bonita. We released a couple Kings and missed several more.



A good collection of surface critters

Bottom fshing has actually been kinda slow the past week. Weather the big full moon has 'em feeding at night or the Red Snappers (you can still find them everywhere) have finallly succeeded in running...

Birthday Fishes

Capt. Larry Pentel
September 1, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Came back from a week at Indian Pass yesterday and fished off Grayton today. Never ran the first bottom rig today (odd for me). Trolled around for 4 hours and had a great time, Caught 2 right nice Mahi in the 10# to 20# class (okay, 1 of each) and missed another, caught several kings, one that was 24#, some big spanish, several short amberjacks and a 10# Red Snapper. You know the snappers are thick when they hit a trolling rig on the surface in 85' of water! A nice box and I never had to hold the boat up!

The week at the "Pass" was kinda a vacation. The main reason for going was my daughter Darcy's 30th birthday came around and she wanted to celebrate over there. Took a bunch of folks scallopin' one day (yes, they are still thick, big now too!) Took a bunch of girls to Appalach for shopping and lunch by boat one day and even managed to squeeze in a little fishin' time.

Darcy wanted a big Tripletail for her Birthday and we managed to come up with a fine one. She had been fortunate enough to land the first one of the year this year on her brothers boat back in the spring and wanted more!



just a little excited! The fish was 17#

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Sails, Whales & Mahi Tales

Capt. Larry Pentel
August 17, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




What an incredible past 2 weeks! Kinda hard to figure where to start but I guess it should be with the big fish- Really BIG Fish! There has been a school (pod?) of Whale Sharks living in the Grayton/Seagrove area for at least the past 12 days. They have stayed within about a 20 square mile area and while they haven't been feeding on the surface everyday we have had several days where not only would at least one stay on the surface they would let us get the boat right next to 'em and even let us swim with them, totally unconcerned about our presence. You have no idea just how "big" a 35 foot long fish is until you swim along side one!



Like I said-they would swim right by the boat!



A full view, hard to judge size with no perspective.



Feeding on the surface with a mouth 8 feet wide!



For a little perspective- That's me cruising along with one we estimated...

Back To the Land Of Snappers

Capt. Larry Pentel
July 28, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Got Back to Seagrove yesterday afternoon after some fantastic Tarpon fishin' at Indian Pass. I spent the day today working on tackle and swapping everything around so I can get back to Red Snappers and Kings off Grayton for the next few weeks. I called a couple of the other captains that fish here and got the same report from all of 'em-- "lots of fish, pretty easy catchin". I figure my spots have had a break for a month so they all should be packin' pretty good!

I hated to leave the "Pass". The Tarpons are there in force this year. They showed up a little later than usual but are in as thick as they get right now. The usual population of fish in the 100 t0 130# range showed but also a lot of small (for there) 50 to 75#'s and a bunch of HUGE ones over 200# as well.



This fellow had just finished fighting a big fish before I took his picture, He fought it for 4 hours and 55 minutes on a Penn 706 spinning reel packed with 40# mono. He never handed the rod off or put it in the holder but put forth an effort rarely seen. He may be a kindergarten teacher in real life but he's my new hero- The fish was no longer than a lot of the big ones (around 8')...

Hot, Hot, Hot ! The Fishin' Aint Bad Either !

Capt. Larry Pentel
June 26, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Whew ! The summer temps have hit ! The Mackerel bite has been as hot as the air and there are still LOTS of Red Snappers around. I'm a little behind writing a report but with this pretty weather I have been fishin' every day, runnin 2 trips most days. The King bite has been good most mornings and off the charts most afternoons. I'm short timing it here in the Grayton/Seagrove area- 3 more days and I'm off to chase Tarpon and 'Tails at Indian Pass. Only be gone 4 weeks this year since the Feds have cut our snapper season back to August 14th--- got to come back and get at least the last couple weeks in. "fishery management" now ranks right up there with "military intelligence" in the list of greatest oxymorons----
No photos while I'm at the "Pass" but I'll post a bunch the end of July when I get back. In the meantime here area few pic's from the past 10 days or so-----



Kids always catch Fish!



Just to prove a point- the gal at the far right caught the cobia!

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