Lottsa Kings, Few Beach goers

Capt. Larry Pentel
September 19, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Fall at the beach, hard to find a better place to be!

The Kings have turned back on full tilt with a few bigger fish starting to show up. Still a few Mahi's around and the triggers are getting a little bigger and more numerous as well. The weather the past week has been a little unsettled with a lot of rain squalls but the surf hasn't really been that bad most days and I have only missed a couple days due to higher seas. When we came in today (Sat.) I was amazed at how few folks were on the beach for a weekend-- and at least half of 'em were locals I knew! Only 2 other boats out off the beach at Grayton today besides us. Not hot, not cold, the waters is 82 degrees and the fish were chewin' hard.



A great rack of Kings (limit) and 8 triggers on a half day.




Another limit of kings and a few Spanish



This is one of the days I missed ! That's a waterspout about a mile off the beach at Grayton at 6:15 in the AM !

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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...

Snappers and Kings Rule

Capt. Larry Pentel
August 5, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




Whew! Been back to Fishin' off Grayton for a week now. Runnin' hard, two trips a day most days and cleaning lottsa fish. The Red Snappers appear to everywhere. We caught a Fine one about 14# while trolling for kings in 40' of water on a surface bait !!

The King Mackerel have also been pretty darn thick with a lot of bigger fish thrown in the mix. Kind of unusual for this time of year but I'm sure not complainin'



Here's a 32# King on a short afternoon trip.

There are a few Grouper around but not hot by any means. I have been pretty much concentrating on the Red Sanpps while we can. I have found several reefs that have a bunch of Black Snapper on 'em- saving those till after Aug 14th-



These Folks asked to be put in the fishin' report. Said a Grouper like that on a half day trip need to be shown off-

There are also quite a few Dolphin (Mahi) around if you are fortunate enough to find a log or a tide line. Most of these came off a telephone pole that was about 7 miles offshore. Another beach boat found it, caught 2 nice ones and then put the...