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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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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Snappers and More Snappers!

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




The long awaited opening day of Red Snapper season finally came and I don't think anyone was disappointed. The fish are still everywhere and anyone who went out had a nice limit in the box pretty quick.



Opening Morning and Yes the Gal Caught the Big ones!

The great news is that the fish actually seem to be biting better as the season progresses. We are throwing lots and lots back, trying to just keep the bigger or seriously hooked ones. I have run a couple of short 2 hour trips in the afternoon this past week and we have had no problem catching fish steady even in that short a time.



These folks got their Snappers quick so we went and looked for Kings for 1/2 the trip with great success. A nice Dolphin is always a great bonus on a spinning rod!



I have always said that kids and gals are the best fisherfolks- These young ladies just prove my point. They caught a pile on a 4 hour

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It's Snapper Time!

Capt. Larry Pentel
May 31, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report




After waiting for what has seemed like all year (well, yes, I guess it has been all year) Red Snappers finally open tomorrow. The so called threatened species has been everywhere making it difficult to fish for anything else. Here's a couple we caught and threw back in less than 100 ft. of water on half day trips this week while trying to grouper fish.



This one may not look big but the fellow holding him is 6'7' and close to 300#. The snapper weighed 18# !



This fellow is more about my size- His fish weighed 25#!

We should have some fantastic catches on snappers the next couple weeks !
Even with Snappers closed we have had some good looking boards the past week. The weather has been great and I have had the pleasure of taking some long time returning anglers that have gotten past the learning curve of circle hook fishing.



This was the first time out for these folks but they were quick learners and were already taking about the next trip.

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