Falling Into a New Season
Capt. Larry Pentel
October 18, 2012
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Another cool front coming through this morning and it's too windy and choppy to fish. You can't really call 'em cold fronts yet when the high temps are 80... The weather pattern is changing though and it won't be to long before I'll be having to wear long pants at daylight when I launch. The fish need the temperature changes to tell them to migrate and feed, and as anglers we just need to be aware of how the finny critters patterns change with the seasons.
The inshore Grouper bite has slowed down, still fish around but you don't have to hide the hook just to bait like it was for a while there. The jacks are pretty reliable in the 100' of water range and the triggers seemed to have started coming up inshore a little thicker the past few days. Still not many Kings up in close but we did catch a FINE one on Monday ( see pic below). I caught 8 cigar minnows yesterday morning, nothing to get excited about but those were the first I have seen in a week. Hopefully the cigs will show up in force here soon so we can catch some of the Kings that will be following them. There were a LOT of Sailfish around the past 10 days or so but with few Kings it wasn't really practical to troll 4 hours just for a shot at 1 or 2 bites. There was a sail caught by a fellow on a kayak off Grayton and another caught by an angler on a paddle board at Destin this past week. I have seen several early in the morning up in close while bait fishing.
We had a couple slower days when the tides were changing ( neap tides) but still managed good catches. The bite yesterday was back to "full on", enough that my folks said they had caught all the fish they could and we came in a little early.
Grandad gave out first and his son and grandson teamed up to catch as many as they could before they tired out. A great board
These guys come every Fall and fish 2 days in a row for a "freezer catch". I think they filled it up pretty good on this 4 hr... there are still a dozen more good fish in the box. That King weighed 35#
Still Groupers around. You just have to take advantage of the ones that bite like these guys..
Lots of fishing choices this time of year. Check the weather and go catch something ! Flounders, trout, redfish , jacks, groupers... some days it's hard to decide what to chase.... I watched a school of mullet for over an hour while cleaning my charters fish on the beach the other day and they stayed put long enough for me to throw a net and fill up the smoker when I was done. Just one more species to add to that Fall "got to get a few" list
Capt Larry Pentel
Deadfish
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