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Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore
Capt. Larry Pentel
October 22, 2000
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
OFFSHORE
Fall has come to Northwest Florida and I don't know which is better, the weather or the fishing. With afternoon highs in the low to mid 80's and nights in the 60's it is perfect weather to spend the day outside. Good thing too since today was my first day off the water in a week. The difficult thing about this time of year is deciding what to fish for.
The king mackeral have started thier fall migration and are eating anything that they can catch. I ran 4 trips this week just chasing mackeral and we found 'em every day. The fish move around a little bit each day but getting a limit is easy once you find 'em. It is a good grade of fish too with the average size running about 10#. Every day we have fished for them we have had at least one pushing 20# or better. On Wednesday we had two bona-fide smokers on. The first one blew up on a short bait right behind the boat and we got a good look at a massive 40+# fish right before he bit through number 4 wire. Either the same fish or his twin brother ate another bait about an hour later and dumped the line off a 706 in as little time as it took me to start the chase. My angler did a good job fighting the fish but alas, the hook pulled on the third run. We still ended up with a limit, the biggest at about 25#. Not only are the kings here but there are lots of "axe handle" spanish mixed in with them. We have brought in 4 to 6 spanish in the 5# class each day as well. The kings should just keep getting bigger for the next month untill they disapear South around Thanksgiving. I love a good mackeral rally, nothing to sharpen your reflexes like trying to keep 4 rods with fish on from getting tangled!
The kings have taken some of the attention off bottom fishing but that doesn't mean it isn't just as hot. The snapper seem to know we can only fish for 'em for another week or so as good as they are biting. As an added bonus the amberines (banded rudder fish) have moved in to all the inshore spots. These fish are built just like an amberjack and fight like one on steroids. At an average size of 4# they aren't the biggest fish in the box but I doubt if we could land one if they grew to 20#! My trip saturday was strictly bottom fishing so we went and caught about a dozen FINE snapppers on our first stop, a couple keeper groupers the next and then I hit the amberines. My party was astounded that anything could pull so hard. We caught a little over a dozen and wore my guys out completely, they all had to stop and take a break even though the fish were still chewing!
INSHORE
Yes Virginia, fall is smiling on the shore bound anglers too. Every morning when I launch my boat off the beach at Grayton there is somebody surf fishing and I always try to talk to them. Some mornings it is a tourist who riddles me with questions and sometimes a local I know. This past week it didn't seem to matter where the angler was from, they caught fish.
There are huge schools of bluefish and skipjacks (lady fish) moving down the beach each day. It is easy to spot them as they are thrashing through schools of bait with the tact and diplomacy of a cuisinart. While either species will eat anything in the middle of a frenzy it is best to remember to put a short length of shock leader (50# mono works) just ahead of your lure. If not you'll end up like one fellow I ran into this week trying to beg a jig off me. Seems he had lost this entire box of bass tackle to the toothy critters that morning but only landed two skippies!
If you are trying to get into fly fishing ( or your a pro) you need to chase the skippies. They aren't picky on color or size and will swim all around your ankles when they're in a frenzy. And jump! I've often heard of them refered to as poor mans tarpon but I don't think that does them justice. While they don't have the stamina of a 100# tarpon it is probably because they spend the entire fight jumping trying to shake the hook. While they succeed quite often there usually is another fish ready to grab the lure as soon as you twitch it again. My all time record on a fly was 6 different fish on one cast! I'd hook a fish, it would run, jump, and throw the fly. I'd start to strip line in and WHAM! we'd start again. The 6th fish never could throw the lure so I had to bring him in and release him. The best part of that day was the fish were in less than 2 feet of water, right on the beach.
Let's Go ! Fall won't last forever!!!
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