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Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore
Capt. Larry Pentel
December 21, 2000
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
OFFSHORE
As usual, the weathers nasty so I'm writning a report. 25 knots out of the Northwest and raining. Not the best conditions for fishin' but still way better than being up North, at least it was 65 degrees this afternoon. All these coldfronts right on top of each other have kept most folks from fishing offshore. Those that have gone have reported the groupers are still here. I have only run one bottom trip in the past 2 weeks and we had mixed results. We hooked several groupers on each of our first 2 stops and put a couple in the boat. The big ones of course got away but I just had two anglers and was feeling pretty good about the trip when somebody flipped the switch. My 3rd and 4th stops were places that always hold fish and we couldn't lose a bait. Good shows on the bottom machine and not even a nibble. It makes you wonder what effects a fish 70 feet down to shut 'em down like that but it does happen. We went on to release some snappers and catch some triggers, pinks, rockfish etc. It figures that the one day of absolute perfect weather and the groupers shut down. It was nice to get out on the gulf tho-. Two weeks is the longest I've been stuck inshore since probably winter before last.
INSHORE
I did make a couple of inshore trips last week where everything clicked just right. This past monday was one of those days between the fronts that makes you know your in Florida. I was down at Indian pass and the bluebird sky and light wind made it perfect for sightfishing redfish. We fished the middle of the day and probably saw 100 fish between 2 and 12# with most of 'em going about 6-8#. I had one angler on the bow and he got the two fish we were allowed. We hooked about 4 others and "choked" quite a few. Even had one fish chase a lure being reeled in at top speed and blew up on it like a bass! My angler was looking at another fish to throw at and didn't even know this one was trying to eat! We had a good time and probably could have kept catching fish by blind casting but with the sun low in the sky it was difficult to see after 3PM. I poled the boat into a school of about 10 fish that neither one of us saw untill they boiled all around the boat. Nothing like a surprise to make you humble when your feeling cocky.
Trout fishing remains good in the winter holes. I ran a trip with one angler last week up the ICW and we probably caught 30 trout. It was another perfect day between the fronts and we spent a couple hours just pickin' fish out of the deeper holes. When it warmed up into the 70's in the afternoon I made a run out into the bay and found a huge a school of bait on the shallow side of a ledge that was getting nailed by birds from above and trout from below. My angler probably caught 15 fish in the last 45 minutes of our trip. Nothing like fast and furious, always makes you look forward to the next trip.
Fishin' is still good, you just have to be able to time your trips so you go the one or two days a week that don't seem like winter!!
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