Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
May 8, 2001
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

I've been lucky enough to spend the last 5 days on the Gulf and the fishing has gone from one extreme to the other. Right before the full moon the red snappers were intent on committing suicide. My folks on fri. had a limit 2 hours into a 4 hour trip. We got to do a little grouper fishing that put 2 fine ones in the box and my two anglers with a little more respect for the power of these fish in shallow water with the ones that "schooled" 'em. Got to catch a good king too that they let me fry up for dinner. Sun. morning I had a full boat with 5 anglers. I usually keep it to 4 but my usuall 4 had a friend..... What the hey, we went and I ended up running 8 miles offshore which is a ways for the Dead Fish on a 4 hour. The snappers did not want to cooperate with us at all and I kept going from honey hole to honey hole. After 2 hours of struggling with slip leads I got the 2 hook rigs out and we went on to catch a bunch of triggers and beeliners to add to our 10 red regulars. The full moon was sat night and I'm sure thats what changed the fishes mind about eating . Once again I am reminded that nobody can ever quite out guess these critters. Yesterday I had an ex local and his buddy who wanted triggers. We got a limit of 'em and a limit of beeliners in the process too. Allright, time to snapper fish. We started a good snapper rally going but my folks were having a hard time stickin' 'em. No problem when the resident groupers on the spot decided they couldn't let the snapper have all our bait. We caught 4 in quick order but all but 1 was just barely undersized (22 inches). I was pulling back up to the spot to try the snappers again when the "bonus pole" that had a fly-lined minnow on it went off. Good Deal! A fine king. I gaffed him, put the pole back out and went to pull up to the rock again and didn't make it 20 feet when the fly pole doubled over again. We never did get back to snapper fishing but my folks were quite happy with the 4 nice red ones they caught as our limit of kings burned up the rest of our trip!

The cobia run is about over I'm afraid. While there will continue to be a few stragglers for the next month it seems like the majority of the fish have migrated through. Last Wed. we went and caught a limit of snappers first thing and then came in and looked for cobias for 4 hours and only found 2. I talked to some folks who looked this weekend and didn't see any. A few boats caught fish but no big numbers were seen that I heard of. The spanish also seem to have gone on to the West. With the numbers of Kings that have been caught the past week it seems all the fish are coming and going right on schedule.

On the inshore scene there are increasing pomano catches with all the "experts" limiting out regularly. Sand fleas are tougher to come by than pompano from what I've heard. The trout bite is on full bore in the bay also. After cleaning fish yesterday PM my folks and I sat on my dock for a cool one and to talk about the day. In less than an hour we saw 11 trout swim by in a foot of water up to about 4# !! My son is currently cleaning tomorrows dinner that he got off our dock. At 24 inches and 3.65# it's not his biggest trout but darned respectable for a 10 minute walk out in the yard! Everybody I've talked to that has run trout trips the past week has limited out. It should stay hot untill the next front comes through and changes the weather pattern.

My web site is down ( hackers got me- I feel so hip) I should have it back up in a week or so with new pictures.

Capt. Larry Pentel

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