Capt. Larry Pentel
December 17, 2002
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Winter time is here. Not to many folks around wanting to go fishing and not to many nice days to go anyway. It sure is a treat when it comes together though.
Sunday before last I got to sight fish redfish over at Indian Pass. The wind wasn't blowin' too hard, the water was crystal clear and it was almost warm. The sun would come out for a few minutes and then dissapear for 10. As soon as the sun would shine we'd look fast, see a fish ( or 10), throw and hook up. The fish were stacked up at the edge of a mud flat in a foot of water ( or less) and made for easy targets.
We caught 'em from 2 lb.s to 15. The bigger ones put our 8# spinning outfits to the test by runnning to the channel and getting sideways in the current. I was up on the poling platform playing guide and I still got to hook up with half a dozen myself. I love it when the angler invites me to fish a little too.
The oysters we picked up after fishing made the fish story telling even better that afternoon.
Last week had one pretty day ( wed.) and I had a regular who was chomping at the bit to get out and chase groupers. He brought a buddy who also quickly developed the fever to the extent that niether of them would fish for triggers even when we were on a big stand of 'em. We ended our 4 hour with 6 groupers in the box, 2 of them about 20#, 9 trigs and some amberines. They also broke off ( on 80#) several big fish and pulled the hook on several more. What was great was the number of small groupers biting tho.In addition to the Black groupers we kept we probably threw back 3 dozen Red Groupers just a little short. The bite was hot.
No trips on the books this week. Next week is Christmas and as usual everybody is coming down on vacation and wants to go chase fish. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll get to run. I even had one fellow e-mail me and asked if I'd run a trip on Christmas day! I told him no, my kids would all be here but I'd go Christmas eve. He booked it-
Gulf Fishing off Grayton Beach in beautiful South Walton. Red Snapper to Cobia to King Mackeral to Grouper. No need to get up early or drive for an hour to a marina. We will pick you up on the beach and be on a reef or wreck in usually less than 15 minutes. Some of the Gulfs best fishing lies just offshore of the snow white sands of South Walton. We also offer Tarpon trips at Indian Pass during the summer run. July and August have large schools of giant Silver Kings feeding just off the beach.
