Capt. Larry Pentel
January 6, 2004
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Happy New Year! Hope everybody got that new 42 footer with twin diesels that they wanted for christmas- Santa must have hit some bad weather with mine as it still hasn't shown up.
I had quite a few trips over the holidays with conditions ranging from perfect to "I really don't want to be here". The worst day was sloppy weather, cold and after an hour and a half we didn't have a fish in the boat. I offered to call it "one of those days" and go in on my dime but my anglers would not hear of it. They wanted a big bite and we percevered and found some groupers that wanted to chew. Evereybody got a good one along with a pile of pinks , some triggers and B-liners. It was sloppy enough that it took us 35 minutes to go 6 miles back to the truck at the end of our 4 hours tho-
The "best" trip catch wise was 14 groupers on a half day with LOTS of missed fish ( one angler had 7, one 4, one 2 and one 1). The live bait was harder to catch than the groupers. Luckily for me my folks decided they had plenty of meat and gave me the triggers we got by accident bait fishin'.
On the inshore side I have run several trips over at Indian Pass in the past few weeks, The redfish are up in the skinny water with the couple of days right after a cold front still the best. The trout are showing pretty good too. Most of the trout are just below the 15" limit but there are enough fish that if you spend the whole 1/2 day catching 'em you will end up with a limit of keepers. My folks and I cooked up a mess of trout and oysters this past Sat. and had the nieghborhood over for dinner. Finest kind-- Hard to beat fresh seafood, especially when you caught it yourself.
The weather will continue to rule the fishing for the next couple of months. Groupers and vermillion snappers should stay in close out in the Gulf for the calm , warm days. The trout and reds will be a fairly reliable line stretcher inshore with the sheepshead showing up enmasse any day. If your landlocked 'cause Santa lost your boat go catch sheepshead around a bridge- they fight hard, taste great and are a challenge to hook up. As I always tell my anglers " if you set the hook right before you feel 'em bite you'll stick everyone of those bait stealers"
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.
