Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
April 2, 2000
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

OFFSHORE

Bottom Fishing continues to be excellent with a good showing of mingos (vermillon snapper) coming in to 100 to 150 ft of water this week. The trigger fish are still thick but getting well practiced at stealing bait. I had a family of 5 out bottom fishing this week and stopped on a huge stand of fish. One of the anglers figured out how to set the hook right away and caught a good mess of triggers including one about 5#. The other folks just kept feeding 'em squid and bringing up empty hooks. Luckily they were looking for exitement more than a freezer full so we did some catch and release snapper fishing. I guess the snapper know you can't keep 'em right now because I've never seen them any thicker or hungrier. A good grade of fish too with lots of 4 to 6# fish and many over 10#. I can't wait till the 15th and we can bring the snappers back to the dock. There are going to be lots of full racks of fish for the last half of April.

Cobia fishing continues to be spotty with mostly single fish cruising the bar. I ran two cobia trips this week, both with good visibility and a clear sky. On the first trip I only had one angler. He wanted to catch a fish early in the season as he is about to have major surgery and couldn't stand the thought of not getting a flathead this year. I found him a fish that was starving. He flipped an eel in front of the fish and it ate immediately only to have the hook pull after taking 10' of drag. The fish spun around and ate the eel again only to pull the hook the again. Now running on pure adreninlin I had my angler reel up, we got back on the fish and he threw for a third shot. This time the hook stayed and a half hour later we put a 38# fish in the box.

My other cobia trip had me on the deck spending more time unhooking spainish than looking for cobia. I had two fellows from arkansas who "just wanted to have fun on the water". We caught our 30 fish spanish limit with a couple of fish being 3 to 4# "ax handles". We then found a huge school of jacks on the bar and they each got to catch ( and release) one about 20#. One the party said I should have told them the jacks were cobia and they wouldn't have known the difference. Of course after battling a jack cravelle on spinning tackle for 30 minutes even the most experienced anglers are all smiles.

Everyone is figuring this front coming through now will bring the cobia in to the beach. The wind blew east/southeast all day Sat. and is supposed to be 15 to 20 knts. from the South thru Tues. AM. Either Wednesday or Thursday should have everyone out looking for wads of fish.

INSHORE

The spanish that invaded the bay several weeks ago seem to have started to leave the past few days. Up through last weekend limit catches were common, even on a fly rod. I went yesterday and really had to hunt for the ones we caught. I talked to some folks up around shalimar who said they had left that end of the bay also.

The good news is the trout have shown up on the flats and in the bayous. The night before last my son came up from the dock all excited that there were 7 nice trout under the light.Of course by the time I got my chores done and made it down there were only 3 left but at least he had a good time.

The pompano are also here but the fleas are hiding. For those who know where to find the bait the fish are here to be caught.

Put on that sunscreen and lets go fishing!!!!

Capt. Larry Pentel

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