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Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore
Capt. Larry Pentel
August 30, 2000
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Offshore
The Snappers are back! Not only are there lots of 'em but the size is the best it's been since April. There seems to have been a movement of a few groupers along with the snappers also. Most of the spots that hold groupers during the winter have a few right now.
I ran a 4 hour trip today with 4 folks from tennessee who had never been in the gulf before. We ran out about 4 and half miles in front of where they were staying and I gave them the quick " this is how we do it" speech. They must have really been paying attention because we had fish in the box on the first down. The Snappers were hot at every rock I stopped on. We had a limit of fine Red Snapper a black snapper and a lane with a hour left to fish. I changed tackle and bait a liitle and we went after bigger bites. We got 'em too but my folks weren't quite up to grouper fishing and we left several big fish on the reefs with hooks in their mouths. We did pick up 4 kings and a spanish tho to top off the box.
The king bite seems to be better offshore on the edges right now than on the beach. There are fish on the beach but a lot of them are small, under the 24" size limit. Lots of Spanish right on the beach and these are bigger than a lot of the kings!
INSHORE
I spent last weekend at Indian Pass and ran several trips over there for Tarpon. There are still lots of fish around but it is not as hot as it was in July. It seems the bait and fish are a little more spread out . They will probably start to group back up on the beach in the next few weeks in preparation for the migration South this Fall.
Friday had about 12 boats Tarpon fishing in the morning with only 1 fish caught. We were seeing a few fish rolling but none actively feeding so I went to plan b after lunch. I climbed up in the tower and put my anglers on the bow and we looked for tripletail. I'd find 1 (or 2) tell my folks, drive over to the fish and they would throw. We had a blast!! Sight fishing is always my favorite sport and I had anglers who got into it also. We caught 6 'tails and i couln't tell you how many we missed. Sat. I was back Tarpon fishing and it was my turn. We caught the only fish that day but there were several more jumped off. Sunday there were lots of fish moving and several of 'em caught. The "Dead Fish " caught and released a fine one about 100# and we caught several big spinner sharks also. Monday I had to clean up , pack up up and drive back but I called Capt. Randall on the VHF right before I left at11:00. He said there were fish every where, he had caught one about 100# and he was the only boat out ! It figures, they go on the feed after the weekend. I hope to get some trips together and go over one more time this year before they leave. Give me a call and we will line it up...
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