Waiting on the Weather
Capt. Larry Pentel
October 10, 2011
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
After having to sit on the beach for 3 days due to the (howling) NE wind we have had I was excited to get out this morning. The wind was still stiff but out of the North so the seas had laid down and it was slick up in close, getting rougher as you went offshore. I told my anglers we wouldn't want to go very far offshore but it would be a great day to troll if they wanted to try that. I hadn't had a line out 3 minutes when the first mackerel hit. A quick tussle and Spanish #1 went in the box. The bite was steady and in hour and 45 minutes we had added 15 more and 2 Bonita's to the catch. Alas, the 40% chance of rain that was predicted was fast coming at us so we came in early with a great mess for a fish fry. Can't fight the weather!
Before this blow started I ran some great trips last week with groupers being the primary target species. My Tuesday trip cancelled last minute ( I found out while waiting to pick 'em up after having filled the livewell w/ wigglers). Rather than waste all that bait I called my wife, oldest daughter and next door neighbor and we all went out to get some fresh fish for ourselves. I even got to catch a Grouper!
The locals with dinner.
I get lots of folks asking me about sharks. As you can see in the pic above we lost most of 2 good fish to the "landlord". He was a Bull shark and looked just like this:
The landlord is always looking for the rent---
Most of the sharks we encounter while bottom fishing are big Bulls, intent on taking what they can get. Every now and then something more interesting comes along. I had a family group out Wed. last week and we had a nice box of bottom critters going when a big Leopard shark swam up to the boat. One of my angles was all about wanting to catch him so I rigged up and we put a live bait in front of the toothy critter. The shark was very cautious and it took about 10 minutes to get 'em to eat but we got hooked up and after a lengthy struggle we got him to the boat to make his picture and then release him. At about 8 ft it's the biggest of that species I have seen in a couple years, a very beautiful critter.
A Treat to Catch
The catch before "shark fishing"
The grouper bite was pretty good last week. These 2 folks are locals that went for a 3 hr afternoon and only wanted to grouper fish.
Make that Grouper catch- One of the anglers has been practicing though....
Here's a few more from last week:
All Smiles
You don't need to be an expert to catch a grouper- just pay attention.
We look to have some more of that Chamber of Commerce Weather starting tomorrow afternoon, get out there and catch something !
Capt Larry Pentel
Deadfish
Destin Fishing Forecast:
Catching something everyday it's pretty !
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