Cobia compete with Red Snapper
Capt. Larry Pentel
April 15, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Boy. it has sure been a blowy spring! We have had some great days on the water but I think I have had to cancel as many days as I have got to run. The fish don't care and will bite as long as you can hold on though!
The cobia run has been hit and miss so far this year mainly due to weather. We finally had a pretty day today and they showed up good and hungry. Today was the opening day of Red Snapper season. My crew and I went bottom fishing 1st and then fell back inshore to search for cobia. One of those days when it all came together. My anglers got a limit of Snapper in the 6 to 10# range along with 2 nice Groupers. We found a single cobia on a big turtle that charged a bait as hard as I have ever seen. After doing battle and intoducing him to a nice icy fish box we went on and found a "wad" of at least 8 more fish. We somehow managed to get all our fish to the boat without any major mishaps other than lots of exited yelling. I was wanting to hook up more fish (one stayed with the boat for a half hour while we fought the hooke ones) but with a limit in the box my folks opted to go in, take pictures and drink some celebratory beers. A wonderfull opening day.
The fish box wouldn't quite shut !
Yesterdays crew was mostly novices that wanted to catch big fish more than fill the box. We were fortunate and found a big school of Jack Crevalle in the 15 to 30# range. As anybody who has tangled with 'em knows, thay are a great sport fish on spinning tackle. We stayed with the school for over 2 hours and were able to sight cast to 'em landing 12 and losing several more. Those and a few bonita gave my anglers and good workout.
Is it a fish or a bulldog?
The spanish bite has been pretty ferocious. Lots of limit catches and lots of happy fishermen. I had a cobia trip last week that drew a blank after looking for a few hours so I switched gears and put out the spoons- we had a limit of mackeral (45 that day) in less than 2 hours. Some fast fishin'.
On the beach the pompano have showed in force. While I spend lots of time on the water I don't get to catch fish myself most days. In the past couple weeks I have made it back to the beach 'bout sunset 8 days after the boat and gear are cleaned and put up. Six days out of those times I have caught fish (pomps and redfish). Gotta love springtime!!!
The bite will just get better over the next few weeks. The cobia seem to finally have shown in numbers. We can keep some Snappers instead of thrown' back all the big uns and the Kings have shown up also. While there is always something to catch it dosn't get much better than the next month !!
This one bit a grouper bait a couple days before the opening. Throwning him back was easy with some groupers allready in the box though!
Get up and go!!! Try as I might I can't seem to catch 'em all. I need some help!
Capt Larry Pentel
More Fishing Reports:
