Great Hurricane Fishin'
Capt. Larry Pentel
September 12, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
My last report I said the bite should just get better as the fish calmed down from Gustav. I got lucky and nailed it! The fishing was as good as it gets until the surf came up again from Ike. The surge and swell from Ike is even bigger here than Gustav was so the fishing has the potential to be incredible this fall after things calm down again. A big storm always "shuffles the deck" with the fish and will generally move a lot of quality fish up to right on the beach. I have seen the grouper at the Jetty's in Destin piled up like redfish in years past-
The storms run the fish in but run our vacationers off. I did not have a trip last Saturday so I took a few locals out for a "freezer trip". Even though 2 of my crew of 3 had never been before we filled up the box in less than three hours. I even got to catch a few myself for change! The picture below gives proof to the "grouper after a storm" stories--
For you music fans the boys on the left are the picker and fiddler from the " Waco Ramblers"- While they get prettty animated during a show I don't think I have ever seen 'em as exited as when they were bowed up! The fiddler (T-Bone) caught the cobia in the middle and was all fired up.
I got to run a few charters as well before it got rough again. These folks were hard core flyfishers from out West who had never beach launched before. As good as the catch in the picture is it'sless than half of what they caught- about and hour and a half into the trip they told me to quit keeping fish. Said they couldn't eat any more and just to release everything else!!
We released well over another 150# on a half day!
The forcast has it calming down either Monday or Tuesday next week. My (southern)family and I are leaving Monday evening to visit our youngest daughter in Maine for a week. While I hate missing out on more exceptional fishing I'm sure the other Grayton boys won't be able to put that big a dent in the fish while I'm gone. My son, son in law, and I have a bluefin trip charterd while in Maine but it's still gonna be hard not to think about the the bite here!
Destin Fishing Forecast:
should be stacked up like cordwood in a week !
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