Hot to Cold, It's Still Fishy
Capt. Larry Pentel
January 28, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
I've been over to Indian Pass a couple times since my last report and the Redfish are still thick up in the skinny water. With the rapidly changing weather conditions of winter it can be hard to pick the "perfect" day to sight fish. If you can get out with clear water and a high sky though there are literally hundreds of slot size fish to throw at. I got to get in a couple of hours on the bow myself the other day without a charter and managed to get 6 to eat. If somebody could have filmed it, it would have been a comedy special! I was up on the casting ladder on the bow with my push pole and a spinning rod. I'd pole a couple times, try to set the pole down quietly and pick up the rod and look for a fish (or 5) to throw at. If I didn't see a fish in a minute I'd set the rod down, pick up the pole and do it again. The usual way it worked out was as soon as I picked up the pole and pushed once I'd see at least 3 or 4 fish and usually spook 'em before I could get everything in order to make a cast. As I said, even with all the fish I spooked I got to watch 6 eat my DOA in 2 hours- would have been a banner day with an angler on the bow and me polin' from the platform!
This one was caught the "right" way with the captain on the poling platform. We had extremely shallow water and sunny skies this day. The fish were ganged up in schools of 20 to over a hundred. We saw over 200 fish in one hour!
Took a group offshore on a slick calm but cold day last week. The Amberjack bite was the best I have seen in probably 10 years. After my folks got tired from catchin' AJ's we tried to grouper fish the wreck we were on. The Jacks were so voracious we couldn't get any thing to the bottom. Dead baits, strip baits, even a single dead cigar minnow on a 5 foot 80# leader was eaten by a jack no matter how slow you tried to lower it. I sure hope this is sign of how they are going to be the next few months! With gags closed for 2 months it'll be nice to still be able to go out and come in "fished out"!
While almost all the fish were over the slot a few of 'em were right nice!
We also boated a couple grouper and a fine (15#) Black snapper.
The weather man is calling for calm but chilly (a high of only 59)on Sat. again. I think I've got a crew together to try to make a repeat!
Capt. Larry Pentel
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