Hot Fishin'- Cold Weather
Capt. Larry Pentel
January 16, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Winter in Florida, beautiful one day and frigid the next. Just have to go on those pretty days !
I ran a group out in the Gulf the first of the week. The day started out chilly and blowy so we started late in the morning to let it warm up some. By noon everything was looking nice so I blasted offshore to a big wreck hoping that the cooler weather had started to move the jacks in. I had my folks run 2 long leader rigs for AJ's and 2 regular for groupers with some of the wigglers we had caught on the way out. Sure enough, as soon as everybody had cleared their leaders they got pulled down to the rail. Now most days jacks can be a little leader shy but these fish were on the feed and there was a bunch of 'em ! As soon as a bait got down 50 ft there were jacks chasing it around. Leader length and size didn't seem to matter at all. We caught over 2 dozen, keeping the 4 ( now over 30" fork length)that the law allows and releasing the rest. A special bonus was the first Grayton beach cobia of 2009 ! He was with the jacks and was kind enough to come up to the top where we could add him to the catch. A note to any of the fools out there that believe the snapper stocks haven't made a comeback- We were in the middle of an Amberjack rally with NO wait time for a bite and still caught and released 2 Red Snapper over 10#'s. I never would have thought a snapper could outswim a Jack !
A Big Black Snapper and a Gag Round Out the Box
They're Everywhere!
The first of the year had me over at Indian Pass guiding a Fly guy for Redfish. The weatherman had lied (again!) though and our partly cloudy quickly turned solid overcast with a 25 knot east wind. We saw a bunch of fish in clear water but the conditions made it impossible so we bagged the trip after an hour. The next day when rain was predicted capt Randall Jones and I went out to play fish under a bright clear sky and light winds- Lots of fish up in the oyster mazes and we had a good time messin' with 'em
A fine Specimen of the Species
My youngest daughter and her husband came down from the frozen North for vacation and we picked up oysters, ate good and even got to trout fish one afternoon. While we didn't find the trout schooled up there were plenty of scattered fish of a good grade to have fun.
Proud of his first trout!
Her first was at 5 years old! Still fun though!
I had heard good reports form the Inter coastal canal back here in Walton County. When it was too rough for Capt Kerry with Not A Dog charters and I to run a group out in the Gulf we took 'em over there. These guys were gung ho to go but they said it had to be in the afternoon- We pulled up to the ramp as everybody else was leaving. The gorgeous morning had turned to a drizzly afternoon with a front coming and no tide running at all in the Inter coastal. While the bite was slow one of my anglers caught the biggest fish of his life ( a nice red) and we had 4 more smaller reds and a few small specks. We also caught more sand trout than I have ever seen in one place! While the speck bite was slow for us my folks had plenty of bites and a good time. Capt Kerry's crew had 2 nice specks and 3 sheephead. He said they broke off 4 nice fish and caught a bunch of small specks. I imagine with some water moving and sun shining you could pull a good mess form there.
I mentioned earlier that Jacks are now 30" fork length. That's just one of many law changes effective the first of the year. That applies to both State and Federal waters. Two other big changes in all waters are a 14" fork length size for Triggerfish and a closure on Gag Grouper for all of February and March. Lets keep it legal out there folks !
Plenty to chase- If it's warm and calm go get you some !
Destin Fishing Forecast:
Jacks and Groupers Offshore, Bull Redfish in the Passes and slot Reds in the oysters
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