Made for TV
Capt. Larry Pentel
November 9, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well, we have another "made for TV" hurricane in the Gulf today. The surf is big and pretty and the wind may actually reach 25 knots. I guess I should be thankful that at least Jim Cantore has a job in these uncertain economic times !
Last week (when the wind blew harder out of the north than today---) I got to run some very successful trips off Grayton. The water temperature had come back up a couple degrees from the cold front the week before and the bait was back up on the beach. Bait generally means predators and this was no exception.
On Tuesday I took 3 anglers out and we limited out on Kings in an hour and a half, then getting to go bottom fishing for the rest of our half day and putting a few more fish in the box as well as releasing a bunch of Red Snappers and some groupers. The wind was a little blowy from the North but we stayed up in close and had a nice smooth ride.
Another Fish Fry in the Making
Thursday I got to run another trip and the Kings were so hot you about had to hide the hook to put the bait on for fear one would jump in the boat and eat the minnow in your hand! We limited out in 45 minutes and actually released a couple more in that time as well. We went on to bottom fish and had caught some more finny critters up in close (the wind was HOWLING from the North) when I got a call that somebody appeared to be in trouble a few miles down the beach. We picked up and ran 7 miles to find a fellow almost 2 miles offshore laying in his Kite Surfer kite and trying to paddle back to the beach. He had lost his board, didn't have a vest (lifejacket)or a wetsuit and was being blown farther and faster offshore as he was about wore slap out and shaking pretty bad. We got him in the boat and ran him back to the beach and turned him over to a deputy (seems they had been called also). We went ahead and called it a short trip since my folks had all the fish they wanted and we were back at the truck at 11:30. I hated losing fishing time (and money !) but you have to help out the folks who don't make the smart choices some days-.
Not Bad For a 3 Hour Trip-
I finished up cleaning fish and had a few locals hanging by the boat and it was only 1:00 in the afternoon. I knew where we had left the Kings a few hours earlier so I told everybody to jump in and we'd do a quick freezer trip. Quick wasn't the word. The Kings had gotten even hungrier and we even managed to put a nice mahi in the box as well in less than a hour!
Some folks just get excited when they finally catch fish!!
I can't let her get away with saying she got 'em all-- some more of the Grayton Beach local color that helped-
I was supposed to run a flats trips at Indian Pass on Saturday so I went over Friday to get everything together . Unfortunately the ethanol gremlin bit me and the engine on my flats boat had fouled up carbs. It may have been just one of those things tho-- the wind switched to East and blew all day Saturday pretty much shutting down the bite. My folks fished with Capt Pete instead of me but only caught 2 trout. This after everybody had been crushin' 'em for the past 2 weeks-----.
We'll have to wait and see what this storm does to the fish. A storm tide and big surf always stirs up the critters and moves 'em around some/ I've got trips on the book for the end of the week when it is supposed to be calm so I'll post what I find----.
One more pic of a few of the Grayton fishin' regulars in their "non-fishin" attire-----
Capt Larry Pentel
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