It's O-fishly Spring!
Capt. Larry Pentel
March 22, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Doesn't matter what the calender says, Spring started last week. The first cobia was caught out of Destin about 10 days ago and the run stated soon after. That and the fact that the kids on Spring Break have over-run the beaches signals that winter is finally over!
The weather has been warm and sunny and the cobia are here about 2 weeks ahead of the norm. No Spanish or bait on the beach yet but it'll be any day now. I got to run my first cobia trip of the year day before yesterday with a couple of my sight fishing regulars. We found three of the brown backed crab crunchers and managed to put one in the box. At 42.5# he was a respectable fish but no where near as big as the first one we saw. The big 'un wouldn't cooperate but it was awfully exciting to be chasing a giant fish around on the surface again. The one we landed was the typical cobia scene of utter chaos and confusion with lots of adrenaline flowing. We hooked the fish up and fought it for 10 minutes only to have the hook pull just as we thought it was all happening perfect and we were high fivin'. I scrambled back up to the tower and looked for a bit where I figured our quarry would reappear. Sure enough, he popped back up and was more than willing to eat the live eel I pitched in front of 'em. I made sure the hook was really set and handed the rod back to my angler who did a great job of making sure we landed the groceries!
Most of my trips have been family bottom trips this past week and the fishin' and catchin' has been great. The keepin' though is another story. With grouper and Red Snapper closed there isn't a lot we can throw in the box this early in the season. One exception is the Redfish. The big ones move out to the larger rocks and wrecks in close this time of year and if you get lucky enough to find 'em you can catch a pile some days. Most of 'em are too big to keep but a few are just under that "magic 27" limit. I had four 16 year olds the other day and they managed to land 25 fine ones. We left the fish biting after we had got 5 small enough to fit the box . The boys wanted other species and we had no trouble finding Snappers and Groupers to play. Make a quick pic and let 'em go--
Plenty for a fish fry!
Gotta throw 'em back
Gotta throw a LOT of 'em back!
Since I get to start a little latter when we cobia fish I launched at regular time to go get some live bait 'fore the trip the other day. Caught the baits easy enough and still had time so I slipped over to where the Reds had been and managed to catch 3 big ones myself. It hard to watch your clients have all the fun without slippin' in a lttle fishin' time yourself every now and then!
Even the captain gets to fish sometime!
Today will probably be the last day calm enough to go for the week. After this blow that's coming is over the water on the beach should be just thin gumbo. I imagine that by next weekend the bait and Spanish and pomps and blues and rain minnows and, and and, will all be here!
get a rod and some sunscreen and go !!!!!
capt Larry Pentel
Destin Fishing Forecast:
Getting Better All the Time
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