Just About Perfect
Capt. Larry Pentel
November 15, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well, I've been lucky enough to run the past 3 days and while the weather has been nice and the Gulf calm all 3 today was just about perfect! It may be the middle of November but I was cleaning fish on an (almost) empty beach under a bright sunny sky in shorts, flip flops and a tee shirt this afternoon. the Chamber of Commerce couldn't have ordered up a nicer day (or a more brilliant lingering sunset this evening)
I took 2 couples out on Friday and the bite was pretty darn good. The water was still milky from the storm and the fish seemed to be huggin' the bottom and scattered but we came in with 10 amberines, a limit of kings, a big trigger and fought and released a good Bull shark' bout 200#. My folks said they couldn't have caught any more fish, what with all the Red Snappers we released.
A great board on a calm day.
I was supposed to take the same folks out again Saturday but the gals said they were fished out and had sore arms so it was just me and the guys. They wanted to shoot for "other" critters so we tried to target the big bite most of the trip and were rewarded with a fine Gag Grouper 'bout 28# along with a nice Black Snappers and some more Amberines.
Today (Sunday) I took folks who had never been before but had lots of enthusiasm. The day started out nice and just got better and better. The water had cleared up completely overnight and the fish seemed to have had the switch thrown to "ON". We caught a limit of Amberines pretty quick (released another 30 or so !) and then went on to chase groupers with good success. My folks each got their 2 fish Gag Limit and we had a bonus Red Grouper as well !. We caught a King on a bare hook -- the last fish to the boat- one of my anglers was cranking in an empty hook on a slip lead rig as fast as he could and dog gone if a King didn't grab the flashy hook right under the boat! I guess when their hungry that's all it takes ! Each of my anglers also got to bring a fine Bull Shark in the 175#-180# range up to the boat to photograph and release. What with the short groupers and all the Snappers we released there wasn't a time that something wasn't happening.
Not Bad for a Beginners Trip !
The beach water temp is still 71 degrees- still lots of bait in close and the water is crystal clear. I have other responsibilities the next couple days but for those that get to fish the rest of this run of great weather the fishy rewards should make memories to last the coming winter-
Capt Larry Pentel
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