Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
October 6, 2001
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

For all those that have spent good times at our fish camp in Indian Pass I have some drastic news. It is no more ! I had it bulldozed down about 10 days ago. The good news is there is a 60 year old house I bought in Tallahassee and had moved sitting in it's place. The floors are all wood and the ceilings are 9 ft. tall. That way we can have a life size tarpon mount fit inside ! It will take most of the winter to get it all done but it should make for an even better experience in future years- when all done there will be 2 baths!!

On one of my trips over to the pass I spent the afternoon playfishing ( can't do construction all the time) and was pleased to see the redfish have already started showing up. By the time it gets cold the lagoon and oyster flats should be paved with the spot tails.

Back home at Grayton fishing has remained HOT. I ran 4 trips last week and all were extremely succesfull. The snappers are still thick, there are lots of trigs , a few groupers and droves of kings. On Tuesday I had the once a year king. I estimated him at 50 to 55#( my hand scale only goes to 50#). He was so big that when I gaffed him I couldn't get him in the boat on the first try. A very impressive fish, made the the 2 30 pounders allready in the boat I was bragging on look like schoolies. Thursday I had a couple and a 7 year old out for their first time in the gulf. As luck would have it the Big bottom fish decided to feed. These folks got hammered so many times I thought we would run out of hooks! They put 8 snappers in the boat with the biggest at 12# and a pair at 8#. We also had a pair of groupers that somehow didn't make it to the reefs like a dozen or so of their buddies. 5 triggers and some pinks rounded out the box so the folks were real impressed with what they had on a 4 hour trip. If we had caught half of what bit tho we would have needed a another fish box.

The weather is blowy this weekend but should get right again by Tuesday. Come on down, the water is FINE.

Capt. Larry Pentel

More Fishing Reports:

• All Reports by Capt. Larry Pentel
• Destin Fishing Reports
• Panhandle and Big Bend (Suwannee to Pensacola) Reports
• Florida Fishing Reports
• Browse All Fishing Reports