Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
June 30, 2002
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

I'm off to Indian Pass for 2 months of glory fish fishin' so no reports from Grayton for a while. I don't have a computer over there so be patient if there is a lull between updates.

I went out in style on my last trip from Grayton. A 4 hr. with a regular and a couple that were his guests. The weather was a little sloppy and it was the couples 1st time in the gulf so I kept us within a mile of the truck to start. On the 1st down my client got hammered before he cleared his leader and eventually put a 12# gag grouper in the boat. Meanwhile his buddy is asking what to do different when the fish 'bout rips the pole out of your arms. Next down and it's a repeat but this time the groupers a warsaw! 50 ft. of water right on the beach and this little guys right at home. I explained how he'd grow up to be 400# so there was no problem with releasing him. The action was non stop untill we broke off a big fish in the wreck wich promptly shut the bite down. My regular guy had caught 6, his buddy had missed about 8 and his gal friend added several triggers to the groupers. We went back to the beach to drop the gal off before we ran to a snapper spot 4 miles away. Halfway to the wreck I noticed something floating and spun the boat. Someones FAD had broke loose and was covered in Mahi from 1 to 10#. We spent an hour trying to cull through the smaller faster ones to keep 10 of the bigger smarter ones. OK back to the snapper hole. 5 minutes into the run I see this flock of birds going nuts in a little tiny area. The Kings and the Bonita had a ball of cigar minnows packed so tight on the surface I don't think there was a gallon of water between 'em all. Naturally we had to stop and play- for 2 fine kings and 6 bobos. Allright back to snapper fishin'. By the time we got to the wreck we only had 20 minutes left on our trip! I went ahead and stayed on the spot till the end of the 4 hrs to add 5 red snappers ,two blacks (1 at12#) and a lane. By now the Gulfs slick as glass so it only took us 15 minutes to get back to the truck instead of 2 hours. Course we did add an awfull lot of fish to the box on the run out!

I talked with several other guides at Indian Pass and there are quite a few Tarpon in West pass but the big deal seems to be the sharks. The shrimp fleet is about 1 to 2 miles off the beach and the sharks are staying right behind the boats. Capt. Randall Jones said yesterday his client jumped a nice Tarpon in the AM 'bout120# but said he wanted to sight fish the sharks. Randall allowed as how he didn't know how his client was still standing as he had caught 20 sharks over 100# on the rest of the trip. Now folks, these aren't your hug the bottom, pull like a sack of potatoes critters. These are primarily spinners and black tips( with the occasional bull)and a lot of 'em JUMP! Spinners need to be listed as one of the top gamefish on light tackle if your into things that fly out of the water. I can't wait. I leave tomorrow and my first trip is Wed. Nothing like big critters to keep the heart pumpin'.

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