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Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore
Capt. Larry Pentel
August 21, 2002
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
The Tarpon are about gone from Indian Pass and I'm back to beach launching off Grayton.
I ran my 1st trip from S. Walton in 7 weeks yesterday and was amazed at how good bottom fishing was. Usually the "dog days" of August make for some tough fishing inshore but we had no problems filling the box. I took 2 couples on a 6 hr. trip and the furthest we ever got from thier condo was 6 miles. We came in with a limit of red snapper (20) about 30 triggers, 2 groupers, some mingos and a King. We had quite a few groupers that were within an inch of being legal and I went through 3 bags of hooks replacing the ones the bigger groupers cut off in the rocks. A beautiful day, slightly overcast, little wind and a slick calm Gulf. Almost felt like a big "Welcome Home" present to me. Looking forward to going again tomorrow.
The tarpon seem to just be off the feed the past 10 days or so. All the guides were seeing a few fish but no feeding activity. It was a slow year for the silver rockets but the folks that came and caught one would probably tell you different. I had a client who has been all over the world fishing but had never caught a big Tarpon. He went last year with me ( a good year but he had an off day) and we jumped a big (200#) fish but lost 'em in 10 minutes. This year he chartered 2 days in a row determined to get one. We saw fish all through the 1st day but late in the afternoon the fish really started feeding another boat next to us hooked up and we got to watch that fish jump before towing them up the bay. A half hour later one of our rods slammed over and a 130# silver missle launched 25' from the boat. The fight was on and it was a hot fish. An hour into it my angler allowed that he had caught marlin twice this size in half the time. Forty five minutes later I mentioned that if we didn't put some more heat on this fish we were going to be 10 miles from the ramp and it would be black dark soon. Not like there was anything different my angler could do, just making an observation. A little over 2 hours from when we hooked up I grabbed the leader and fulfilled a 30 year dream for my client. He was amazed at the power and stamina of the fish (talked about the whole way home) and was proud to release it. The next day we went and sight fished trpletails ( he caught 6 to 11#) so now I've really got him spoiled, said he can't wait to come when the fishin's "good".
Got to do chores after being gone-I'll throw more Tarpon stories in the next few weeks including 2 possible world record fish we had.
Capt. Larry Pentel
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