Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
September 29, 2003
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fall has arrived this morning. The cold front that came in yesterday actually has it cool this morning. The hard North wind has me glad to have a day off. Holding the boat up into the wind is a tough job when it's blowin' 25 knots. Just means the fall runs are here tho-

The bait has shown up thick on the beach for the past 2 weeks or so just like it's supposed to this time of the year. The kings have been right behind with a better grade of fish than usual this early in the fall. Friday we landed one on the fly pole that went 42#. He looked real good hangin' at the end of the rack of snappers. Yesterday we targeted kings for a while and got our 8 with the biggest at 20#. We also caught 10 spanish with 4 of those over 5#. Biggest spanish I've ever seen. Boy do they taste good fresh!

The snapper bite is still strong with limits even on the 4 hour trips. If we don't get a big storm in the next month this will have been the best year for Red Snapper I can remember. Every trip I've ran this year we have caught a limit of legal snaps. Still some groupers around inshore also but these are resident fish and know the wreck they live on well. If you don't do everything just right you just add one more hook to his collection. Sometimes they get you even if you don't mess up!

The flounders have shown up with most being gigged by the late night crowd on the calm high tide nights. I havn't run a flounder trip yet but may go "play" and chase 'em myself in the next week or so. Saturdays folks from Arkansas didn't land the big king they had on the fly pole but did get in on the first sign of another fall run. We ran into the first school of Amberines to show up on the inshore rocks and put several in the boat. After catching a mess of snappers and being excited on how they fight these boys were really impressed at the power of a 'marine. If those fish got to 20# you'ld have to use a 9/0 to land one. The cooler weather should have them thick within the next month.

The seasons change and what to chase changes right with 'em. I'm always looking forward to the next "run" even while I'm cathing whats hot today. Aint life grand!

Capt. Larry Pentel

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