Report for Destin, Florida - Nearshore

Capt. Larry Pentel
July 14, 2007
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report

"Houston, we have ignition !!"

The Tarpon show the past 5 days has been as good as it gets. There are LOTS of fish and they are coming in all sizes. My son, Capt William (Fried Fish Charters) leadered one up 2 days ago about 60# while the day before I pulled a scale off one 'bout 180# for my angler. Not just one or 2 year classes of fish here. Most fish are still in the 120-130# range but I have allready seen several over 200#

I took the first 4 days here at Indian Pass "off". This just means I didn't get up early and run charters- I still went fishin' for at least a couple hours every day! I love to sight fish so I chased the tripletails with pretty good success. Got 2 to the boat in the 18# class that first week. I tagged about a dozen and killed a few for the dinner table--they do eat good!.

Naturally the weather turned about when my charters started and the first couple Tarpon trips I ran the fish were not on the feed. Everybody still had fun tho catchin' sharks and tripletails.

When the fish showed back they came on fierce. We have put at least a couple fish in the air everyday lately. Now this is Tarpon fishin' so we don't get to touch everyone we hook. There is a lot that can go wrong in a fight that can last 3 or 4 hours. These big fish jump for a reason and that's to try to get free of that pesky hook. Quite often they succeed! Capt Tim Harvey (who has done real well on the 'poons this week) had one tail whip the line yesterday over an hour and half into the fight. They had allready pulled a scale from a 110# fish tho and went on to jump several more but---- after over an hour you usually figure you got 'em with anything but a Tarpon !

Some of the of the high points of the past week were the Tarpon "show" yesterday that lasted almost all morning. You could look around the boat for several hours and see dozens of fish over 100# with some part out of the water if not completely airborn! What a feeding frenzy! The other was getting a call from Capt Pete White on the radio 2 afternoons before that the Tarpon had just turned on like gangbusters and he had jumped 2 fish in the past 5 minutes. My anglers had allready boated a fish 'bout 125# earlier in the day so we had gone up the bay lookin' for 'tails. I hit it up on a plane as fast as we could go listening to Pete give me details. He got one stuck good and had to stop talkin' and drive the boat. My son had picked up and ran to where Pete was and radioed saying they had hooked immediately upon getting to the fish and had one up and jumping. After a 15 minute run that seemed like an hour we made to where they were fighting fish,pitched out baits and we hooked up right away! The 3 of us played dodge boats with lots of good views of the other guys fish jumping as well as our own. Lots of cheers every time one would sky rocket. With almost perfect timing we each leadered up our fish and got pictures made for perfect releases- all 3 fish around 125#!

Not that I want to chase 'em right now but William ran a redfish trip yesterday (in my flats boat- whats a son for if not to borrow dad's stuff) and did pretty good. The trout reports have not been that great from the guides I spoken with. A few keepers and lots of shorts.

Who wants to chase a 2# trout when you could jump a 200# Tarpon with a mile or 2 anyway!!!

Capt Larry Pentel

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