Snapper's over but the options are great!
Capt. Larry Pentel
November 4, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report
Snapper season ended last Friday with a sloppy day but a great bite. We came in with a limit of fish of a real nice grade and threw back a bunch that would have made any board look good. My folks wanted triggers along with their snappers and we had a good mess of them as well with 2 bonafide "banjos". The day before I had a group that had never been out with me before. They had no special requests so I went and tried to get 'em a few of everything. The day was slick calm and the fish were very co-operative. We got a limit of snappers pretty quick, nothing huge but all respectable. Moving just a little I slid the boat over to a school of Amberines that were more than willing to stretch everybody's strings ( and arms!) Next we tried Triggers but the fish were more experienced than my anglers and we only boated 1, we did land 7 nice vermilion's in the process though. With an hour left on a half day I ran back inshore to chase Kings. It took us 15 minutes to find 'em but they were voracious when we did. We boated 8 Kings and 4 Bonita before it was time to go in.
A Great Mix of Everything on a Half Day!
I had a group of regulars who wanted in at the end of Snapper season that have quite a bit of grouper experience. We had some very respectable inshore snappers and some BIG Grouper bites but proved once again that shallow water groupers can put a hurt on anybody. My folks did put 4 nice ones in the box in between me tying hooks!
Looking for the Big Pull
I have a couple who come down every year from Tennessee to catch the end of Snapper season and then go over to Indian Pass and chase Trout and Reds. The picture below is the first trip with a great box of freezer fish to take back up North.
Headed for a Freezer in Tn. !
We went over to the Pass the day after snappers closed and sight fished redfish in the middle of the day and Trout fished in the afternoon for 2 days. The first day I wasn't up on the poling platform for more than 10 minutes when I saw a BIG fish pushing a wake in a foot of water. A couple of casts later my fishing gal on the bow was hooked up to a Black Drum around 20# on 6# test. A fine fight and up to the boat to be released. We went on to catch a couple redfish, 41 trout and a bucket of oysters. The oysters made for a wonderful dinner at the fish camp that evening. The next morning I ran way up into the back of an oyster maze and we had reds running all over the flats before the boat was off the plane. My anglers got 8 to eat and we boated 5. Sightfishing reds with ultralights may not be the most productive way to catch numbers but it is by far the most exciting! To have to place the cast perfectly without spooking a fish in inches of water and then play 'em down in that skinny water always gets even an old fish head like me excited. We went back out into the bay a little after lunch and found a school of Trout that were stacked up on an oyster bar like cord wood. My folks boated 81 (eighty one) before they gave out and we headed in at 3PM with our limit of 15 specks and 3 Redfish
From Offshore to Inshore These Folks Love It All
As good as the bite was that day the next day blew me away. I had the day off so my son , a friend, and I all headed out a little after lunch to sight fish reds. Alas, the water was muddy were I had found 'em the day before. Plenty of fish but you couldn't see 'em till they spooked. Okay, we'll go chase Trout. We went where they had been the day before- only caught 2 in 20 minutes. Ran up the Bay 2 miles and tried again. My sons first cast got a fish, our buddy quickly hooked up right behind him while I was sliding the anchor over . For the next 2 hours we never moved the boat and landed fish almost every cast. On the empty casts it was because the fish you had on pulled off on the way in. I actually got 2 trout about 2# each on the same lure at the same time! We had 15 minutes where we didn't even open the bail on our spinning reels- just drop the jig next to the boat and bounce it right under the surface and watch 4 or 5 fish fight over it. A good grade of specks for the first hour with most fish between 14 and 18 inches. After that the white trout started and by the time we gave out (the fish were still just as hot!)every other fish was a white. Probably the best grade of whites I have seen in Apalachicola Bay with a range of about 13 to 18 inch fish. We kept our 15 specks and 21 whites , releasing another 30 or so whites. Now all 3 of us are charter guides and while we lost count of actual releases the consensus was we had boated over 200 trout in just under 2 hours. I can honestly say it was the was the best bite I ever pulled off of 'cause I was tired! My son, being the youngest on the boat at 23, was still throwing over my shoulder as I cranked up the engine and started up on a plane!
Back to Seagrove today and out in the Gulf for the next week or so, My calenders open the last half of next week---- I may have to go back over to the pass, just to work on the fish camp of course.------------
See you on the water. With weather like this the only reason to not go fishing all day would be to be on your Honeymoon. Even then you could probably get in the afternoon bite-----
Capt Larry Pentel
Destin Fishing Forecast:
As long as we stay in this Indian Summer weather pattern Everything should be biting !
Target Species:
Kings, Groupers, Trigger, Amberines, Redfish, Trout
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