Tails From The Pass

August 8, 2013 by Larry Pentel

I have been over at Indian Pass for a little over a week now for my annual Tarpon and Triple Tail trips. All the fresh water coming down the river from the floods of July cleared up right as I got here to let the target species turn on to gorge on the millions of pogies that call this place home in the summer.

As I have often said, "the water isn't clear, the sand isn't snow white, but the water is just thin gumbo most days". It is amazing the amount of marine life here. There are even about ten big Manta Rays living off the mouth of Indian Pass right now. With wing spreads of 8 to 15 feet they are impressive creatures, swimming slowly along the surface, filtering out nutrients that are too small for us to see.

Awe inspiring to watch these giants.
Plenty of other critters to occupy our days here as well. Lots of Triple Tails around with a pretty average size as well.

These guys got five 'Tails AND a Tarpon to the boat!
 

This regular and his dad got shots at over 30 Triple Tails, hooking ten, getting seven to the boat and keeping a limit of fine ones including these two.
 

And of course, the glory fish, Mr. Silver King is around in force as well. I got to run six full on Tarpon trips this past week and we have been able to get five fish to the boat.
 

This fellow has a habit of catching Tarpons.
 

As does this gal...she has fought some huge fish with me over the years. 
 

We have been able to release all the fish easily so far, after taking pics and DNA samples for the scientists.
I am booked up over here for the next couple weeks with mostly Tarpon trips, but will be back at Grayton/Seagrove in time for Labor Day weekend and back at beach launch fishing. As fortunate as I am to have so many folks want to fish off the beach at Grayton, I just love to come over here and tussle with critters that weigh as much (or more!) than I do. Landing a 150 to 200 pound fish still gets my heart racing after all these years... and 30A over here has no traffic or stop signs.

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Larry Pentel's picture

Captain Larry Pentel is a native of South Walton, growing up just 300 yards from the beach. Having fished the local waters for over 40 years, he is very familiar with all the different types of local fish, their habits, and most importantly - their habitats. Captain Larry is the owner of Dead Fish Charters

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