Dead Fish report - Capt. Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
October 6, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


Too blowy to be fun today but the fishing has been as good as the weather the past 10 days.
Lots (and lots) of Red Snappers around, probably as good a bite as I have ever seen. Plenty of fish in the 6-8# class if you run a bait big enough to slow down all the 2-4#'s! While I don't understand fishery management it sure is nice to throw back a 5# Snapper 'cause you know you can catch a bigger one!
Plenty of other species around too. The old saying about you never what's going to bite next got played out a couple times the past few days. I had regular client dangling a grouper bait over the side as I rounded up on a spot. He starts yelling at me "What's this, a big cobia?" I looked over the side to see a 6' long dark purple shape casually eying his bait. I grabbed a rigged mackerel rod and a live cigar minnow and flipped it over the stern. The sailfish lit up like a neon sign and chased that minnow all over the place before he was finally able to catch it. I handed the rod to my angler got to yell "Set The hook!" about a spilt second before he started yankin' down. The fish put on a wonderful show, jumping over 20 times before making some great runs on the little TLD. We got him up to the boat, I grabbed his bill and we made some pictures before releasing him. As great a catch as this was it was actually the second time this angler had a caught a sail with me in the exact same way! This one was smaller than the first (and had broken bill) but we got pictures of this one having had camera (man) issues the first time!

Always a beautiful sight!

Proof of the Catch

The "Rest of the Story"
As much fun as the sail was a first time couple with me 2 days later had as a big a time with a more regular bonus. We were still weeding through the snapper when I saw a pair of chocolate shapes swim by the side of the boat. I yelled at my folks to wind up their baits to right under the boat but the bigger cobia of the pair had already seen the minnow I had out on the flypole and crashed it. My angler did a great job of running in circles around the boat and keeping the line clear as the fish put him through a fire drill. At about 25# it was a perfect 1st time cobia. The 2nd fish didn't appear to quite be legal so we didn't mess with him and saved the chance of losing the nicer one. A limit of snappers, a king, a trigger and a grouper rounded out our catch.

They don't have fishing like this in New Jersey !
While most of my folks get big fi****is on a trip I sometimes have anglers who will spend the time to catch Triggers. While they don't photograph like a Grouper or King I still say they are the best table fare in the Gulf. This group from Alabama had a couple folks stick with a 2 hook rig while the other 2 ran grouper baits after we had our snappers. It paid off with 15 nice triggers to fill the board (and freezer).

A little time triggerin'!
It looks to be a little bouncy for the next couple days. While I hate to miss more than a day with fishing this good it may make things even better. The only species that hasn't had a good showing lately is the Kings. While we have caught a few they could show up in force after a good East blow. It's that time of year when the smokers start to show up in close and a 40# King will rock your world every time.
See you on reef!

Capt Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
October 23, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


I know I sound like a broken record sometimes but this time of year has countless fishing opportunities and this year has darn near all of 'em red hot. Yesterday was the perfect example. My charter canceled last minute so I went out all alone to commercial King fish. It's about the only time I get to catch fish myself and I enjoy the tar out of it as well as being able to make a good paycheck. The kings bit great and I was coping with sloppy conditions and a hot bite when something hit the minnow I was dropping back. Ten feet further back it hit again and 5 seconds after throwing the reel in gear a great big sail came out greyhounding like he had somewhere to go! I had 2 other lines out and the fish turned to run straight up sea quickly dumping my little TLD. I managed to get everything clear and chased 'em down for about 40 minutes. He only jumped about 3 times using the energy instead to fight more like a big Tarpon and try to wear me down. I got him up to the boat, made a couple pictures, pulled the hook and watched him swim off to hopefully get caught again some other day. Only the 3rd time I have ever got to catch a sail myself (clients usually get 'em) and at about 80# by far my biggest and probably the 2nd biggest ever to my boat

Everything is biting with the snappers still as good as they have ever been. We are throwing back 5# fish steady as you know the next one is going to weigh 8#. The only thing that hasn't been easy have been the Dolphins. They are getting more and more aggressive about stealing fish off the line and shutting down the bite. If it's calm you just pick up and run but when it's rough it makes it difficult. I am not going to sit there and throw fish to 'em though. I hate to leave a good bite but I refuse to train 'em up even more!
These folks didn't have to mess with other air-breathers and got a fantastic catch of both Black and Red snappers along with a few of everything else. Five of the snappers weighed over 10#!

This is half the crew-other half went out of Destin- We won the bet for best catch!
Last report I mentioned the Kings should start soon. This Gal and her daughter got handed a rough blowy day but made the most of it by getting a beautiful rack of fish even though we came in early. The fish in the middle is 56" long- a KIng, not a Wahoo!

Glory fish plus a freezer full of triggers!
Most of my trips are half days but sometimes I have folks want to stay longer. This group decided to fish an extra 2 hours after we already had a nice catch of Snappers. What to do? catch Jacks and triggers of course- and maybe grouper fish a little---

Hard to fit all the fish in the picture!
These folks have few fewer fish but what a catch on a half day. They landed a couple of almost every usual target species as well as a great grade of snappers. A couple of 'em are regulars that I had tried to teach how to trigger fish for years. It finally clicked this year!

The perfect 1/2 day catch!
The reports from Indian Pass have lots of 100+ fish trout trips as long as the weather is good. The surf guys here in S Walton have been blistering the skippies and blues as well as some great whiting and redfish catches. The Pomps are starting to show pretty good but no "banner" catches yet. Probably start after this blow-
Blowy today and tomorrow but I'll be back out as soon as the weather allows. About the only things to limit your catch right now are weather and experience. Usually 1/2 an hour experience is all you need to get past that part. If you'll turn the crank I can have anybody catchin' fish by the end of a trip!
Only 1 week left to snapper season. It's been the best one I can ever recall but I'm ready to start changing gears and chasing other species. I know there are more sails in close and it would be nice to finally get that King over 65# I've been after all these years------

capt Larry Pentel

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

Capt. Larry Pentel
November 17, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


I guess it's officially winter. The beaches are empty and this last front has got it cold early this morning. Not many folks around wanting to go fishing this week but that's not 'cause there's nothing to catch!
I ran several trips before this front came through and we had plenty of bites to keep everybody going. One of my regulars brought his buddies and we spent 4 hours trying to catch fish for the box in between throwing back Red Snappers. As the photo below shows they did a pretty good job. The guys had a bet on biggest fish but my client threw in a curve- sharks don't count and if you catch a shark it kicks out your biggest fish. Guess who was Way ahead until they caught the little shark on the board ?

The shark "ate up" a $40 bet!
These folks had never been off the beach before and didn't know what to expect. They were worried about catching enough fish to feed 10 folks. After the first 2 stops they were talking about not keeping everything 'cause it was more fish than they could deal with ! While all 3 of 'em caught fish and had fun the Gal figured it out quick and was way excited to be getting bites (and fish )non-stop. I believe she'd have gone everyday for a week!

Nothing'll stretch your string like a Jack!
The bait has left the beach so I poked around a little before I ran my last couple trips. When you are used to being up and on the water at daylight it's hard to change. What I found was the flounders are here! I stopped on a couple little spots in close and ran down strip baits on jig heads. I got flounders (and a couple triggers) everywhere I tried. What got me started was a big show of bait. I ran a sabiki rig and didn't get a thing- tried tipping the bottom couple jigs with squid in case it was bigger baits. After a couple minutes still no bait but I caught a flatfish ! I changed over to the jig head and away we went! The week before Thanksgiving in normally a slow one for charters with next week being a trip everyday. If it's pretty for a a few days like the weatherman is predicting I may have to make a flounder day this week-.
Plenty to do off season- rebuild the trailer,and about 2 dozen reels, build a few rods, gel- coat the deck etc. In between going fishing a little myself and getting in on some great bites in uncrowded waters!

capt Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
November 28, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


My last report I said the Flounder had started to show on the inshore spots and I might get to play with 'em myself some. Well, I called up one of my regular anglers and invited him on a play trip to chase flatfish with me and boy did we have a great time. The flounders have moved up to the beach in numbers not seen for several years. We caught this box of big 'uns (the grouper with them in the picture below is 23 inches) right off Grayton but all the Destin boys are whacking 'em pretty hard at the East Pass as well. While these were caught on a jig and strip bait the rig of choice is a bull minnow on a short slip lead rig drug across the bottom. Three friends of mine limited out at the C-Buoy off Destin 2 days ago in two hours with minnows--

I even get to catch fish some days!
It's Thanksgiving at the beach so I have been Booked all week. We got to fish the last 4 days but it's raining today and the forecast is for worse weather tomorrow- Oh well, it was a nice 4 days! Mondays trip was a Dad and Son crew who have fished with me for years. They have caught Kings, Groupers, Tarpons, etc and always want to do something a little different each trip. This time we found a school of Jacks and got 'em fired up at the boat. A great time was had by all and we even got a few Triggers for the freezer as well.

This young man always catches fish!
Tues was blowy with the wind howlin' from the North. We tried to grouper fish right up on the beach and found quite a few to bite but only got one big one to the boat. A Red about 20#'s that fed a group of 11 that night! We got a few triggers and stopped on a Flounder spot on the way in to add some groceries to the box.
Wed was a family trip with folks that come every year. We mixed it up on a slick calm day and got some BIG triggers, a few jacks and some pinks and b-Liners. We also released a Red Snapper 'bout 15# intentionally and several Groupers by accident---

The young lady caught the big Trigger in the middle by herself. Quite the battle!
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I had scheduled it off. With the forecast for it to be the prettiest day of the month and to day to be nasty I asked my today trip if they wanted to fish Thurs instead and they were all over it. These gals hadn't gone before and didn't know what to expect. They were all relatives of my Monday group who have fished with me for years and who asked me to "beat the gals" down some. We found two different schools of Jacks that went into feeding frenzy's on the surface at the boat. Beating 'em down was harder than I thought tho as they all hung in there to the last drop. A great time was had by all with lots of yelling and screaming and tangles with fish all around the boat. One of the gals asked for Trigger fish as she had heard they were the best table fare. We found those too and they figured out how to catch 'em pretty quick. All in all a beautiful day, a great bite and some happy folks. It was so nice on the beach when we came in I cleaned fish barefoot in a tee shirt!

Moms day off- The kids didn't go !
Good fishing options around but not many charters till Christmas week. Next week is the Sambar Deer hunt on St Vincent Island and one of my regulars got drawn. I'm shuttling his crew and gear over and then staying at Indian Pass to bring 'em back (hopefully with a 600# Stag!) after the hunt. I may just have to chase a Redfish in the skinny water since I'll be "stuck" there for a few days-----Life is tuff sometimes--.
In the meantime. I've got 2 boat trailers that need to be rebuilt. The deck on the cat boat needs to be redone and I need to sit down and order $500 worth of reel parts to start rebuilding them. Lots to do in the off season!!!
If it's a pretty day you should be fishin'!!!!

Capt Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
December 13, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


Not many fishin' trips to report since I last wrote this column. I have about rebuilt the trailer for the beach launch cat and lots of other projects but my water time has been limited.
I did go over to Indian Pass last week primarily to play shuttle for some folks that drew into the Sambar Deer Hunt. While they did not get one there were 9 bagged with I believe 4 over 500#. My folks were very fired up about the hunt and vowed to come back and try again. they both saw animals, just did not have a good shot. I guess drawing down on something in the 600# class would keep you coming back ! I spent 4 days there but only got to fish one morning with 2 days spent with my folks and weather pretty much shutting down fishing the other 2. I am happy to report that the redfish are pretty darn thick up in the skinny water. I went by myself and managed to get 5 casts in front of hungry fish, landing 4. Doesn't sound like much I know but when you are poling the boat, sighting the fish and trying to cast yourself all at the same time it adds a little more challenge to the operation. I also got 'em in only about 2 hours time and flubbed a few more (yes Virginia, the capt makes bad casts sometimes too!!!)

Look how well the fish matches the water/bottom color and how his tail is disappearing even on the surface. It does make it more fun!

A quick pic and back in the water

One more to show the grade- all the fish were 24-28 inches- perfect for 6 to 8# test
I did pick up a cooler full of oysters on a cloudy day and ate them while the wind blew. I have a hard time deciding which is more enjoyable- eating oysters or sightfishin' reds! Always something good to do at the "Pass"! When I came in to the ramp that day there was a fellow who had been trout fishing going on about how great the trout bite was--- I didn't have time to chase 'em but it seems that choice is there as well.
I went to New Orleans this week to renew my Captains License with the Coast Guard and visit with some angling buddies/clients. We were supposed to go trout fishing on Thursday and they had built up how good the bite had been- "As good as Indian Pass". Below is a picture of my truck Thursday AM when we were scheduled to be going to the water. My buddy said he hadn't snow in South La. since he was 12! Needless to say I still haven't caught a trout in Louisiana !!!

I'll stick to fishin' in Florida! At least our water is wet and green instead of solid and white!
One more week of "projects" and I should be back fishing regular again with more interesting reports. I wish everybody out there a safe and joyous Christmas season. Remember, Santa won't bring you that new Van Staal unless you ask !!!!
All I want for Christmas is a 2009 with lots beautiful days on the water and some fishery management rules that make sense instead of problems !

capt Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
December 31, 2008
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


Happy New Year, I hope everybody had a great Christmas and the new year brings lots of opportunities to spend good times on the water.
After a period of rather rough, wet weather we have had a couple of beautiful days here in South Walton. I got to take a couple of Dads and 3 junior anglers out yesterday on a calm Gulf with lots of fish biting. It seems that the recent rough weather has moved the Gag Groupers back in. I think there were 10 boats launched off Grayton yesterday and everyone I talked to had at least a couple big fish. We got 6 to the surface ( ok, 5 and a 1/2, a bull shark ate grouper too) that were of a good grade and released quite few more. The kids caught a bunch of pink snappers and we found several good schools of triggers that were quite adept at stealing the kids baits.

Beach fishing the end of December
The day was so nice that there were folks actually swimming in the gulf while I was cleaning fish. I figure they had to be here on Christmas vacation from Minnesota-- A fantastic end to the year and from the number of groupers bites we had something good to look forward to in the New Year! It was slick calm all the way till sundown-

The almost last sunset of 2008 over Eastern Lake.
I'm off to Indian Pass to chase Redfish for a few days in 2009, back here in a week or so to get after the groupers again. I have about done all my off season boat and tackle projects so I get to fish a bit myself the next 2 months. Looking forward to another year on the Gulf!

capt Larry Pentel

Capt. Larry Pentel
January 16, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


Winter in Florida, beautiful one day and frigid the next. Just have to go on those pretty days !
I ran a group out in the Gulf the first of the week. The day started out chilly and blowy so we started late in the morning to let it warm up some. By noon everything was looking nice so I blasted offshore to a big wreck hoping that the cooler weather had started to move the jacks in. I had my folks run 2 long leader rigs for AJ's and 2 regular for groupers with some of the wigglers we had caught on the way out. Sure enough, as soon as everybody had cleared their leaders they got pulled down to the rail. Now most days jacks can be a little leader shy but these fish were on the feed and there was a bunch of 'em ! As soon as a bait got down 50 ft there were jacks chasing it around. Leader length and size didn't seem to matter at all. We caught over 2 dozen, keeping the 4 ( now over 30" fork length)that the law allows and releasing the rest. A special bonus was the first Grayton beach cobia of 2009 ! He was with the jacks and was kind enough to come up to the top where we could add him to the catch. A note to any of the fools out there that believe the snapper stocks haven't made a comeback- We were in the middle of an Amberjack rally with NO wait time for a bite and still caught and released 2 Red Snapper over 10#'s. I never would have thought a snapper could outswim a Jack !

A Big Black Snapper and a Gag Round Out the Box

They're Everywhere!
The first of the year had me over at Indian Pass guiding a Fly guy for Redfish. The weatherman had lied (again!) though and our partly cloudy quickly turned solid overcast with a 25 knot east wind. We saw a bunch of fish in clear water but the conditions made it impossible so we bagged the trip after an hour. The next day when rain was predicted capt Randall Jones and I went out to play fish under a bright clear sky and light winds- Lots of fish up in the oyster mazes and we had a good time messin' with 'em

A fine Specimen of the Species
My youngest daughter and her husband came down from the frozen North for vacation and we picked up oysters, ate good and even got to trout fish one afternoon. While we didn't find the trout schooled up there were plenty of scattered fish of a good grade to have fun.

Proud of his first trout!

Her first was at 5 years old! Still fun though!
I had heard good reports form the Inter coastal canal back here in Walton County. When it was too rough for Capt Kerry with Not A Dog charters and I to run a group out in the Gulf we took 'em over there. These guys were gung ho to go but they said it had to be in the afternoon- We pulled up to the ramp as everybody else was leaving. The gorgeous morning had turned to a drizzly afternoon with a front coming and no tide running at all in the Inter coastal. While the bite was slow one of my anglers caught the biggest fish of his life ( a nice red) and we had 4 more smaller reds and a few small specks. We also caught more sand trout than I have ever seen in one place! While the speck bite was slow for us my folks had plenty of bites and a good time. Capt Kerry's crew had 2 nice specks and 3 sheephead. He said they broke off 4 nice fish and caught a bunch of small specks. I imagine with some water moving and sun shining you could pull a good mess form there.
I mentioned earlier that Jacks are now 30" fork length. That's just one of many law changes effective the first of the year. That applies to both State and Federal waters. Two other big changes in all waters are a 14" fork length size for Triggerfish and a closure on Gag Grouper for all of February and March. Lets keep it legal out there folks !
Plenty to chase- If it's warm and calm go get you some !

Capt. Larry Pentel
January 28, 2009
Destin - Saltwater Fishing Report


I've been over to Indian Pass a couple times since my last report and the Redfish are still thick up in the skinny water. With the rapidly changing weather conditions of winter it can be hard to pick the "perfect" day to sight fish. If you can get out with clear water and a high sky though there are literally hundreds of slot size fish to throw at. I got to get in a couple of hours on the bow myself the other day without a charter and managed to get 6 to eat. If somebody could have filmed it, it would have been a comedy special! I was up on the casting ladder on the bow with my push pole and a spinning rod. I'd pole a couple times, try to set the pole down quietly and pick up the rod and look for a fish (or 5) to throw at. If I didn't see a fish in a minute I'd set the rod down, pick up the pole and do it again. The usual way it worked out was as soon as I picked up the pole and pushed once I'd see at least 3 or 4 fish and usually spook 'em before I could get everything in order to make a cast. As I said, even with all the fish I spooked I got to watch 6 eat my DOA in 2 hours- would have been a banner day with an angler on the bow and me polin' from the platform!

This one was caught the "right" way with the captain on the poling platform. We had extremely shallow water and sunny skies this day. The fish were ganged up in schools of 20 to over a hundred. We saw over 200 fish in one hour!
Took a group offshore on a slick calm but cold day last week. The Amberjack bite was the best I have seen in probably 10 years. After my folks got tired from catchin' AJ's we tried to grouper fish the wreck we were on. The Jacks were so voracious we couldn't get any thing to the bottom. Dead baits, strip baits, even a single dead cigar minnow on a 5 foot 80# leader was eaten by a jack no matter how slow you tried to lower it. I sure hope this is sign of how they are going to be the next few months! With gags closed for 2 months it'll be nice to still be able to go out and come in "fished out"!

While almost all the fish were over the slot a few of 'em were right nice!

We also boated a couple grouper and a fine (15#) Black snapper.
The weather man is calling for calm but chilly (a high of only 59)on Sat. again. I think I've got a crew together to try to make a repeat!
Capt. Larry Pentel

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