Wow, what an incredible day. Joel Pepper, the captain and his first mate, Danny, greeted us warmly and stowed our gear, food and drink. We motored out to sea as the sun came up to a glorious Florida day. The boat was very spacious and had a large area covered from the sun which came in handy later.
After about 20 minutes we stopped at the first spot, a wrecked Cuban barge. My first cast of the day no sooner hit bottom than "Bang", a hungry Spanish Mackerel slammed me and I reeled it in. No sooner than it went in the fish box my next hit exploded at the same time my buddy's reel took off screaming. We reeled in about a dozen Spanish mackerel and a few other species before my pals reel took off again in a high pitched scream. The captain didn't even look, he started up the engine and Danny the mate, threw a buoy on the anchor and dropped the line as we took out after the fish.
After about 30 minutes of fighting we got our first look at the largest Permit we every saw - 40+ pounds. The fight continued for a total of two hours on 20 lb test line. What an exciting battle. Well, sad story end is that the line finally broke but what an epic battle.
Next we motored 7 miles off shore to another secret spot and we again started pulling in fish the second our bait hit the bottom. This time it was all sorts of snapper - red, mangrove, yellow tail, muttons, porgies - you name it. We filled the fish box with them. We brought up a goliath grouper and several small gags. We also brought in a beautiful keeper gag grouper and about 4 redfish - one which fit the slot limit.
It was an amazing day and made even more amazing by the Team of our Captain Joel Pepper and his mate Danny. The boat was perfectly set up and these guys knew where the fish were. I think it took Joel almost 30 minutes to filet all of our fish. We had over 20 lbs of filets when it was all done. Truly delicious eating.
Joel and Danny are true people people. They made us feel like welcome guests the moment we arrived and when we left, we felt like we had two new friends. Joel is a funny guy and kept us laughing all the while completely aware of every line in the water. He would stop a story to say "your bait's gone" or "you gonna reel that fish in?". Danny didn't stop moving all day - baiting hooks, removing fish, putting on new hooks, adjusting the anchor. That man must sleep well at night with all the activity he does.. These guys are the pros for us and we will use them again soon. read more