Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Ready for the permit challenge?
After putting a few silver kings in the air last month then later going deep to catch some fine red snapper, you’re now looking for a new challenge. Permit to the rescue!
Although permit are seen and caught in shallow Pine Island Sound, the better fishing in Southwest Florida occurs over shallow to medium depths, near and offshore wrecks and structure, where you’ll also find bigger fish to play with like the 56.2-pound Florida state record, which isn’t too far behind the 60-pound world record.
Cape Coral is in the SPZ (Special Permit Zone) with these fish closed to harvest from April 1 to July 31. Outside the SPZ the season is open all year. There’s a 22-inch minimum to harvest with one per person inside the SPZ and two outside, with two per boat allowed in either zone. The rules say hook and line only with spearing allowed outside the SPZ. Consult the FWC website for SPZ boundaries.
These keen-eyed, hard-pulling drag burners along with their smaller cousins the pompano are both members of the jack family of fishes, which also includes the tough-as-nails jack crevalle. Like pompano, permits are good on the plate with smaller specimens preferred for their sweeter meat. Make sure to remove the tough leathery skin when cleaning.
Again, keen-eyed is spot on for these always nervous fish so long casts with light braid and a long 20-pound test fluorocarbon leader is a good starting point. Often these fish are schooling right under the surface over structure with dorsal fins showing above water. Since these cautious jacks make always skittish bonefish seem calm, it’s easy to make them dive deep or simply disappear. Best to shut down far from the wreck and scan the surface ahead with binoculars to look for fins while very quietly using the trolling to get within range for a long cast. Please respect others already there and fishing by coming in quietly.
Tower boats help spot fish up top while side scan electronics can be invaluable saving lots of precious angling time.
What to throw? Cast small light jigs, an assortment of flies, even soft plastic crab and shrimp imitators with some success but if you want surer action, bring out the permit candy, which are small crabs on 2/0-4/0 circle hooks. If you suspect permit are down deeper, add a split shot or two to your long leader. Big permit run hard and pull lots of drag so don’t try and stop them or experience a break-off, just enjoy the burn as line quickly disappears from the spool.
After accepting the deep water challenge and catching a crab-eating reef permit, now prepare for the real permit test by heading south and trying for a big one in shallow Keys waters using a crab or shrimp fly which is a true angling accomplishment.
Those looking to fight a gag grouper or amberjack must wait till Sept. 1. Anglers get a short one-month gag season this year with amberjack harvest staying open till Oct. 13. Trolling plugs like the Mann’s Stretch Series will get a gags interest and deeply bend rods when the lure is inhaled by these hard-fighting and tasty groupers.
If you’re ready to put your arms and back to the test, drop down a reef donkey bait as a big amberjack will put your muscles to the test. Blue runners are amberjack treats along with cigar minnows and pinfish. Lure users rely on butterfly and speed jigs as well as stout bucktails. These incredibly powerful fish get big like the current IGFA world record 163.2-pound back-breaker caught off Japan using squid while the Florida record still stands at 142 pounds.
Local seatrout aren’t happy with the hot weather so throw big top waters before sun-up for a gator trout. Really good redfishing gets underway this September barring any bad weather.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at captgeorget4@yahoo.com or (239) 440-1621.