Oyster Bay/Piney Island

[Gatorbite]

I ain't buying it. I've been fishing the Big Bend area for more than 25 years and never heard of anyone catching a permit up this way. Maybe he made a quick trip down to Crystal River and got lucky but not Icky.

[redbelly7]

Gatorbite, all I can offer you is to ask JR.... Blackshear was in the boat and we had no idea what we had, so we called JR and he has a pic in his store too.

[Gatorbite]

I called JR's Store this morning and the lady there assured me that the fish was legit. I apologize to you but I thought this was some sort of joke being played at first. That is an amazing catch, congratulations!

How deep were you fishing?

[Rhettley]

I have heard of a few permit in the area but they are scarce. We have someone catch an occasional snook every few years. This year nearshore Mexico Beach there have been at least two sailfish caught and one more hooked. I personally have hooked Mahi in the buoy line. This year I've seen flying fish from inside St Joe Bay all the way out the buoy line and I've seen them at Lanark behind Dog Island. I heard about a aprox. 50 pound amberjack caught at the car body area in about 50 feet of water on a flat line fished for kings by a reliable charter capt. and me and a buddy caught a probably 300 pound Goliath trolling lures that run about 10 feet deep just at the end of the buoy line in about 45 feet of water at MB this year.
That's one of the big draws to the Gulf for me. You just never know what you might encounter, see, or even catch.

[redbelly7]

We were in 5' of water around some rock grass. It was at the very end of Sept, 2 years ago.

[MarkM]

I've heard of permit being caught just off of O Tower. Never seen them though.

[guthooked]

Global Warming!!!!!
Yeah, that's got to be it. I'm getting in on the ground floor and starting a redneck guide service for Bonefish. They're next. Can you catch em under a cork?

In all seriousness though, stranger things have happened.