Permit Fishing Southwest Florida

Planning a fishing trip can be frustrating, because you can never control the weather.  But deciding to take a last-minute trip where you’re sure to dodge some storms, and then end up having an epic day of fishing makes for some of my favorite days on the water.

I recently had the chance to fish with two friends, Capt. Jarrett Jones and Capt. Nathan Wider, who both guide out of Whitney’s Bait and Tackle on Sanibel Island, FL.  We had a few crabs in the well and some scattered storms on the horizon, but decided to head out and see if we could stick a few rubber lips without getting too wet.

The seas were dicey and the wind was whippin’ as we evaded storms on the way out, but to our delight the gulf slicked out right as we pulled up to our spot and began looking for the fish.

Within 5 minutes Jarrett said, “There they are”! From the depths, a school of 75 fish rose and began to tail at the top of the water.  You could see them flashing and bobbing their entire bodies out of the water.  There was no mistaking them for anything other than the elusive permit.

Both Jarrett and Nathan were excited to give the Florida Fishing Products Osprey Spinning Reel a try on their favorite fish after hearing so many good things from fellow captains.  Jarrett and Nate both agreed, “Pound for pound permit are the hardest fighting fish and it’s all sight fishing”.

They each run about 200 charters a year so being equipped with a durable reel that has a smooth drag that can handle big fish is a must. Needless to say they put them to the test. The three of us landed and released six permit before we ran out of the few crabs we had and decided to head in to search for some tarpon.

Blind by the excitement of catching permit, we forgot to keep an eye on the weather.  We quickly scrapped our plan to find some tarpon as we saw a storm building and heading our way.  As we got closer to land, we could see a wall of water coming at us only 300 yards off the beach. Maneuvering our way around the storm was thrilling as the rain closed in just one-hundred yards away at one point. It was quite remarkable that we made it back to dock without a drop of rain on us, and made for the perfect trip.

We were back at the dock in less than 3 hours with six permit released, stayed bone dry, and introduced two guides to our Osprey Spinning Reels…which they now love!

“They held up great, are lightweight, and I love that big handle!” –Capt. Jarrett Jones

“Having a 5000-sized reel that can hold 250 yards of 30 pound braid is incredible. It’s a huge bonus that they have the power to bring in big gamefish and are also so lightweight.  Not many reels can do all that!” –Capt. Nathan Wider

Thanks for reading and Good Fishing!

-Wyler Gins