On Saturday, we had some beautiful weather, so Tania and I decided to head out into the ocean. I had heard that with the east winds, the weeds were really bad, so we decided to head to the boils. Over the past week, there was no news from the boils, so we were going blind, but with good hopes of finding some prized permits.

The alarm was set for 5:30 am, with the expectation that Tania would want to hit snooze at least once. Since everything was packed, that would give us plenty of time to grab ice and shrimp and be at the dock by 6:30 am. However, the good Lord had other plans. I woke up at 5:30 am and thought I had hit the snooze, then I woke Tania with the anticipation of her telling me to hit the snooze. The next thing I remember is Tania waking me up, and it was a few minutes past 6:00 am.

It was 6:50 am by the time we arrived at the dock. I was surprised to find open parking spots at the dock. We parked and unloaded, once again pleasantly surprised, our boat was already pulled up to the dock, and there was no one in front of us. Usually, Saturdays are pretty busy at the dock, so I anticipated waiting a bit since we were late.

We were loaded up and pulled away from the dock at about 7:10 am. It was a beautiful sunrise, and I was grateful to be sharing it with Tania. We arrived at the Boils around 7:30 am.  Once we got there, I set us up on our drift. While we were checking the drift, Tania asked me to change out the 30g jig to her favorite Squidtrex. Once she was set up, we dropped and started jigging. It didn’t take long for me to land the first fish, a small blue runner. At that point, Tania said, “Great, it’s going to be a bad day of fishing.” Little did she know that was so far from the truth.

About the time we hit the outer section of the boils, I hooked up with something big. Not long into the fight, I told Tania I was pretty sure I had a permit on.  A few minutes later, it was confirmed that I did have a permit on. It was one of the smaller ones we have caught, but it was still decent at 21 inches. While I was fighting the fish, we drifted close to the other boat that was spot locked. I apologized for getting close and asked if they were fishing for permit with crabs. They said yes, they were, and asked what I was using for bait. I showed them a white and orange 30g slow-pitch jig.

The next drift turned out to be better than the first. We caught two permit. I landed another one, and Tania landed one, the biggest one at 25 inches. Unfortunately, the bite really died off about 8:30 am. Between 8:30 and 10:00 a.m., we caught only two more fish. I landed a 30-inch barracuda, and Tania landed a big pork fish.

At 10:00 a.m., we decided to make one more drift, and then we would call it a day. I was already exhausted from the heat, and we had a cooler full of fish. The ride back in was nice. The wind is cooling us off, and we’re taking in all the sights at one point. Tania saw spanish mackerel jumping, so we threw a bucktail a few times to see if we could get one to bite.

It was about 11:00 a.m. by the time we returned to the dock. I am not sure if it’s because Tania and I haven’t been on the boat much the past year or what, but the heat just wore us out, and we were glad to be back early. It took me about 45 minutes to offload our gear and clean the fish, so it was close to noon when we headed home. All in all, the bite was slow, but we managed to catch some prized fish.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers. May your fishing adventures be safe, blessed, and filled with tight lines and good times! Until next time, keep casting and chasing those dreams on the water.