By : Steve Krystiniak

It was a Thursday, shortly after noon on a hot August day in 2002, and I was exploring some of the backcountry alone in my 17’ skiff.  I was focusing on some of the small islands in Florida Bay, about midway between Tavernier and Flamingo where I had been seeing some redfish activity along the edges.

I was poling along the shoreline, looking to add another redfish notch on my belt, when I happened to look across the sandy white bottom and saw what looked like a big bull red coming at me from the opposite end of the basin, about 60 feet away.  I readied my 8wt with a shrimp-pattern fly and made a long cast to it head-on. After a couple of short strips, it was clear he wasn’t following it.  I tried another cast as he didn't spook, and he was still coming at the boat at a slight angle now.  As I let go of the fly, I suddenly realized that this was no redfish (he was coming at me head-on from a distance, and appeared to have a rounded head, so I just assumed....).   Hell, this was a permit!   Since he didn't even flinch at my shrimp fly all I could think of was CRAB, I've gotta get a crab in front of him!  As luck would have it (hey, why do you think my nickname is "Magic"?), I had a small dollar-sized live crab handy on my spinning rod, all rigged and ready with 8 lb test and a 25 lb flourocarbon shock tippet.  I didn't even bother to strip in my fly but quickly picked up the spin rod and tossed that crab for all that I was worth.  It landed about 4 feet in front of his nose and I didn't even move it....I didn't have to....he pounced right on it and I saw the line coming tight.  As soon as I set the hook, it was off to the races!

Well let me tell you something about something....permit can peel a LOT of line off of a reel, and pretty darned fast too!  I enjoyed the moment but then soon realized that he might have more miles of fight in him than I had line on my spool.  So, with my spinning rod in one hand, I somehow managed to strip in my flyline and get the flyrod out of the way with the other, as well as secure the push pole (fishing alone sure can suck sometimes!).  I started up the motor and idled towards my fish somewhere off in the distance, at the end of a light piece of monofilament.  Even though I had a smile on my face the size of Texas, all I could think about was....will my knots hold?....will the line break?...hmmm, what kind of knot did I tie that leader on with?  I kept the line tight, gaining ground one minute and the permit gaining ground the next.  I shut off the motor and let him pull the dead weight of the boat.  Surely he would tire soon.  I looked at my watch....so far, 22 minutes had passed!  Although I had caught a glimpse of him when he first approached the boat, I finally got my first good look at him....damn, he was BIG!

I could tell he was starting to tire, and so was I.  Several times he turned his broad body in the water using it's resistance as leverage.  I realized that this would be a catch of a lifetime for me, and was determined to land him.  But those nagging questions about knots and line strength kept flashing across my brain, but so far, so good.  I managed to keep the line pressure on him as I reached down for my camera and managed to one-handedly get off a few shots (just in case).  Just when I thought I had him boatside, he took off again!  So far, 28 minutes had passed.  Out loud, I said to my fish "I can fight longer than you can!", (really, I did!) and kept the pressure on him, using my rod in the "down and dirty" fashion. 

After 36 minutes, I finally wore him out and had him boatside.  I reached down and grabbed him by the tail.  I lifted....I lifted again.....wait a minute, this isn't going to work, I need two hands!  It took all I had to carefully lay down my rod and get my other hand around his tail to "hoist" him into the boat.  I placed him carefully on the deck and grabbed my Boga Grip.  As I lifted him up off the deck, I watched my 30 lb Boga's max out before finally settling still at 29 ½ lbs.  Now this is a catch of a lifetime!

As you can imagine, I was as proud as a peacock, and managed to get a few good pictures (thank God for timer functions on digital cameras!).  So, after a nice sushi lunch (no, just kidding)...after snapping some pictures, I got him back in the water quickly and revived him so he could swim and fight again another day.  I managed to get one last picture and enjoyed one more smile, as he slowly swam away....