Permit pursuit provides another family memory

Fishing in my family was always a regular occurrence. With three older siblings, I was the beneficiary of coming into an established and knowledgeable outdoors family who to this day still enjoys the outdoors.

My older brother, Rob Chapman IV, may live many counties away, but he still makes the occasional trip to fish our home waters when he’s not venturing around the state for Outdoors360.com.

The youngest of my two older sisters, Erika, ventured out with us on occasion. She always loved grouper fishing and was pretty hardcore about it when she went, never quitting while the fish were biting.

Our other sister, Lea, is another story. Despite the lack of fishing experience, her name is probably the most well-known of the four Chapman children. Her work can be found in Bealls Department stores under her married name, Linnea Szymanski. She features amazing marine-inspired designs on shirts, bags and other apparel.

I’ve fished countless times with her fishing-obsessed husband, Geoff. Luckily for him, she grew up seeing how much time we would spend on the water and that “coming home at 3” actually means “be home around dark.”

With the weather looking good, Geoff and I wanted to tackle a tricky offshore foe, permit. This time Lea would be joining us, and that got me thinking ... have we ever fished together?

Apparently not. As I met them that morning, Lea stated, “You know we’ve never fished together.”

“I think you’re right!” I replied.

After purchasing a half dozen pass crabs for $4 a piece (ouch!), we were heading west of Egmont Key. The first wreck, at which we pitched a few crabs in 50 feet of water, was alive with bait and fish, but our crustaceans received no love.

A stop at a ledge at 65 feet produced a few keeper red snapper and gag grouper, both of which were heavily photographed by Lea. I can only imagine it will be reproduced in artistic form.

Three miles away was another very large and very popular wreck. We decided to give it one more shot for permit to make the best use of our expensive crabs.

After 30 minutes of the crabs just soaking, Geoff proclaimed “permit fishing is boring.”

As seems to always happen, the fish heard him and not a minute later his 5000 Stradic on a custom MHX rod was singing with a screaming drag. After a lengthy fight, a beautiful 20-pound permit was boat side, netted and posed for pictures. To my surprise it was Geoff’s first “big permit,” as smaller inshore ones are more like pompano.

We duplicated the bitten rig, a light 30-pound fluorocarbon leader, 3/0 hook and side hooked crab. After about five more minutes, another crab was eaten. This time the fish won, either reaching the wreck or being eaten by a bigger predator.

A third crab produced a third bite, but this time the anglers won. I coaxed a 15-pound permit to the boat. Maybe this permit fishing stuff wasn’t so boring after all!

The next three crabs were all eaten, producing two break offs and a first permit for Lea, again about 15 pounds. Behind her tired arms and exhaustion, I could sense a bit of accomplishment. It was a treat having our first trip together produce trophy fish.

With the crabs gone, we emptied the well and a few big amberjack decided to play. They were successfully caught, photographed and released. Then Geoff set a course east for home to get a little natural air conditioning and break up the stifling heat.

Lea said more of her designs are currently working their way into production at Bealls. To see her line of clothing, visit BeallsFlorida.com and search Linnea Szymanski.

This story was originally published July 8, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Permit pursuit provides another family memory."