... It was Diane's 60th birthday and her friend Peg (her senior by a number of years mind you) got her a fishing trip as a birthday present. Now I'm somewhat partial to getting fishing trip presents but I honestly cannot think of a better or more thoughtful present for anyone who loves to fish. And these two ladies do love to fish. They both lived in Alaska for many years so they are no strangers to pulling on nice fish. After talking to Peg on the phone a few days prior and seeing that the weather was going to be gorgeous I had to make a decision on what we were going to fish for. We could have done the conservative thing and Snook fished in the Intra-coastal or we could go for the glamour species. When I gave Peg the option to meet me at the dock at 6.00 am or 8.00 and she chose 6.00 am I just knew we had to go Tarpon fishing. We cleared the inlet at first light and were blessed with a nice happy cooperate school of Tarpon. First cast was a bite and a miss, 2nd and third casts had the same result, 4th bite was a nice solid hookup and Diane was connected to her first Tarpon, a nice one at that, right around that 90 lb mark. Diane paced herself and with constant steady pressure landed her first Tarpon like a pro. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to get a nice photo of the fish before it shook out my hands, however I'm sure the snap shot of that fish is still pretty clear in Diane and Peg's minds. Next was Peg's turn, she had one on in the 50 to 60 lb range that gave her two nice jumps and then did a remote release. Apparently the Tarpon favored the birthday girl. After the Tarpon action slowed I figured we could go and do some relaxing Kingfish fishing, well my go to spot just didn't produce, we were marking fish but no takers. Back to the inlet we went to check out the Snook fishing and give Diane a chance to fully recover. Peg was the lucky one on the Snook, they were not huge fish but a little less effort than fighting Tarpon. We again had some bad luck with the photo taking as we had the largest fish shake off right at the boat, so we only got this one photo of the smallest Snook. After a while Diane looked sufficiently rested and seeing that the "easy" species were not co-operating very well I figured we'd go try the Permit. This is somewhat like combat fishing, these fish pull really hard and head for any obstacle they can find. I think the first fish Diane hooked was somewhat of a surprise as to the power they have. Second fish was on a little longer before beating us however the third fish was welcomed aboard for photos. A nice 30 lb fish. Again Diane hung in there and did a great job fighting this fish. Peg was up next on the Permit and got to experience two fish for a while before they decided that they were camera shy and preferred not to be hassled by the Paparazzi. Peg fought these fish valiantly however fishing, just like life, isn't always fair and kind to the good guys. What was great to see is Peg sharing in Diane's joy. Word must have gotten out under the surface that Diane was the birthday girl and a little more cooperation was bestowed upon the guest of honor. My hat is off to these two great ladies, they took on some of the toughest fish in the ocean and prevailed.