Episode 70: Jose "Pepe" Lopez - 16lb Bonefish, Wind Knots, & Cracked Crabs

Jose "Pepe" Lopez is a legendary big bonefish catching giant. He
learned his craft from many of the old school, iconic guides such
as Harry Snow Jr., Billy Knowles and Timmy Carlile. His family,
like many other well know angling families (such as Chico
Fernandez’s,) left Cuba in 1959 when Castro became the infamous
nightmare he evolved to. Pepe was one year old at the time and ten
years later his Dad built a house on stilts near mile maker 17.
Sugarloaf and its surrounding water would become his playground.
With a 15 foot Mitchel boat he named "REEL THING" and a 40
Evinrude, this young man was destined to become the man to beat in
the All Tackle Bonefish Tournaments many years later, which he won
five times with the late Capt. Billy Knowles. He also won the IGFA
(International Game Fish Association) World Championships and The
Redbone Series. No one cares how many times you get second, but
there were plenty of those for this driving force of an angler. All
Tackle tournaments are just that. You can use bait, jigs, flies,
spinning reels, bait casters and fly rods. To win these things you
need to have a vast spectrum of skills as an angler and as a guide.
The points per each division vary with the difficulty of options.
The biggest bonefish in the world lived in the Florida Keys at one
point, and the All Tackle Tournaments caught the largest ones
because of the option of bait; crabs and shrimp were the food of
choice for these dinosaurs. Yes, they caught large fish on fly and
jigs too, but believe me, those monster fourteen and fifteen pound
bonefish loved meat! On today's podcast, we hang with one of the
most driven people I know. His business acumen is international,
expanding on what his father did for a living which was electrical
distribution. It’s hard to believe he’s an introvert when you're
around him but he is, and his time whacking trees and pulling weeds
in his yard is what he cherishes most. His privacy is his home
water now, a self proclaimed loner. The drive down from his main
home in Miami is daunting with terrible traffic but his heart is in
the Keys, always will be. Unfortunately, his fishing days are all
but over. It’s sad, here’s a man who’s caught over 200 thirteen
pound bonefish, won all the great bait tournaments, was raised
during the prime decades of the Florida Keys fishery and now at 64,
Pepe lives a fishing life through his vivid memory bank filled with
stories mostly dreamers see. He said “When the big bonefish left
with the freeze in 2010 my heart went with them!” Here is Pepe
Lopez everybody, one of the greats!