That's a great suggestion by patbrennan. I've done this and it's a great experience fishing with the locals. Akumal is a good place to give this a shot. As you get farther south from Cancun, the barrier reef becomes closer. The biggest permit I've ever seen was on a patchy reef south of the Puerto Aventuras resorts.
FYI, the Mayans used to mark the breaks in the barrier reef with torches from shore to aid friendlies coming back in at night.
