Having just got back from a great trip to the Palometa Club in Mexico, I was able to get quite a few different fish on the fly, just not the Permit.  Here is the update so far…12 Species.

Redfish

Largemouth Bass

Needlefish

Mutton Snapper

Mangrove Snapper

Jack Crevalle

Bonefish

Bacono

Juvenile Bluerunner, as corrected by the Captian, Michael BensonNot pictured: Barracuda, Mayan Perch, Dogtooth Snapper

Day 4 was awesome, no other way to describe it.  The hopes were high, but also running low in the tank.  It was the last day, and of our immediate group of 4 that came together, only one Permit had been caught, and it was on a bamboo fly rod.

Ryan and I set out with Alonzo and Fabian and headed south to a huge flat short of the barrier islands we normally pass through.  We saw nothing but the Barracuda that were policing the edges for stray quarry.  We moved onto a flat close to where Davis had caught his fish a day prior.  A couple fish came up from the rear, of which we tried to chase, but seeing they were on a mission, getting back in the boat was the right call.  It was Ryan’s turn, fish here, fish there but nothing really came of it except a decent shot Ryan had at a group of feeding fish right up to his rod tip.  He casted the fly, fish ate right upon landing and was not detected.

We move on down the bay at full throttle.  The boat instantly comes off plane to a lot of chaotic Spanish, pointing that created nothing but chaos.  Not a moment that instills confidence and calmness.  I was rushed to the bow, my rod practically thrown at me in this moment of confusion.  I elevated my self while stripping line on the bow, looked up and there it was, a school of about 250-300 permit of decent size.  Now let me backtrack to the point leading up to this.  In the preceding 3 days, I have had to explain to the other guides everyday that I am using only one fly.  Because of language barriers, (keep in mind they do speak pretty good english) it is still hard to help a Mexican Permit guide understand why the hell I would want to use only one fly.  So I threw it, and I threw it, and still threw it into the meat wad of silver…nothing.  I changed it up to my Bonefish size Ever. Spec., still nothing.  Ryan then took the bow, armed with a weighted shrimp.  They were dorsiling, tailing, grouping, meandering and feeding close to the surface in 4 foot of water. The school gave us plenty of shots.  Finally, Alonzo threw the white Raghead crab at me, and said…”you must use this fly, you must…other fly no work, never will.”  So, at some point it’s not just my fish anymore, it’s the guide’s, the team’s fish also.  I gave in, without a whole lot of fight, and threw the non Everglades Special fly into the school, and bam, full rod tilt.  After the fish was landed, I was happy, with out “fly change regret.”  I had come this far, tried, tried, tried and gave in to catching a Permit however I could, and I was GREAT with that.

We chased the school for a while longer, as Ryan was on the bow the rest of the day.  The school disappeared, so we ate lunch and got back after it.  Hope was dying, we were starting to get into overtime on this day, Ryan needed at least one more good shot to end this thing.  We went back to the first flat we started on where we saw quite a few groups that morning.  “Two O’Clock, tails…..get out the boat.”  Ryan and Alonzo were on the trail, belly button high water, 6 foot 5 Ryan, and 5 foot Alonzo….26 inch Permit.  The cast was made, settled, strip…eat.  Ryan and I came back to put 2 flags on the flagpole, and ended a day of fishing I will never forget…never.  Back to Charleston, and the rest of the waters and my Everglades Specials.

Today was great…in short, I had two good chances at thy Permit.  One where he zig-zagged after my ES fly, and one where he ate between strips..and of course I didn’t feel it…at least the guide, Koriano said he did, I believe him.  David Porter, who is in our group, is fishing only bamboo rods, we fished together today.  Yep, imagine being bad ass Mexican fly fishing guides in Mexico, and we got one gringo that is only using one type of fly no matter what and one that is using only bamboo….rediculous.

Well, Porter came tight to the fish, fought him for 20 minutes then we celebrated as Koriano hung the fish high in the air, the silver trophy….Permit caught on a 9 weight bamboo rod….success was had.

I also added 5 species to the Everglades Special list…Barracuda, Bonefish, Mayan Perch, Needlefish and some other species that is a canal Bass of sorts…Boccola? had a long ass mouth, crazy looking.

Day 4 is the 4th quarter tomorrow…Ryan Griifin and I are going all out Permit tomorrow, hope I have a great report!

Permit, Schmermit….okay, Permit.

Damn these things are tough.  So far the hardest part is just finding them.  We drift a flat for about 30 minutes wherever we go.  We usually see nothing, then we will see one.  Whether it gives us a chance or not is not even the though thing.  We got out of the boat 3/4 times today to chase, but the fish would always seem to swim away from us, not really presenting very good chances for us.  If you had to add it up today, we probably had 3 decent chances, but they didn’t even really look at the fly.  I did catch another Jack and 3 more snapper today, Mangrove, Mutton and something something Snapper with the ol Everglades Special.  Tomorrw we are gonna mix it up and chase some Tarpon/Snook/Bonefish….get em son.

Year of the Everglades Special/permit edition….

We only saw a few fish today, they did not give us any chances. I did for a second think I had a permit on the Everglades special but it turned out to be a jack, can’t complain. My buddy David Porter, who is fishing only bamboo rods, was the only one that hooked up to a permit today in which she hooked up two, which they both broke off at the knot, damn good time today!

Sorry about the inconsistencies in the lighting, bad thing about fluorescents!

Well, its March 11, 2014….a little more than 2 months since the new year.  I went out fishing this morning with 2 great guys, a great dog and an amazing morning.  I consider this the first really good condition day that I have fish so far this year.  I had a fun day fishing last month with Chris Wilson, but the four letter, “W” word was in effect.  The other couple times were fun days but just damn cold and windy.   We set out before the sun woke and headed to a good little spot only 10 minutes from the ramp. We all had things to do the rest of the day, so today was just a chance to get out for a couple hours and wake up one of them drunk on winter, ginger backs….with an Everglades Special.  My box this year is a little limited, ES’s and more ES’s.  I had yet to catch a damn Redfish this year and for that matter, one on an Everglades Special.

Just right, and so is the tailing bonefish….their tails light up like little mirrors.  It’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen when looking for tailing fish.  This new painting is called “Tail Lights” and is from a fishing day we had in Chetumal Bay while staying at Costa De Cocos last year with David Thompson and Brian Hodges.