Last Permit of 2009

Each year due to schedule conflicts with manager Dave Corbin, I get volunteered to go down to Punta Allen right after Rainy/Hurricane season to re-open the lodge. It has kind of become tradition to try and get projects done at this time and this year was no exception. Please note that the key word here is ‘try’. Like try to get a generator house built. Or try to get all the boats painted. Or try to fix the water system. And the list goes on.

This year we did get the boats painted, but thanks to the weather we managed to do one about every two weeks. The generator house is still a dream as we go back and forth and round and round with the park. We were able to have a new generator delivered in about a weeks time which is certainly a new record for us. The last one took over six months to show up! And the biggest change that our return guests will notice is the loss of drive-way in front of the place. It is now just a walking path, restoring the quiet ambiance to our front porch.

Of course all work and no play makes this hombre kind of grouchy, so a little fishing was snuck into the schedule. Only three half days, but way better than nothing. One of the half days was spent with returning guest Ed Moore for some cloudy Bonefishing. Great company, but rather tough conditions that only yielded a couple of fish for each of us. The next two short outings had some exciting Permit shots. The first was text book and everything worked like magic [picture below]. The second day started off like gang-busters with shots at two schools within the first fifteen minutes. No connections, but very encouraging. Then a monster shows up, the cast is dead on, the fish follows, and tails up on it bigger than life. The dream is smashed as the line wraps around the hasp on the bow door [it was a rental boat while ours where being painted], the scramble to un-do the mess is brief and the fish feeling the hook, but not the set due to said tangle, bolts off to freedom without the fly. Ugh.