A TALE OF TWO FISHES

Tuesday May 11, 2010

John and I set off with Alejandro on day 3 of our quest. A quiet morning started with Alejandro making me jump out of the Panga and wade after a large single permit. The sandy bottom was not helpful as I was sinking 4” every step; after 50 yards I was struggling and the permit was moving effortlessly away. Back into the boat we (or the guides) were seeing many a permit and John had a few good shots before the lunch break.

After the break we continued and suddenly Alejandro had me jump out of the boat again. He had spotted a permit on the back of a ray and we got close enough for me to see it and then get a couple of casts. The fish I saw went left and I thought I had messed up but the line tightened and the other fish, the permit, went right with the fly safely in his mouth.He made one long run and then a shorter one, but he came quickly to us and we unhooked him in the water and sent him back to grow; he was 4-5 lbs. My first permit while wading.

John took over and fished hard for 2 hours having shot after shot at permit. Alejandro polled himself into a frenzy as he attempted to put the boat in the best position for John to cast at the fish; the blisters on his hands were testament to his efforts. There was one moment when a permit was about to swallow John’s fly – John could not really see from his seat in the boat – when he received two simultaneous instructions for the guides. One said “stop” and the other said “cast again” John chose the wrong option and pulled the fly away.

I took over at 3p.m. and still we continued to find a remarkable number of permit. I had a couple of near things with much sucking in of cheeks and then at 1o’clock we spotted a nice fish. The cast was OK. ” Slow strip” came the instruction “wait, strip, strip, stop, strip stop” and there I could see the permit face to face, his mouth open under the water. I didn’t strike I simply stripped once more, the permit closed his mouth on the Raghead and turned away, the fly lodged in his lip. He didn’t mess about; the line hissed through the water as he took a couple of hundred yards off the reel; Alejandro tightened up the brake but Mr. Permit pulled further away. It’s easy to see why you need 250yards or more backing for these extremely powerful fish. The ensuing underwater tug-of-war went on for 30 minutes or more, me gaining line back and the permit taking it off again.

Finally I started gaining line, getting all the backing back on the reel and was able to see him in the water. The sight of the boat spooked him and the process was repeated with the fish first one side of the boat and then shooting off around to the other side. I brought him alongside the boat and Alejandro leaned over to tail him, but Senor Permit was having none of it. With his tail thrashing furiously he escaped the grasping fingers and fled back to the open water. This happened another two times before Alejandro was able to get both hands on the fish and lift him proudly on to the boat. We sat side by side and held the fish in front of us and you can see from the pictures how long the permit was- almost 36” –

A two permit day. Serious satisfaction. Dreams are made of this.