We had seen so many permit the day before. Stuart and I had put lots of excellent casts into the pod of permit but no hook ups. The next day I was back and more determined to hook up on these elusive salt water quarry. Permit are difficult to catch on a fly. By a fly I mean with no scent. Many permit are caught with live crabs and scented flies. I have caught permit before but now I wanted to connect with a larger one. Little did I know that after a day of frustration, I was going to be rewarded.
Omar was my guide today. Omar is a bit of a legend on Ambergris Caye. He loves to hunt permit. Once he spots permit, he likes to pursue them out of the boat. The Permit King has a great eye and he gets excited once the permit are sighted. You better be ready to keep up with him. Now Omar is "31 American" that means 62 years old (the Belizian dollar is always valued at 50% of the American greenback), but he has energy, enthusiasm, great eye sight and knows what fly to get in front of the permit. It is not always about a permit feeding on crabs. Today it was a size 6 gotcha with rubber legs and just the right weight on the fly.
My buddy Colin and I were casting and pursuing a pod on the leeward side of an out island. I do know that once you see permit, never ever take your eye off of them. After a few casts into the 5 or 6 permit, my line tightened up and then my reel was screaming. In a blink of an eye I was well into my backing. I could hear Omar shout how much backing I had on the reel. I had 300 yards so I knew I was good. It took a while to turn the permit. It took 23 minutes to get the permit close enough for Omar to tail the 13 pounder.
Yes I was excited. We got a few pictures and sent the permit quickly on its way.
At that moment, I did not realize, that I would connect with permit 2 more times that day. I was broke off by one and the other one just shook off.
I always believe that fly fishing is all about moments. Today I had one great moment!
What a day!
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