The wind was howling on day 3 of our fly fishing adventure to Ambergris Caye. I texted Hilian at 5 am to see if we were good to go and he said we were fine and that he would pick us up at 6:30 am. Excellent. I drank my morning coffee watching gigantic waves hit the sea wall in front of Karen and I. The sky was clear but the wind, oh man!
Luckily, Hilian had a plan that allowed us to tuck in on a flat and fly fish.
Little did I know that a big moment was going to come my way and lady luck was going to shine down on my day!
If you played the two short videos, you know how windy it was. Well we motored up the lagoon side of Ambergris Caye almost 20 plus miles. We could see Mexico just ahead when I got up on the casting platform. Our fly fishing day started off looking for permit and bonefish. We were ready for both. Casting was going to be a challenge in places but we were ready for whatever came our way.
We did see a few pods of smaller permit and had some shots. The permit were skiddish and they would not eat. We did catch some smaller bonefish early in the day.
Hilian found a bay that had a few pods of nice sized bones. I connected and landed a 3-4 pound bonefish that took me way into my backing. That was a lot of fun to tangle with a big strong energetic bonefish. Doug was up when we encountered a large pod of bones in a corner. Doug had a blast. All the casts were back hand casts too because of the wind. It was a great chance to sort out our back hand casts because the wind was blowing across our right ear. Doug connected with a lot of nice bonefish!
We tied up a few Golden Gotchas before the trip and we decided to see how they worked. In a word, fantastic! Bonefish absolutely hammered the Golden Gotchas. We used mainly size 6 with 1/8th dumbbell eyes. The medium eyes helped get the flies down about 4 feet.
After a late lunch, we went looking for permit on a new flat that again was mostly out of the howling wind. I was on the casting platform with my 8 weight rod, 12 pound tippet and had a mantis shrimp tied on. I wanted to be ready for a shot at a permit but have a fly that bonefish liked too!
Hilian yelled, "Get ready, permit at 90 feet and coming towards us at 11 o'clock."
I was looking along the shoreline at 3 o'clock. I shifted my eyes to the left of the boat and 3 large permit were coming towards us and they appeared to be feeding on the start of the incoming tide. I started to cast when they were 70 feet away and my Mantis Shrimp dropped right in front of them. Hilian yelled, " Strip!"
I was a bit excited and the first strip was too fast. At that exact moment one of the permit grabbed the fly and it popped out of his mouth. Hilian continued to yell, "Strip, smooth and do not jerk the fly!"
Three strips later, the biggest permit inhaled my shrimp and turned. I tightened up the line and I was hooked up to the largest permit I have ever had the good fortune to tangle with. I heard Hilian yell, "Let him run!"
I did exactly that. In a few short moments, the permit was screaming line off of my rod. I also heard Hilian yell, "It's a fish of a lifetime. Take your time." At that moment I had a horrible thought.
I yelled, "I only had 12 pound tippet on." Hilian told me not to worry. We will not force the issue and lets see if we can land this trophy.
The permit was in charge and I could do nothing but hold on. The drag was right and I then heard Hilian yell ," Do not palm the reel!" No mistakes. I knew that one tiny error would mean the end. I was way into my backing. Hilian instinctively fired up the motor and we headed out towards the escaping permit! My backing was peeling off at an alarming rate. Finally, I was able to gather some backing. I heard Hilian put the boat in neutral. Hilian started to back the boat ever so slowly as I gathered line. The permit took several more shorter runs and I was able to see the end of my fly line that was still over 100 feet away.
Doug grabbed by camera and took some action shots, then he grabbed the large net we brought with us. After about 15 minutes, the permit showed his side. Could we possibly net this beautiful permit? When the permit came closer, Hilian reminded me not to reel past the tip of the fly line. The permit took yet another short run. After gathering the line, I was able to get the permit to the surface. The permit showed me its side and Doug netted the giant permit. We all yelled. I was so excited.
Hilian backed the boat into the shallow water as Doug ensured the permit was resting in the net. We did not want to bring the permit into the boat. Hilian secured the boat. Both Hilian and I jumped into the water. I could not wipe the giant grin off of my face. Hilian and I have landed smaller permit together but nothing like this. This permit was close to 20 pounds.
Once we got some photos, the permit was off. The permit just plain rocketed away. The permit was lifted for only few seconds out of the water for a quick picture or two!
That was incredible, in fact I had to take some time to gather myself! My brain was racing. We were in the right place at the exact right time. Hilian's instincts and my good fortune all played into what happened. A lot of things could have gone wrong but they didn't. It was my time time and I was very thankful to catch a permit of this size. It wasn't easy and I was fortunate enough to not blow it, especially with 12 pound tippet on an 8 weight rod.
Doug congratulated me. I reeled up and we again started looking for a shot for Doug! We did find a couple of permit but they quickly ran away! As the day was drawing to a close, we motored back to our condo at The Landings.
You know we were going to celebrate. It took all three of us to land this beautiful permit!
...little did I know that tomorrow I was going to hook an even larger permit. Oh, that is another incredible story!
Permit on! Yahoo!
Pure Joy!
Celebrate!
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