Fresh off of several months of daily Rogaine treatments and most likely some brown mascara, “Mustache” Matt Cope showed up in the keys again to fish permit. The thing looks horrendous but the permit seem to like it because he stuck and landed the first fish he threw at. It broke his curse last year and worked again this year despite overall lousy weather to fish in. I am willing to put up with this eye sore so long as he keeps putting fish in the boat. Start growing yours today…

Ryan

My good friend Tom Rapone managed to break away from his busy schedule of guiding anglers out of Martha’s Vineyard and snuck down to do some fishing of his own. Tom has a knack for bringing foul weather in his carry on bag but it didn’t happen this time, apparently he has been volunteering some time at the local homeless shelter this year or something.

What we did have to deal with was the madness of the last day of mini lobster season on our first day on the water. If you care at all about the flats fishery in the Keys then mini lobster season is something to completely avoid. What a junk show. We couldn’t even begin to count the number of boats on the edges of the flats, in the channels, and running over the flats in bimini topped 20+ foot boats loaded with nets, snorkels, beer, and morons. Needless to say, the fish think about as much of mini season as I do. Total disgrace.

The second day was much better, the morons stayed at the dock, hungover, sunburnt, full of lobster, and wondering how their prop got bent. We found decent numbers of tailing permit early and then threw every fly in the box at a large school of floating permit that we found wandering across a flat and hanging in the channel just off the flat.

We fished the same pattern, early morning and late afternoon, for the next couple days having a lot of shots at tailing permit in very shallow, slick calm water and also continued to try new flies on the same school of floaters. There is nothing quite like seeing permit tail in these conditions. There are also few things as difficult. We finally managed to come tight to a fish on the 3rd day after coming very close several times. Unfortunately the fish came unbuttoned.

The final day we decided to have some revenge on the floating school that had been tormenting us and catch one on the crab. The school must have known we were bringing the real deal this time because the number of fish had really decreased. Still, it was one cast and fish on. The size of some of the fish in this school was truly incredible because we felt like we had hooked the runt of the litter and this is it. Very nice fish!

That evening we went back out with the fly and what we witnessed was definitely in the top three greatest evenings of permit fishing I have ever seen. As soon as we poled onto our chosen flat we could see nervous water, wakes, and tails. This continued for 2 straight hours until we were forced off the water by a storm that had my pushpole and Tom’s rod tip buzzing.

Just before having leave the tailfest to get away from the electricity, one of Tom’s fishing dreams came true…almost. His dream was to catch a tailing permit while wading and he had the perfect opportunity on this evening. The fish were all over and feeding hard so Tom got in and started taking his shots. After having a couple shots where the fish followed literally to his feet before bolting off the flat, he made a great cast to two fish that were working side by side. As soon as the fly landed and he made one strip, one of the fish sucked it in and screamed off when he felt the hook. Tom later said this was the happiest moment of his life. Unfortunately, a large shark didn’t care much about Tom’s happiness. Neither of us, or the permit apparently, saw it coming and there was nothing we could do. The exploding, white water in the photo  pretty much tells the rest of the story. Next time dude, next time…

In an attempt to make him feel a bit better before getting on a plane the next morning, I figured a little night fishing was in order. After dinner the boomers had passed through so we snuck out for a few hours and got 9 tarpon bites and had a good time trying to forget the shark incident. I can guarantee one thing, Tom will be back to even the score.

The bonefishing has really been either red hot or very difficult so far this year but I do expect that it will get more consistent as we get away from this full moon and get deeper into summer and early fall. Here is a photo of my first time flats angler from Finland, Samuli Tursas, and a bonefish we caught out of a big school yesterday. Samuli really improved in our time on the water, maybe more so than anyone I have ever seen, and we also landed two tarpon last evening to cap a great day of fishing.

Now lets just hope that the rest of hurricane season goes as it has for the last several years!

Ryan

I would have to say that this will probably go down as one of the more difficult seasons on record. The weather really kicked our asses at times, more than I have ever experienced before. Seems the weather has been strange all over the country from what I hear from clients and other anglers. La Nina needs to go away, that’s all I know.

When we did have sun to light up the flats and weren’t wetter than the fish we were looking for, the fishing was very, very good. Definitely no shortage of fish around. It sure makes things a lot easier and more fun for everyone when you can actually see them though.

As we head into late summer and early fall (maybe my favorite time of year) I am optimistic that the crazy weather pattern will stay away and we will have some really great permit, bonefish, and baby tarpon fishing. I have already had some pretty sick tailing permit action at the end of the day towards sunset and I am really looking forward to a lot more of it.

I will post some pics in the next couple weeks and hopefully the guy that hacked our website won’t jack everything up again. If you are the guy who did it and you are reading this, I just want to say that I am truly sorry that no one wanted you on their baseball team in middle school, you had your head dunked in the toilet on a regular basis by the lineman from the football team, you are still a virgin, and you live in your moms basement but stick to dungeons and dragons and leave our site alone. Thanks.

Ryan

*Photos courtesy of Frank “SWEETCHEEKS” Cope

Each day produced 15 to 20 good shots at permit and I also fished 2 night charters, boating 4 fish and jumping another 10. I fished Thursday with Craig Cantelmo from Van Staal and his buddy Glen. The happy angler in the photo is Glen with his first permit on fly. We won’t talk about the permit that got away from Craig…

The next week looks a bit blustery but hopefull things will calm down and we will get back to what has so far been an outstanding permit season. See you on the water.

Ryan

Angler Alex Maher from Jackson Wyoming took his spot on the bow of my boat Wednesday hoping to catch his first Permit in the Florida Keys. We set out early on the falling tide, under partly cloudy skies, wind south 5-10 with water temps around 74*. I slowly polled up to our first flat to find four or five fish tailing and working in VERY shallow, slick water. They were so shallow their backs were exposed and we even watched one fish swim on his side as he worked to cross a shallow bar. We worked through the slack and then rising tide for about two hours throwing at tailing fish and managed to get one solid eat that never came tight. The fish had turned and “ate the fly” while traveling quickly down current towards the boat making it almost impossible to get a solid hook set. “Lets find another.”

Alex and I continued fish through the top of the high getting a dozen or so shots….It was now 2pm. After a brief roll over the tide started to drop….FAST!

It wasn’t long until we spotted a good sized Permit slowly moving across the flat and slightly away. “Eleven O’clock 70 feet going away…You got him?”  “GOT HIM!” I made another push and Alex launched his cast placing it about a foot in front of the going away fish and slightly left. The fish turned….Alex gave a long slow strip…another….and then the fish inhaled the fly! “YES!!!!”

Fifteen minutes later…..”MR PERMIT IS IN THE BOAT”

Day two would prove to be very different. We worked hard under clear blue skies to find fish and only managed 7 shots on the day. The Permit were unsettled, and on the move showing little to no interest on properly placed flies. The number of fish on the flats had also decreased. Was it the lack of wind, (south 0-5) the super high water, the fly?

Day three………We woke to clear skies, wind S 10-15, and 72* Time for a major move! Alex and I headed east…passing up the flats that provided us with lots of shots and a fish day one and punished us on day two. We polled a couple small flats and another very long edge that provided only four shots. After a few moves and four more shots it was time for lunch. WE were the only ones eating.

Shortly after lunch we boated a 4 lb bone that was eager to eat our Permit fly.  1/3 of the “slam” in the boat, now lets get that PERM! The 3 foot tide was now making skinny water tough to find.

After racking my brain I remembered a little flat that I had fished last year on a very high tide that held some good fish. We polled into the spot and blew out a solid fish….then another. The light was really bad, the direction not quite right so I decided to poll out, bump up, and come around from the back. The new approach had me polling into the tide, with the fish facing away. Not perfect, but we could see the black sickle tails and had the wind at our back. It wasn’t long and we were back into fish after 6 quick shots we spotted a group of fish at 40 feet and took a shot. The group moved away to the right and then did something I have never seen a Permit do……they started “daisy chaining”! CRAZY! Alex quickly threw his next cast on the outside of the chain (like we do with Tarpon) “plop” strip, strip, SET! After fighting off a small shark we landed our first fish of the day…..a good one!

With more fish on the flat, Alex and I decided to continue fishing permit and spend the last hour of our day looking for a Tarpon for the slam. We landed our second Permit of the day about 20 minutes later. This guy was the first one to the fly beating his other three friends earning a seat in my boat and a tag in his back!

Alex and I decided to leave the flat and head out for that Tarpon in hopes of getting his first Keys slam.  After a short ride we arrived on one of my favorite early season tarpon spots. It didn’t take long for the shot to come…in fact it might have come too quick. “1 0′clock…30 feet Alex!” Alex quickly dropped his fly and put in a few good strips….strip, strip, strip, SET!  A heavy silence filled the boat….no jump, no screaming line, no chrome. Game over……

“Next time buddy……Next time!”

Permit season is HERE! Get some!

Don

Don and I had shots at very relaxed, happy (by permit standards) fish on virtually every flat we fished with each of us landing a fish. Each of our fish tracked and went down on the fly like Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (D) chasing an Oscar Meyer…

More days like today are right around the corner!

Ryan

Don’s best Barney Frank impersonation ^^^

We headed out with the Sand Key weather buoy reading gusts at 30 knots so the plan was to catch some bait, find some shelter from the wind, and start chumming.

Bait was easy to come by so we made quick work of that and headed for a nearby channel that had a mangrove island to cut down the wind for us. The running was pretty wet and brutal but it was all good once we go anchored up on the spot.

After getting our slick going it didn’t take long before we say the first fish come at us. Don took his place on the bow and made some casts at what we felt like were 3 different blacktips. His fly drew the attention of 2 of the fish but neither was quite ready to commit yet.

About that time we got some serious cloud cover that totally killed any visibility that we had. We knew we had sharks in the slick so Don kept his fly out in the zone. I started cutting some small chunks to give the fish a taste of what brought them to the boat and get them in a more cooperative mood. As I was cutting, I heard Don say something through the wind and turned around to see him clearing line.

His fish seemed a little slow for a blacktip and I was thinking lemon shark until it broke the water in the middle of the channel…POON! And a large tarpon at that! The jump was one of those halfway out of the water jumps that are so common with the big fish. Don was stoked to have a big poon on the fly rod during a nasty day in the middle of December and I was more than happy to see it, too.

This fish had no intention of getting anywhere near the boat, taking him way into the backing going up current. We didn’t want to have to leave the slick and motor after him but it was looking like we had no choice. We had 60 lb. wire to the fly so we weren’t worried about him chewing through but this fish just did not want to stop. Just as I was about to toss the anchor Don yelled that he had the fish turned and he was now running back at us. He kept coming all the way to the boat and kept going, down current now, on an even longer run. With even more line out and a few trap buoys in the area, it was now time to follow the fish.

I started the motor and got Don back on the fly line so he could really start putting the hurt on this tarpon. With the cool water temps, the fish had some serious energy and he put Don through a good workout. After about 15 more minutes and some cussing and grunting, Don finally had him beat and I leadered him and broke him off as he jumped. SIck. WIndy, cloudy, cool, mid December, wire leader, shark fly… tarpon?

Our day was made now but I wanted to pull on something so we headed back to the anchor. It didn’t take long to have the blacktips back at the boat and after one short strike and some other lookers, I was hooked up. My shark identified itself as a spinner soon after I got it on the reel as it came out of the water spinning like a top. If you have never gotten to witness a hooked spinner, I highly recommend that you put it on your list. These fish are extremely strong, acrobatic, and have some serious endurance. My fish gave us 5 jumps before we settled into the tug of war. After 15-20 minutes I managed to coax it back to the boat and get the release on it.

Don and I were more than satisfied now, so we took the sloppy ride back to the marina and called it a day. Sure beat sitting at home and watching the wind blow on a day with no football to watch!

That’s part of fishing that I love so much, you just never know what will happen or what you will see.

Ryan

First and foremost…….GET YOUR DAYS BOOKED NOW! The most talented flats guides in the Keys book well before the new year. The prime windows are the first to go. Get some!

Practice, Practice, Practice…….Start taking the time now to get out and do a little casting. Take advantage of the windy days by grabbing the rods you intend on using and spend at least 30 minutes per session casting from multiple angles into, and across the wind.

Cold, rainy, snowy days are great days to go thru your gear. Check your lines for cracks, clean your reels, look at your rods for wear in the guides and inspect for “nicks” on the blank. Replace all cracked, cut, and scuffed lines before arriving in the Keys.

Order your flies now……Most guides have their own special flies, but we all have standard fly patterns that will be used during your trip. Talk to your guide about these flies and get them ordered, most preferred tiers are too busy to take orders just prior to the season.

These are just a few things you can do to get ready for 2012!

Best,
Capt. Don