So it was back to back days with guide Matt and today’s fishing partner was Morgan O’Brien from Ireland here at St. Brandon’s Atoll. Morgan joined my Gabon trip last year and we hit it off. He’s with me not only this trip this year but he’ll also join me in Bhutan this November. We headed out under crisp blue skies with a perfect flats fishing breeze.
We started right where I left off last night with Matt, only instead of fishing the top of the flat in shallow water, we fished the drop off edge. Matt and Morgan headed out, I kept eyes on the edge from the boat and relaxed. I felt lucky and sure enough a jumbo Indo-Pacific permit hopped up on the flat from the edge, worked the flat for a total of about 30 seconds then dropped off again.
I knew he’d be back though. And even if not, I’d be crazy not to wait for him because it was an absolute monster. Indo’s don’t get as big as the Atlantic permits which frequently surpass 25lbs. I couldn’t find any firm max size evidence online, but I have some serious permit fishing friends who landed several Indo’s around the 15lb mark. Those are the largest I’ve heard of. This fish I saw, was definitely in that class.
Sure enough, the oversized yellow colored permit came back and I launched my crab only for it to be seized by the three spot dart. A beautiful and fun fish in his own right, but terribly annoying today. I got three decent shots at the big permit over the next hour and all three times I was intercepted by these pesky rascals.
I’d gotten my cast at this fish from exactly the same spot each time – a place where a school of these darts were waiting for easy meals. But I noticed while fighting one of the darts that the big perm resurfaced on the flat at another spot as well. I went there and got my shot. Wouldn’t you know, another crab loving criminal was waiting. This is the strongspine pursemouth (Gerres longirostris). I’ve caught the similar evenfin before but this is a new one for my species list. The only positive of him stealing my fly from this monster permit!
Before I knew it, three hours had passed and I was still next to the boat messing around with what was likely, an impossible to catch old and wise yellow permit. The tide had risen and my opportunities at this fish were disappearing. But just as I considered giving up, I got one more shot. I made it an angry shot and instead of trying to feed this fish I tried to spook him. I tried to smack him on the head so hard he’d spook for hours. I managed the hitting him in the head part twice. First at short range. He didn’t spook and kept going. Then again at about 40 feet. The fish was unphased. Then I made a back handed hail Mary of about 80 feet. My fly landed on his tail. Believe it or not, the fish spun around, charged my fly and ate it. I hooked him and he smoked me off the flat and over the edge!
I was elated and screamed with joy. Matt and Morgan were a mile away but tried to be loud enough they could hear me. And then, just as my backing knot left the rod, my line went limp. At first, I thought I was broke off on coral, but instead the fly simply pulled. Brutal! ****!
I stood in place a few moments, dreaming of seeing the fish again. But I knew. You don’t hook a fish like that and expect him back. I was simply sulking and wondering if I could have done anything different. The answer was “yes” – hook him better!
I needed a fishing break and this involved a drink of water and a Kate’s Bar. Then a mile long walk to catch up with Matt and Morgan. I was happy that when I met up with them Morgan was tight with his sixth bonefish of the morning. After he landed this one Matt trekked off for the boat and Morgan and I banged out a couple more bonefish while waiting.
When Matt arrived, he pulled up and dropped anchor. It was lunch time. I couldn’t have been more joyed to sit down, tell my sob permit story and eat. And drink a Phoenix. I was down to my last few bites when I looked up the flat and asked Matt, “Do those look like permit coming?”.
“Yes!” was Matts response.
Without hesitation I said, “Its all you Morgan”, but he kept eating.
You could call it the “5 second rule” but whatever the number of seconds it was, I had time to slam a nearly full Phoenix and stuff the rest of a cold hamburger in my mouth. Cheeks puffed out like a squirrel with nuts, I leapt from the boat and made my pursuit. I was determined more than ever after my morning failures. And this time it paid off.
There were four permit to be exact. I had on a tan colored Mike Lodge Alphlexo crab pattern. I picked out the front fish who was slightly to the side of the school. My fly sank a foot in front of him and he lunged forward and tailed on it.
The hooking technique is to strip very slowly, only as fast as needed to keep the tension. Then when you feel the pressure you can do a short quick strip set. No matter what, keep your tip down until you are 100% sure the fish has eaten your fly. A common mistake is to feel the fish tapping your fly and spitting it around rather than eating it. They do this in order not to be pinched by the crab. Its sort of their way of perhaps breaking the claws off before eating it. Bottomline is, if the fish doesn’t truly have your fly in his mouth and you lift the rod, he’s going to spit it and run.
Well, I had a challenging permit morning but this time I did everything right. The fish ate. I strip set. I hooked him. He took off. Then I raised my rod and it was game on. The only concern now was landing him amongst a small field of corals.
No matter the size of a permit, whether its Atlantic, Indo, Anak or Africanus, they all fight hard. This was by no means a trophy but he absolutely kicked my ass on my 9-weight. And in the end as we were trying to net him, he did every little dirty trick that permit do such as face you with an open mouth and headshake (you expect them to spit your fly) and they love to swim between your legs and snap your tippet. Luckily, none of the above happened.
It was nice to have the permit monkey off my back. I don’t like going to top permit locations without catching one. Now, no matter what, this trip is 100% awesome. We rattled off a series of photos then let the Indian Ocean treasure back to his friends.
The afternoon slowed much like each afternoon has. We were fired up on permit so we tried a few other permit spots. They were there and Morgan got some good casts at them but they were back to being permit.
When we got back to the lodge feedback came in from the rest of the group. It was another great day for all. And there was another permit. He’s a little guy but Mike Lodge saw him tailing and managed to fool him. A permits a permit – right? Heath caught a 9lb bonefish. And everyone got at least a bonefish of 7lbs. What a day!
And to top it off, our appetizers tonight were freshly caught grouper sashimi. This is likely the African marbled grouper. A fish, we often catch dredging in the Seychelles. With ten more days of fishing here left in our trip, I do reckon I’ll do a dredge with one of the guys on this trip eventually.
Jeff,
Congratulations on a stellar day of fishing!
Tad