Its already day 3 of my hosted Yellow Dog Flyfishing trip here in the Wessel Islands of Australia. Today we mixed up fishing partners. I fished with Mike Lodge and Neuman jumped over to fish with Jeff Smith. Jeff, hasn’t fished a full day yet due to having the flu, and though he felt better this morning, he wisely decided to take one more day off to complete his healing. Therefore Neuman had a boat to himself. Steve and Therese stayed together.
When you fish with Mike Lodge it’s a permit day or a GT day. Last March in the Seychelles we chased GT’s all day. Here in the Australia it’s a quest for an Indo-Pacific permit or the Anak. If you read this blog, you probably know that while I catch my share of permit, I’m not a hardcore permit guy. When they’re around I fish for them and when they’re not I fish for other fish. However, the only permit species I’ve not caught is the Anak and I’d love to knock him off my list. I was fully in for a permit hunt with Mike as was todays guide, Tiger, whom I fished with two days ago.
There’s a huge benefit when fishing with Mike – he shares his flies. Mike ties beautiful flies and his permit crabs are no less than incredible. Here in the Wessels the favorite pattern for permit is a white Alphlexo Crab. Mike had us armed with a bunch as well as a few shrimp in case we ran into blue bastards.
It was another ridiculously gorgeous day. Yeah, we had some clouds yesterday and threats of rain, but it never got us. Overnight it cleared up. Mike took the bow and it wasn’t long before Tiger lined up a good shot at two permit. The lead fish followed Mikes fly for about ten feet then turned off and both fled for Papua New Guinea.
Though the first couple permit showed up quick, the next ones didn’t. Before we knew it at least an hour went by without seeing much of anything. I started tossing a Shrimp pattern blind from the back. I picked up a blue tuskfish but that was it.
Soon another hour passed without a permit sighting. Mike asked me several times if I was ready to take the bow, but with his lack of chances I told him to keep going. Soon a blue bastard showed up off our stern. I was in perfect position. Mike told me to take it.
The bastard was a ways from any rocks on the deeper water side of the boat. It was amazing that Tiger spotted him. Once I picked him up, I made my cast. It was a longer than normal cast but after a couple tries I got it there. Ideally you land your fly five feet in front of a bastard. My fly sank and the bluish gray blur charged and ate it!
This was my first hook up with a blue bastard. I knew what to expect – about five seconds of the fish being confused then a mad dash for rocks. I already mentioned this bastard was far from any rocks, but the rocks that were around unfortunately were against the shore. This freight train of a fish full throttled straight for them. By a complete miracle I stayed tight with big strips and stopped him about ten feet short – my 9-weight creaking and bent all the way to the cork. But just as I thought I had him and as Tiger reached for the net – snap! My 40lb Fluoro broke. It turns out it separated at the knot by my fly. Could have been worn. Who knows. All I knew was I lost the bastard. Dang it!
Long bouts in the bow sound great but it does beat up your feet and tire your legs and back. After three hours Mike just reeled it in and stared me down, “Get up there. I need a break”.
It’s the way of permit fishing, Mike had one cast in three hours, I got up there and for 45 minutes they rolled by in heaps. It seemed like we were following a big school, but I had at least ten good casts at them. I had some serious follows and one interception by a golden trevally. It was a lot of fun but I couldn’t seal the deal.
The flurry of permit activity didn’t last. It was a high noon to about 1 PM deal where the permit were thick. Then, like the switch was flicked, they were gone again. After I had about 30 minutes of no more chances, Tiger suggested looking for blue bastards. I was in as was Mike.
From what I’ve seen in my two days here in the Wessels, there’s quite a few blue bastards around and the guides know where to find them. But of course because we were looking for them, they were hard to find. It wasn’t until about 3 PM that we found a nice rock cropping that had a few around.
Mike was on the bow and fired off some excellent casts. The first two were finicky and didn’t even follow. But number three, the third fish devoured Mikes crab fly and took off!
Unfortunately, “taking off” was an underestimation. This bastard put on the afterburners and despite Mikes fantastic effort to stop the fish before the nearby rocks, it was virtually impossible. Snap! Our second loss to blue bastards of the day.
There were no more shots at bastards after Mikes broke off. I did catch another random fish from the back tossing the Shrimp fly. This is another cool fish, the Darwin jawfish (Opistognathus darwiniensis).
At 4 PM I told Mike to take the bow and he and Tiger went full on for permit at the same spot where I had many casts earlier to the school. The boys found the school and Mike got some good shots but the finicky fish showed no interest. At 5 PM, Tiger said, “Reel it in. We have a long ride back to the Wildcard and we are moving the ship tonight.”
Mike stepped down and lit a cigarette. I was just about to pop a beer when in the distance a strange looking tail stuck out and thrashed around. I pointed and Tiger spun around and saw it. It was the tail of about a 4 foot long tawny nurse shark. I stood up. Of course I was thinking if I could catch it. Nurse sharks in general are harmless crab eaters and pick dead things off the bottom but catching him still crossed my mind. But then I switched to thinking the thrashing and mud forming may also attract a permit. Tiger said, “Looks like we aren’t done.”
I told Mike to hop back up but he said no. He was relaxed enjoying his butt so I got up. We eased our way to the shark and soon I was launching a 70 footer. The cast landed about six feet from the shark. I was trying to get closer but missed. But it didn’t matter. An Indo-Pacific permit picked it up immediately and took off.
Yeah, blue bastards run hard but not like a permit. All permit species smoke you to the backing in a matter of seconds. The difference and the reason we catch them however, is that they rarely purposely run for coral or rocks. This one took off to the open water. All I had to do was keep tight and endure the fight. I did just that and even though this fish was very naughty when I got him to the boat and he nearly wrapped me in the electric motor, in about ten minutes, I had my first permit of the trip. Sa-weet!
Our day went from zero to hero on the last cast of the day. A lesson to everyone reading, “It aint over till it’s over.” I always say keep your fly in the water. I mean it.
I was lucky but when you fish enough, you get lucky. Fortunately there was more good news when we got back to the boat. Best of all, Jeff Smith is feeling much better and he’ll be fishing tomorrow. He lost three days of the trip of a lifetime, but he has handled it well. Unfortunately some of the boat staff are now sick. Steve and Therese had their first slow day. Neuman managed a few golden trevally, a brassy trevally and his second blue bastard. He did mention that standing on the bow all day did cut into his beer intake. That’s better than complaining his feet hurt!
The boat is moving north tonight. We will travel a total of six hours. We left promptly as we got home from fishing and enjoyed some scenery on the deck as we traveled through cocktail hour. We had dinner in the boat and now its pouring outside and the waves are big. Time to climb in the bunk and hope to wake up in good fishing conditions in the morning. Stay tuned!
“Permit photos by Tiger Davey”