Granny and I are spending our last two fishing days down here at Belize River Lodge with our friend Dirk Burgard. Dirk is Misha’s husband and he’s a longtime fishing guide on the famous South Fork of the Snake in Idaho. For years he has worked for South Fork Lodge. He still does a few trips up north during primetime in the summer but most if his fish guiding is now done down here in Belize.
We have struggled with a steady wind all week. The blow has ranged from 15 to 25 mph every single day. I haven’t said much about it in the blogs because we’ve found ways to work around the challenges such as fish the rivers and the leeward sides of the nearby keys. But the wind has kept us from venturing far out. It’s in fact kept us from hitting some of the best bonefish, tarpon and permit flats that are found out on the reef.
But all guides are different as I mentioned earlier this week and that’s why I like to mix up who I fish with. Dirks exact thoughts were, “You can’t do a whole week at Belize River Lodge without at least one day on the reef flats. If you guys can handle a rough ride for 45 minutes, let’s go”. We said “yes” and I fixed up my 9-weight with a Camo Crab – my favorite permit fly.
The long drive to the flats wasn’t too bad. Like I’ve said, pangas rule! But man, when we got to the reef the wind was honking. Rather than hop up on the poling platform immediately, Dirk putted us along slowly to see if we could actually spot fish if they were around. The answer was yes. From the bow I saw two tarpon and we spooked a permit that was feeding off the back of a ray.
That’s all we needed to see to at least lead us to making a try. Dirk got on the platform and poled best he could. It was all he could do just to hold the boat for more than a minute here and there. He was more steering with the pole and every once in a while he just dropped the anchor and we waited. I wobbled from the bow almost using my Winston as a balancing pole. Granny took no part of either boat maneuvering or fishing and sat comfortably from the center of the boat sipping a Belikin.
Whatever we did, after an hour of this struggle, it worked. I spotted about a dozen permit making their way towards us. They were hard to see because of the big waves. This was also a time when we were drifting fast. Fast towards the school.
With no time to think, I launched my crab and with luck from the fish gods it landed in front of the lead fish. All I remember was the fish followed it down. I lost sight of what was happening so I stripped to stay tight to my fly, something you always need to do when presenting a fly to permit. Wham! Permit on!
Whenever a permit gets hooked pandemonium follows. When it’s in a big wind situation where windblown line needs to be cleared and tension on the fish must be kept, then it’s pure chaos. But somehow today, once that line did clear, there was a strange calmness. At least that’s what I remember. Sometimes I go into a full fishing fighting trance and that’s exactly where I ended up for the next five minutes or so.
It was a great fight. Permit always put up a battle. I hit my backing but only briefly. We were lucky that the permit ran down wind of us so as he ran the boat was blowing with his run. I reeled and heaved with all I had. Like a few days ago with the tripletail, Granny had to do the netting while Dirk managed the boat. The girl is getting good!
Catching a permit on a fly is always an accomplishment. And when done from a boat there’s a ton of teamwork involved. A special thanks goes to Dirk for deciding to fight the harsh conditions on the reef and for Granny to bring her game face and fantastic netting skills. What a fun morning.
That was about all she wrote for the day. We stumbled around the reef for another couple of hours. It was brutal. Then we decided to try for the Grand Slam and add a bonefish and a tarpon. Long story short I nailed a couple nice bonefish but the tarpon would not cooperate. We actually went all the way back and upriver. I had my chance and got one tarpon to eat. I missed him though and he spit the hook on the first jump. No slam today.
It was a great day. Any day you catch a permit its especially satisfying. We returned to the lodge late. About 6 pm. Then as usual was a fun evening with cocktail hour with my Belizean family and then an amazing dinner. What terrific trip. Tomorrow is our last fishing day.
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Ah, permit! I love them but they don’t like me. Congratulations on motoring ahead and fighting the odds! Your story reminded me of my day bonefishing on Andros when the wind was blowing 30 mph. It was a tough day of fishing and if memory serves me, I caught only two bones that day.
Hi Mark, the wind has been extra bad worldwide the last couple years with the exception of my Indian Ocean trips. But everywhere else tough. Including here in WI lately. Thanks for keeping up with our adventures!