Feb 28, 2012

Day 1: After spending the last three days on the water fishing Permit I think it’s safe to say the 2012 Permit season is off to a great start!

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 miles per hour with water temps around 74 degrees. 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 turned and ate the fly while quickly traveling down current, towards the boat making it almost impossible to get a solid hook set. “Let’s find another.” I suggested.

Alex and I continued to 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?” I yelled.

“GOT HIM!” Alex said. 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 2: Day 2 would prove to be very different. We worked hard under clear blue skies to find fish and only managed 7 shots in the day. The Permit were unsettled, and on the move showing little to no interest in 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 3: We woke to clear skies, wind south 10-15 and 72 degrees, time for a major move! Alex and I headed east, passing up the flats that provided us with lots of shots and a fish on day 1 and punished us on day 2. 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-pound Bonefish that was eager to eat our Permit fly. A third of the Florida Keys Grand Slam (Permit, Tarpon and Bonefish) in the boat, now let’s 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 ideal, 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 another 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 Grand Slam. We landed our second Permit about 20 minutes later. This guy was the first one to the fly beating his three other 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 Grand 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.

“One o′clock…30 feet, Alex!” He 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!

For your Florida Keys Grand Slam, contact Captain Don Gable at www.keywesttarponguides.com

Live Water Properties Broker and Owner, Alex Maher, and his lab, Katie Sue, got their limit of mallards on Saturday at Fall River Springs in Ashton, Idaho.  Fall River Springs is an exceptional waterfowl hunting property among other notable characteristics. The 1,127-acre property has big mountain views, trout fishing, Whitetail deer and an agricultural component.

Cole Janssen, son of Live Water Properties Broker, Craig Janssen is pictured with Cole’s first Whitetail deer in Gallatin County, Montana. 

Chris Deming, husband of LWP Marketing Director, Haley Deming is pictured with his first elk in Fremont County, Wyoming. 

I am sure that both hunters were as excited as a kid on Christmas morning when they realized they just bagged their first big game hunt. 

Took a short walk Monday morning solo to try out a new area east of Moran, in Grizzly country, planned to be back to the truck by 10am on a 3 mile loop.  I heard a bull bugle at 7am downwind of me, and despite an attempt to circle downwind of him, he never made another peep.  I’m guessing he smelled me coming.  I continued on through the thick timber, picking up more elk sign as I went, marked a huge watering hole on the GPS (probably where that bull had bugled), and I bugled every 20 minutes with no responses.  At 8am, I sat down on a log in the middle of a well-traveled elk trail to have a snack.  With about one bite left on the granola bar, I heard a half-bugle up ahead in the timber 200 yards or so.  So, I quickly put the facemask and pack on, the mouth call in, and headed up the trail toward the bull.  Only 50 yards from my snack spot, I suddenly saw antlers coming straight toward me on the trail at 30 yards and closing fast.  He hadn’t seen me as he was swinging his head low to get his antlers under some tree limbs.  I dropped to a knee and looked straight down at my bow while I pulled an arrow from the quiver, knocked it on the string, and secured my release on the string loop.  When I looked back up, he was frozen in the trail, staring straight at me from 10 yards.  Then he bolted to my right down the hill, so I stood up, came to full draw, and cow called.  At the sound of the cow call, he stopped broadside at 30 yards with a large pine tree covering the back half of his vitals and a baby two-footer covering the lower front quadrant of the vitals.  I had the top right quadrant open, settled the 30 yard pin and released the arrow.  It made a clean pass through the lungs, and he ran about 40 yards, slowing at the sound of my cow call, then scrambled sideways and fell over on his back.  He repeated that routine twice more over the next 40 yards, and all was silent at 8:14am.  There was a little ground shrinkage on this one, not as big a 6 pt as last year, but I’m happy with it. 

No bears this time.  John Turner came in around 1pm, and we made several trips, packing everything out to the truck by 4pm.  Thank you John.