I met my friend Jeff Webb down in Key West for a five day trip with Capt. Mike Rehr for tarpon and permit. Hurricane Charlie had just hit the west coast of Florida a few weeks before, Hurricane Frances was heading in my direction, and Tropical Storms Gaston and Hermine both were brewing while I was there. Key West, however, was fairly nice with heat, humidity, low winds and the occasional thunderstorm that we got to ride out or try to run around.
We started our days looking for tarpon on a large flat just out of Key West but the fish just never really showed on the days we checked there. There were some large tarpon in the channels but nothing up on the flats and we just never got in good position in the channel. We did, however, find a nice future home out on the flat.
After looking for tarpon we would head onto the permit flats and saw a LOT of permit during the course of the day. The first day was a total bust, both Jeff and I were having casting problems and just couldn't get a fly in front of the fish. Seeing a 25-30 lbs. permit cruising by got me a bit nervous and I think that played a big role in the sudden drop in my casting ability.
On Day 2 we headed to the Marquessa Keys in the dark and had a beautiful sunrise out in the Boca Grande channel.
We ran all over the Marquesas and found some tarpon pretty quickly. Jeff jumped one and then I got up and we started following the fish. Just about the time we got close they seemed to move out of the area and while I got a few casts off never really got the fly in front of the fish. Then the first storm of the trip came up and got us wet and actually cold. We went searching other areas in the Marquesas looking for permit but found the flats pretty, well flat. Jeff got off casts to permit and bonefish so we had a sight slam but just couldn't get shots at too many fish.
We departed and headed back across Boca Grande channel where we found groups of jacks ripping up bait like crazy. We couldn't hook one of them even, our luck was not running well. We then went to a spot where we had a few permit shots. Jeff had one eat his fly but there was too much slack in the line and the hook never got set. We then ran up on a school of fairly good sized tarpon. I was casting into the tarpon and finally connected. The fish took off running line and I kept waiting for the jump while trying to untangle the loop that somehow ended up on my wrist. The fish never jumped but ran me into the backing when I turned it. After a few minutes I found I was into a nice 10-12 lbs. jack instead of a 50 lbs. tarpon which was probably good, the tarpon would have broken off or pulled me in the water I'm sure. The skunk was gone.
Day three we stuck in closer to Key West and fished flats there for permit. I finally got one to eat my fly on the Tower Flat. The fish took off on its initial run, I started feeding line and then it was over as fast as it began. I had a knot failure! Otherwise we had quite a few shots but the fish were very spooky much of the time. This fish ate a #2 Merkin that I had tied. Oh well, I'm not 3/6 on permit hooked v.s. permit landed for the year.
Day four we started out looking for tarpon on a small key west of Key West. I jumped one fish and then finally got into one that stayed connected. This was a baby tarpon but was still only my 2nd tarpon on a fly.
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We broke for mid-day and went to check out Key West. We hit the fly shop, a few galleries, the Hemmingway House, and the southernmost point where good fishing out of Cuba was only 90 miles away.
We had a nice storm in the afternoon which we rode out by the island and then found some of the best permit action of the trip. Fish were splashing and tailing in the flat, shallow water all around us. The air was so electric when we started fishing that the pole and rods were buzzing when lifted so we waited it out a bit until the buzz stopped then started stalking the fish.
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These fish were in such shallow and flat water that we had a hard time getting close. No more standing on the front of the deck, this got down to serious stealth.
We had a few good shots and I'm amazed we didn't hook fish. Our casting had improved a lot and we had fish on the flies that would turn off at the last second or spook when they got a few feet closer to the boat. Very frustrating. The ride home was very exciting as another big storm was approaching. We had to go out farther to hit a channel back home and basically had to run right at the storm for a long time. As we watched the sky grow darker and lightening strikes getting closer we were hoping that the channel to take us back west would come up soon. We managed to turn before the storm got to us and got back without getting wet or electricuted.
Day five started out with tarpon in the back yard! We were launching the boat when we found some tarpon rolling. I managed to get one to roll on my fly and didn't get a setup on it. Jeff was up and quickly got one to take and to the boat.
We then went off for permit and both had shots at small schools. I had the lead fish break off to my fly and follow it but never took. Jeff had about the same experience, the fish followed and actually tailed up but was never hooked. My theory is that the fish hit but we just didn't strip at the exact right instant to hook them up.
More
storms came up around lunch time and we had to run out into the Atlantic
to get around them. We watched the sky grow darker and darker and could
see it raining on the Gulf side of the island. We got around Key West and
the neighboring keys, slipped under the bridge and got back to the house just
about the time the rain hit.
After seeing the forecast for more storms and seeing Frances getting closer we left Key West and drove back to Miami. I spent the night at the Miami airport while Jeff drove the rest of the way home. I managed to get out on the biggest evacuation day at MIA on a totally full flight. Hurricanes be damned, I'd come back again during August just to get another shot at those permit.
We fished 8- or 9-weight rods for tarpon and 10-weight rods for permit. For the baby tarpon we had on a leader down to 16 lbs with a bite tippet of 30 lbs. flouro on. For permit we used a 20 lbs. all flouro leader. Tarpon flies were mostly a very light grey Pulgessi pattern and a white bucktail pattern. For permit I had the most follows and the hit with a small Merkin. If I was to go again I'd tie them with a weed guard, we fished a lot of grassy flats and I'm convinced some of my refusals were because the fly was trailing a piece of grass when the fish got a good look at it. I also had a follow on a Pulgessi crab in #2. Jeff fished about the same flies though used a light Merkin part of the time.