* British Columbia - Early October
Michael McGannon and I fished British Columbia's upper Skeena River system in early October splitting our time between the Kispiox, Bulkley and Skeena Rivers. It was the first "serious" steelhead trip for either of us and it was as challenging as it was successful, the success due to Tom and Wilford Lee's guiding operation. We both used spey rods, Skagit lines and sink tips of type 6, type 8 and T-14 to swing an assortment of weighted string leeches and intruders. We traveled between runs in either a jet boat or rubber raft enjoying the fall colors, hanging glaciers and wildlife.
The best three steelhead were a 36" x 19" buck (the Keelin estimated weight chart puts it at 19 lbs.), a 37" x 19.5" hen (20.4 lbs.) and a 41" buck (25 lbs.) with others in the 12-15 lb. range; Michael also landed a chum salmon in the 25-30 lb. range. In addition to the fishing, great food and company "sealed the deal" for a return trip next year. - Rich Rubin
* Belize - Early November
This was my 4th trip to Belize with the goal of catching permit. Anyone who fishes for permit knows how difficult it is. You need to have so many things go right - moon, tides, wind, sunlight, time of year, guide. Your skills have to be perfect - casting, knots, fly selection, equipment, leaders, etc. In my three trips prior to this one, I had around 30 or so shots. Of that, I've managed to hook two and have one chomp my fly. About a 1 in 10 hook up rate. Others I've known have fared far worse. This for me was a do or die type of trip - either catch one, or give it up and move onto something else like stamp collecting.
This trip started out with some nice weather but the shots at permit were very low - only two the first day. For the next few days, the weather deteriorated and so did the light and the wind picked up creating chop making permit fishing very tough. In those 3 days, we had maybe two more shots and didn't even fish for permit one day. On the fifth day, our guide tells us we're heading south. This is what I wanted to do on this trip because I felt there would be less angling pressure. We were motoring out about an hour when we lost steering. Fortunately, we were close to a little fishing village and steered in on manual although going around in circles a few times. This village was very primitive - no dock, just shanty type houses. I expected the worst. A mechanic showed up and went to work with only an old Leatherman for a tool. I felt it was hopeless and so was the rest of the trip. To my surprise and delight, the mechanic had the steering part (gotten from some other boat) and we were on our way but now its about 11 AM before we even reach our destination and start fishing. As we pulled into this flat, we started seeing tails - permit feeding. We started to take our shots, missing the permit in the usual way - too short, too far, too much right, too much left, wrong fly, wrong strip, wrong set, etc. - just a few of the million of reasons not to catch fish but things were looking up. On about my third shot of the day, I had my first hookup. Good cast, good set, and the fish turned on the fly and I set on it. It took off peeling line but came off about 2 seconds later. The hook set wasnÕt good enough. I had used one of my hand tied crabs but the hook gap was too short. Just another of the many SNAFUs I've had Permit fishing. My dreams of catching a permit seemed to be fading but we kept seeing fish and maybe it was a matter of time. Maybe though, if we're down to a hook gap issue, I had figured out everything else and it might just happen.
Not too long after, we saw a permit tailing near some mangroves and I started to make casts to it. The positioning wasn't great - had to cast around mangrove shoots and the water was very skinny but the fish seemed pretty happy. I kept the fly about 3' - 4' away so I wouldn't spook him. On the third cast, I guessed right and the fish seemed to hover over the fly but no grab and started to move off. I waited a bit to spot him and there he was moving left. I dropped the fly in front and he turned back toward us and started to tail again them move behind the mangroves. I tossed another cast in near him and this time he saw the fly and jumped on it. I set and had a solid hookup and off he goes my reel screaming in response. I'm thinking to myself - I FINALLY GOT ONE! It was just then that something popped into my mind. When we entered this section to fish, our guide remarked how he never had a permit run into the mangroves except for one time and that was when he told his client it never happened. Well, guess what happened? The permit heads right around the mangrove. So now, I've got this line heading straight, the permit going left and my line around the mangrove. I could see my dreams of landing this fish vanish along with my fly line. A few days earlier, we found a fly line that my guide said his client lost 18 months earlier to a fish in much the same manner.
Suddenly, my guide leaps into the water and runs toward the mangrove in waist deep water saying "Turn down the drag, let him run". Line's still ripping off the reel when the guide grabs the line, I lift the rod high, and we free the line from the mangrove with the fish still attached. I tried to get him to turn to open water but once again, he heads back into the mangroves and this time swims under the shoots taking along my fly line. I loosen the drag, and my guide goes under water to untangle the line. He pops back up with the line free and the fish starts peeling off line again. This time he was out in open water where I could fight him and we brought him to the boat about 15 minutes later. An eleven pounder. Any number of things could have gone wrong but I managed to pull through and finally got the monkey off my back!
The fun didn't stop there though. About an hour later, I had what looked like a line of 3 permit closing fast. I put about a 70 foot cast perfect in front of them. They seemed to disappear just as they got over my fly heading to a mangrove bank. However, we spotted them past my fly, only much closer to the boat. My guide said "Cast it again" which I did and laid it about 4 feet from where they should be turning out of the mangroves. It was a blind cast but an anticipatory one. I let it lie there when my guide said "Cast Again - further!". I didn't pick it up immediately and recast because I thought it was in a good position should they turn out from the mangroves. Just then they appeared right over my fly. Guide said "Twitch It!" which I did and set when I felt the line go tight. Sure enough, another permit on and screaming line. This one got so far into my backing that I almost ran out. I kept cranking the drag down. This fish too ran into the mangroves and likewise my guide had to go get the line out. When the fish wrapped around the second mangrove, it was near the leader and just about spent. We released that one, this one around 13 pounds. This was an unbelievable event. In about 6 hours, I hooked 3 permit and landed two. What had taken about 20 days before took only 6 hours. Certainly I look forward to going back!
Addendum: I left out the part where we ended up coming back in the pitch black dark. I could just see the light of Placencia (only lights around) when the engine quit! Just then the wind kicked up big time and the wind started blowing. Never thought I'd make it back because the only light on board was my little hiking headlamp which I keep in my fishing bag. That saved the day because he had to change the tank couplings to change the fuel. - Larry Schork