Black-Tailed Devil
Whenever someone claims one fish or another is the ultimate game fish, it tends to start a big controversy. I am no exception. Some people think big black marlin have no equal, while others think a trout on a dry fly is it. I am not going to argue that a permit is it. What I will say is that the permit is the ultimate game fish for me. I started fishing like many of you for blue gill with a Zebco 202. This was the start of a long fishing journey for me that is still evolving. As I got older, my father taught me the fine art of fly casting for trout and large mouth bass. This led to me buying my first boat with lawn cutting money and fishing for stripers on the Chesapeake Bay. From there I moved to Ocean City, Maryland where I worked as a mate on offshore sport fishing boats for marlin, tuna and shark. Tuna, wahoo, dolphin and shark all got me fired up, but marlin was the real deal for me. When I first started off shore fishing, all I wanted to do was catch bigger and bigger fish. After catching several fish over 500 pounds, I really got into the challenge of bait and switch for marlin. The teamwork needed between the captain, mate and angler for billfish completed my needs for the ultimate challenge. I was perfectly content being an offshore mate until I discovered flats fishing in the Florida Keys. My first real shot at permit was a very humbling experience for me. My guide pointed out a school of 5-6 fish and told me to cast my small crab three to four feet in front of them. Not problem I thought. I made the cast and landed right in the kitchen. One of the permit spotted the crab and raced over to inspect the offering. The guide told me to get ready. I slowly turned the handle to get some of the slack out of the line in anticipation of the bite. When I turned the handle and the bail clicked over, all the fish took off in different directions. The guide said something I cannot repeat. “What did I do wrong?” I asked the guide. After he calmed down, he explained that you have to manually turn the bail over by hand so the permit do not hear you engage the reel. I was shocked at how good their hearing was. It was love at first sight. I knew this was right up my alley. Hunting for big fish on light tackle on a moveable tree stand. When I got back to Maryland, flats fishing was all I could think about. This is when I decided to make the switch from offshore to the flats. I started training to be a flats guide 4-5 months out of the year for several years. In order to take that much time off to train, I worked many odd jobs. I ran tug boats on the Potomac River, mated on a commercial conch boat, ran dinner boats and supply ships in the Gulf of Mexico, and even gave tours of Washington, D.C in a World War II 1942 amphibious vehicle called a D.C. Duck. Every time I see the White House on TV, I go into tour mode in my head - White House, 132 rooms, 22 of which are bathrooms…. The White House is the oldest government building in D.C….. George Washington is the only president not to actually live in the White House. You get the idea. I did all these odd jobs just so I could train to be a guide. Was it worth it? You betcha. I love my job most days provided the weather is good. Mostly I live vicariously through my anglers on the bow of my skiff. Hearing people say, “That was my first permit on fly,” or “That was my biggest one yet,” is what makes me tick. Fishing with some of the best guides in the world on my days off is not too bad either. Fishing for permit is not for everybody. It is sick and sadistic. Why would you want to stand all day on the bow of a skiff in the hot sun in hopes of getting shots only to get rejected time and time again? Because, when you do catch one it is magical. Group hugs are not uncommon, and I have seen more then one grown man cry. It is that hard at times to catch one. When you do finally catch one, you have just landed the world’s hardest fish to catch in my opinion. I am as proud of a small permit as most of the large gamefish that I’ve caught. It is one of those experiences that stick with you forever. One permit a day on a fly rod is a great achievement. Two or three in a week with a fly rod is not a bad week. Tossing a live crab in front of one increases your odds, but it is still very challenging. Permit are far from a beginner fish. They are better left for anglers who feel like they have mastered their typical quarry. It’s not about quantity but quality. If you can catch fifty in a lifetime on fly that’s very good. What makes a permit appealing is unique for each person. Pound for pound, they pull harder and have more endurance then most fish. A permit’s eye sight is off the chart. They can feel the pressure waves coming off the skiff with their lateral lines like no other fish I know of. They tip their black sickle tales up in the air on shallow flats taunting you as they sip crustaceans off the bottom. Every tailing permit I see still makes me weak in the knees. I guess when that no longer happens, I will be ready to stop fishing. I have a great appreciation for hunting for tarpon and bonefish on the flats, but on my days off, I fish for permit. I go to bed thinking about permit, and most mornings I wake up thinking about permit. But I like many other permit junkies, will cast over the back of a tarpon in hopes of catching the black tailed devil. I know this is a marlin magazine, but many of you go to destinations that also have permit, and I highly recommend you give it a try if you feel like you’re up for the challenge. With the beauty of the flats and the challenge of the fish, I am confident you will enjoy the experience. Who knows, maybe you will catch one on your first cast. Many of you are obsessed with fishing, and I hope by me writing this, it makes you feel like you are not alone. We fisherman, regardless of what we fish for, get to experience so many things a lot of people will never see. I know I will never truly master permit fishing, but it sure is fun trying.
Captain Bob Beighley
305-748-4398
www.doublehaulcharters.com
doublehaulcharters@hotmail.com
