FISH TALES: A YELLOW DOG GUEST AND HIS PURSUIT OF THE ELUSIVE PERMIT
Take a minute and read this incredible story from a recent Yellow Dog traveler on his fly fishing trip to the Yucatan with Casa Blanca Lodge. The write-up below is from long-time Yellow Dog friend Kris V, who as you will see is pretty dedicated to getting the most out of his trip when he can. This piece is a great testament to the persistence and dedication needed to land the ever-elusive permit. Kris took this trip wanting to add the permit to his species list, and the hard work he put in definitely paid off.
“Hey Yellow Dog! I got my permit! It's crazy how I got it though. The weather was marginal all week so the fishing was tough. I targeted permit every day and got skunked each day.
What saved the trip for me was being able to fish off the beach at the lodge and catch a few bonefish every day after getting back, and then being able to fish off the dock at night!
I got a few random fish off the dock like a nice jack and some little pompano, but what was amazing were the schools of permit that came each night!
The lodge managers said that like all permit, they were really tough to catch and they were right. I'd fish out there almost every night sometimes until 3:30 AM! Each night I'd come a bit closer to figuring out what they would chase or bite on.
The third to last night I finally got a few to bite, but they hit so hard they immediately broke off. The second to last night I hooked 2 that each took me into my backing and then broke me off.
Then, on the last night, after getting skunked for 6 days by permit, I finally hooked one at about 12:00 AM. I fought it about 30 minutes total and I was freaking the whole time, worried it would break off and worried about how I'd land it by myself from the dock.
I finally decided to walk it down the dock to the beach. That dock is probably about 300 feet long. That was one of the longest walks of my life! Every now and then that fish would try to swim under the dock and I'd have to pull it back out praying it wouldn't break off.
There's a little hut partway down the dock, and I had to pass my rod around the posts of the hut to keep going towards the beach! Can you imagine doing that with a permit on the line especially after a whole week of not catching any permit!? I was so scared!
Finally, I got close to the beach, jumped off the dock, and grabbed him. It was amazing! I was yelling my head off!
So, although the fishing was tough all week on the boats, that made my final catch on the final night all the more special. It was like getting the game winning shot at the buzzer in a championship game!
It was also more rewarding catching it this way because I had to figure everything out and do everything including landing it on my own. I'd invested so many hours and worked so hard and it's so rewarding that it paid off. All the other guys there including the managers thought I was crazy for staying out so late each night for something that seemed hopeless.
Needless to say, in the end, I had a fantastic trip. Thanks, again for everything.” – Kris Vutpakdi
All of us here at Yellow Dog know what a challenge it can be to get that fish you are really looking for when traveling, but with a little patience and dedication, maybe you can have the success Kris had.
For more information on the destinations we work with and species specific lists of the best areas give us a call anytime.
