Michael Scores Big in the Backcountry
by RANDY MORROW Recently I had the opportunity to guide an angler from the Washington, D.C. area for multiple days of kayak fishing. Michael has worked for many years in and around the White House, serving multiple administrations, but now was approaching retirement and wanted to take a long look at the Keys as a place to spend his golden years. He enjoyed the idea of fishing from a small, self-powered boat and had plied the waters of the Potomac River in both a rowboat and a kayak. He called me months in advance to book our trips together but told me that although he was quite passionate about fishing, his skill level was probably lacking, especially with sight fishing. I love to teach, and I love a challenge, so we agreed on details and set our times to fish.
I surmised that sharks and maybe barracudas were good targets to start with, since they are easier for anglers to see, and aren’t usually as spooky as the “big three” (tarpon, bonefish, and permit). We spent a little time getting him comfortable with the vernacular of flats fishing (incoming, 11 o’clock, 40 feet, let him eat it, pull up, reel down, etc.) and set out to see what we could find. He was smart enough and thorough enough to plan multiple days with me so that we could allow for some bad weather or slow fishing (it happens!). But since this was his big experiment to figure out his retirement years’ activities, he allowed himself time to soak it all in, improve his skills, and start to get a handle on all this flats fishing excitement he had heard and read so much about.
Mother Nature did not disappoint! We were very fortunate to have good weather for most of his time here. And Michael didn’t disappoint either. After a slow start, he started seeing fish for himself, and his casting improved tremendously. We boated lemon sharks and hooked laid-up barracudas. Another morning we landed a nice 15lb. resident tarpon. But the highlight of our time together was yet to come.
We found ourselves on a bright, sunny Keys morning with water in the mid 70’s and a light east breeze. Knowing the area and the tide we were fishing, I could feel the forked tails were close by, so I decided to see if I could guide Michael to the big prize of the flats, a permit. We switched our rig to a 10lb. spinner with a live crab and started looking. In no time, we had a medium-sized permit poking his tail above the water, gobbling morsels off the bottom. But Michael’s cast was off line and we watched the fish zoom away and out of sight. We soon found another. Same result. And a third. Fourth. Fifth. Ouch! I started thinking that maybe I had raised the bar too high for my client. But there were so many permit around, I decided we’d keep trying, as long as Michael wasn’t getting too frustrated.
And then two absolute monster-sized permit came into view - far bigger than I had seen in a long time - and were slowly grazing their way across the flat in front of us. Once Michael saw the fish I gave him some highly technical instruction, “Throw the crab in front of them!” Michael’s cast was a little off, but one of the permit turned towards the splash. I could see the fish was inquisitive, but the crab had hidden himself in the grass. I whispered to Michael, “Just barely twitch the rod tip”. He did. The permit ate it. Then all hell broke loose. The permit knew something was wrong and scurried in our direction. Michael was slow in getting the slack out of the line and I thought we might lose the fish, but then Mr. Permit saw the shadow of the kayak, made a U-turn, and bolted for New Orleans. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz. Line was melting off the Penn reel at a ridiculous pace. Michael’s eyes were as wide as saucers (and mine too, to be honest). The irony wasn’t lost on me. We had missed 5 clean shots at fish in the 15lb range, and now we hook one that’s way over 30lbs.
Michael and I spent the next half hour getting pulled, spun around, and dragged all over the backcountry by the out-sized permit. I even broke a paddle trying to maneuver our tandem kayak during the battle. But we did land the fish, took photos, revived the fish, revived Michael, and then recounted the whole thing as we headed back to the launch site.
I haven’t heard if Michael has made a final decision about where to retire, but I think the Keys are in the running!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
20
Author