Key West Fishing Report: An April Fools Joke?

Posted under fly fishing reports by Will Benson

Early April, 2008. Are the Permit playing a sick joke on us or are they really unaware that it’s April and they’re supposed to be offshore spawning? The Permit fishing Sucked this March! Despite some notable catches by Lawson Stiff, Frank Smith (with his first ever), Jane Garrick (also with her first ever) Mark Phillips and Mike O’brien with their 2 fish that took home 3rd place in the March Merkin, and Jim Schneider with several tarpon, the month of March was pretty slow. Plagued by bad weather and an early season spawn, the permit fishing has been way off from last year at this time. But wait…It’s now April…and what? The Permit have returned! The last week has been great. Washington Redskins quarterback Todd Collins caught his first ever Permit on fly. A hefty 25# fish. My buddy and long time client Gannon Dudlar had been telling me about his friend Todd for years and how he wanted the two of us to fish together. Gannon finally arranged it and we had a great 4 days, going 5 for 8. On day 2, Todd had a great shot at a stationary fish and sold him the fly perfectly; hooked him up and them somehow lost him. It was a bummer, but that’s permit fishing, and that’s why we do it. Congrats to Todd and all the others who got their fist this month!

Mike Allen and I fished together the last couple of days and had some great action. We finally exercised our demons from March with a chunky 23-25# fish. Mike also caught his 60th permit on a dry fly, which was really cool, and we had a couple of tarpon to go with that.
I know it’s a cruel joke that the fishing is playing but I hope it keeps up! I’m headed out tarpon fishing with the Captain this afternoon. He wants to try out his new camera that I told him he shouldn’t buy. Cheers.

Will Benson