After 5 years of intensive chasing for permit and grand slam I finally made it! The goal was achieved in Cayo Largo where I brought my family to the fantastic resort of Hotel Sol Cayo Largo. The place has residences scattered in an oasis of tropical plants and flowers, situated on the coral sand beaches and turquoise coloured sea. There are lots of different facilities like restaurants, bars, swimming pools, tennis courts, training centre, jacuzzi etc. - the perfect place to park your family while you are out fishing!
Everything was perfectly arranged by the Avalon personnel. I want especially to thank the camp manager Mauro, who with his experience, advice and his specially made shrimp fly gave me the cure to defeat the hard-to-catch permit. Mauro is managing the fishing in Cayo Largo in an excellent way with restrictions for the skiff boats not to travel across the flats more than necessary, thus giving each of the six zones a regular rest. This is my explanation to why it was easier to catch a permit there than in Jardines de la Reina. I am also very grateful to my guide, Everardo, who relentlessly poled through the flats for hours giving me the chance to spot and cast my fly to a permit. The week I fished was marred by the hurricane Ida, so on the first two days fishing was impossible. The third and the fourth day the sun broke through and the wind slackened. Then the guide could spot the grey clouds of coral sand that the sting rays make when they dig up the bottom looking for food. It is just on top of this cloud that you can find permit who feast on those crustaceans. This technique of spotting permit has been developed by Mauro and his guides. On the 11th of November the guide spotted sting ray feeding with permit above twice. At the first attempt I somehow scared away the permit. The second chance was like written in a fishing manual: I saw the sting ray and around it three permit fins sticking up waving at me. That made it easy for me to accommodate my cast and just like Mauro said I put my fly one metre in front of the permit, so that it would chase it. I clearly saw the fins of three permits turn around towards me and the fly. At that point the guide told me to strip faster. So I did and felt the marvellous pull of the line in my left hand, and I made a gentle strike setting the hook properly in the mouth of the permit. The guide cried out: "You got it, you got it - let him go, let him go!" In only a couple of seconds the permit took out 80 metres of the backing and the guide asked me anxiously: "How much backing do you have?" "Don't worry, I have plenty, over 250 metres in my Charlton reel", I answered. The battle went on for half an hour with steady runs and me gently pulling in. During all this time I prayed that the fish was well hooked... When the guide landed the permit I saw that the fly was properly hooked inside the mouth. This was one of the happiest fishing moments in my life. The next thing to do was to catch a bone fish and a tarpon in order to accomplish a grand slam. The bone was easy to spot on the flats and the Crazy Charley made the job; I hooked and landed a 4 pound bone just after the permit. Then we made a short trip to the mangroves where the guide knew there were baby tarpon swimming around. We saw a shoal of baby tarpon and the guide poled me into position. I cast my red and black cockroach and a tarpon struck directly. I landed a ten pound tarpon - and the grand slam was completed!
My family and I returned back home satisfied with our holiday and the fantastic fishing.
Regards,
Eddi
