Chris Santella’s Permit Quest

Ran across this story by friend and superstar writer Chris Santella, who also writes for Fly Rod & Reel, his most recent piece being on a trip to Cuba that appeared in FRR’s Fall issue. If you missed that article check it out—it’s an honest appraisal of Cuba right now and the fishing possibilities it provides. This piece is about another Caribbean dreamscape, one that I’ve also visited, Turneffe Atoll in Belize. Santella fished out of Turneffe Flats Lodge, which is where I’ve also fished. During my visit, I hammered bonefish, failed with permit, but caught a nice tarpon in exchange, and a bud of mine landed two 125-pounders, plus his first permit, and some bones. This story from The New York Times details Santella’s attempts for permit. Check it out here and then bounce over to the Times for the rest of the story.

Published: April 17, 2010
TURNEFFE ATOLL, Belize — Less than 20 minutes from the dock at Turneffe Flats Lodge, my angling buddy Geoff Roach and I beheld a sight that would set any saltwater fly angler’s heart aflutter: the thin dorsal fins of a school of permit, slicing like a scythe through the clear Caribbean. Our guide, Michael Anderson, killed the motor, climbed onto his poling platform and began pushing us slowly toward the fish. Moving onto the skiff’s casting deck, I nervously peeled line off my reel and tried to steady my nerves.

“Drop it on ’em,” Anderson said with a calm that seemed ill-matched to READ MORE

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