Covid19 Permit A freedom escape

Tim Johnson

As most people living in this Covid19 world, we were feeling fairly housebound even with all the freedom of living in Tasmania and we were looking for fishing options inside Australia as international travel has been taken out of the equation. As I hadn’t caught up with my family in North Qld in a dog’s age and there was a window in the state’s lockdowns, the decision was made to combine catching up with the family and a week of fly fishing at Hinchinbrook Island chasing those elusive Permit.

Hinchinbrook Island is located in between Cairns and Townsville on the Queensland coast and is one of the largest mangrove forests in the southern hemisphere. The island is over 50km long and it has a multitude of creeks, rivers and flats to explore. As an East Coast fishery, it is one of the most accessible options for the Saltwater fly fisherman to chase Permit, Barramundi, Queenfish, GTs, Mangrove Jack and a range of other pelagic species with excellent guiding services and with all the amenities to keep any nonfishing family members happy. Being so accessible has its drawbacks in that it gets a lot of attention and the fishing can be hard but on its day it can be the place of dreams. I finally had one of those days on this trip.

The first two days the conditions had been magnificent but I had struggled to land a fish and those nagging doubts had started to swirl around in the back of my head as to what I was doing wrong, was I still “trout striking” and was that why I couldn’t stay connected, was this a giant waste of time and effort and should I just take up lawn bowls. Leaving the marina on day three we were greeted with a complete “glass out” and with not a ripple on the water, the decision was made to make our way down the channel and search for a permit on some of the vast sand flats.

As we travelled over the glassy surface we could see at a distance, baitfish getting blown out of the water being pursued by tuna. The problem with the water being so calm was that when the boat got within about 50m of the school of fish they would sound and resurface 300m away. This happened about 3 times and as I had an 8 weight in my hand with a chartreuse clouser on it I decided to put out a long cast so I could wind up the loose line and continue with our plan of chasing permit.

As the fly sunk at the end of the cast a stray long tail tuna that must have been late to the party mistook the clouser for something more edible and I was tight to 30lbs of pelagic muscle. After 40 minutes of long runs and then deep circles I finally got my hands on one the largest longtails I’ve caught, and on an 8 weight no less, fish of the trip or so I thought.

The sand flats at Hinchinbrook are something to see and with the use of an American style flats boat, you can silently pole over shallow water without scaring every fish in the ocean. Standing on the polling platform the guide’s eye line is approximately 12 feet above the water level so the visibility for spotting fish is unbelievable. As the incoming tide starts to push over the sand flats, schools of permit move up into the shallow water to feed on the crabs and other crustaceans and that’s what you are looking for, shadows moving in the shallows.

Permit on sand flats are a prized saltwater fly fishing target for multiple reasons.

1. Being in shallow water the permit has all their senses on high alert so the cast you present needs to be fast to intercept them before they are aware of your presence and accurate in all types of wind conditions so as not to spook them.

2. The permit is looking for crabs and things buried in the sand so your fly must be on the bottom and looking as natural as possible when the fish comes across it. Crab flies with massive lead eyes are necessary to sink quickly in three feet of water and sit in place against tide and current.

3. With their big eyes and timid nature, Permit are notorious for tilting over to inspect your perfectly

Instinctive Performance Definitive Style

IT ALL STARTS WITH OUR UHC TECHNOLOGY OF AN ULTRA-LIGHT HELICAL CORE TO SUPPORT HOOP STRENGTH AND STABILISE THE BLANK IN FLEX. THE UHC IS OVERLAID WITH HIGH MODULUS FIBRES REINFORCED WITH OUR AMPLIFIED NANO RESIN WHICH STRENGTHENS THE BLANK WITHOUT DAMPENING THE GRAPHITE FIBRES. IN TRADITIONAL ROD MANUFACTURE, UNIDIRECTIONAL FIBRES ARE ROLLED ALONG A TAPERED MANDREL, AS YOU MOVE TOWARDS THE BUTT OF THE ROD THESE FIBRES BECOME OUT OF LINE WITH THE AXIS OF THE ROD, REDUCING POWER, SENSITIVITY AND ENERGY FLOW.

AT PRIMAL WE USE CUSTOM OFF AXIS PREPREGS THAT WHEN ROLLED ENSURE THE IMPORTANT LONGITUDINAL FIBRES ARE ALIGNED ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE BLANK. THE RESULT IS MORE FEEL, IMPROVED ENERGY FLOW THROUGHOUT THE CAST AND LIGHTNING QUICK RECOVERY RATES.

PRIMAL’S LOW MASS SCRIM TECHNOLOGY MAXIMISES HOOP STRENGTH WITHOUT ADDING ADDITIONAL WEIGHT LIKE TRADITIONAL GLASS SCRIMS.

ALL OF THIS COMBINES TO CONSTRUCT A ROD THAT CAN DELIVER HIGH LINE SPEED WITH A VERY STABLE TIP PATH AND DELIVERS SMOOTH, WEDGE SHAPED CASTING LOOPS THAT ARE CAPABLE OF CUTTING THROUGH WIND AND SENDING LONG, ACCURATE CASTS WHEN YOU NEED THEM MOST.

LONGITUDINAL FIBRE ALIGNMENT presented offering and then rejecting it and spooking off the flat taking every other fish with them

Hence why permits on the fly are so revered, you earn every one.

Our guide for the trip was Allan Donald from the Australian Fly Fishing Lodge. From his lofty position on the platform, he saw our first group of shadows making their way out of the deeper water and started to call out directions and distances, eleven o’clock, sixty feet. As the angler, it’s my job to locate the shadow of the fish and get the fly to land into its line of travel and about eight feet in front so the fly gets down. Surprisingly my first cast landed pretty close to where I wanted it and we both watched as the shadows changed direction and tracked over to where my crab lay on the sand. Slowly stripping the fly to keep in direct contact in the current we watched this one shadow follow the crab for about 10 feet before it tilted and the line came uptight and I was into my first Australian permit. It blasted off the flat followed by about four of its mates and after about 15 minutes of back and forth, we finally got our hands on a beautiful North Queensland permit. The boat erupted in elated joy as we came to terms with what had just happened and after a few pictures, our prize was released to give some other angler the same amount of joy at a future date.

While we were all still processing the events and reliving the amazing things we had just seen, Allan yells “another school, two o’clock, forty feet” and amazingly we repeat the process. Fly goes in, shadow tilts and then all hell breaks loose as the line comes tight and this permit strives to reach deeper water. 10 minutes later we put our hands on our second permit in 30 minutes. I couldn’t help but think this place is unbelievable!!!

To highlight how much the stars had finally aligned in my favour, 30 minutes later Allan spotted another school of permit at close range (we had just about pushed the boat over the top of them) and I rolled out my fly in front of the lead fish. It followed the fly and engulfed it as I twitched it and took off at such speed that the loose fly line turned into a big knot and clunked its way through the guides following the fish into the channel. Now, normally you could guarantee that the knot would have caught it the guides and broken the tippet as the fish accelerated or the fly would have fallen out from loose line as we tried to undo the knot but amazingly with a bit of teamwork and some fancy footwork we managed to hand line the fish, undo the knot and still land my third permit for the morning.

The fishing gods are rarely so lenient so you have to make the most of those days when they finally come along but a massive long tail tuna and 3 Permit in a session will go down as one of the greatest fishing days I have ever experienced. Hinchinbrook Island is a spectacular place that should be high on the travelling anglers bucket list. It is readily accessible, has great services and the fishing can be something you will never forget.

Tim Johnson