Oily Stuff

This is the most difficult of all saltwater flats species to catch, the Permit. 
It is possible to make several trips per year, for a week or 10 days per trip, to different parts of the world to not even see one, much less get a legitimate cast at one, often 5o feet away, if you are lucky, in a 30 MPH wind. 
Tarpon are a little easier, get much bigger (150 pounds) and jump, but there is something very, very special about Permit. 

It is because they are so elusive, and hard to hook on a flyrod, much harder to land. Exhausting. A 25 ponder, like this one of Catherine's, is the Permit of a lifetime and an experience to never forget. To relish in forever. 

Life is like that, like Permit fishing. Never quit, never give up and after hundreds of hours scouring open, glaring water, there she is, within reach, within total chaos for but a few minutes.  The turn, the follow, the take...the hook-set.
Then the fight begins. 30-45 minutes of trying to control a small car on tippet the size of thread. 

And then, when it's over, you respect the fish, revive them, make them healthy and strong, hopefully a little wiser and...
gently turn them loose. 
To live another day.