March Merkin Permit Tournament - Key West, FL

KEY WEST – Permit fishing in the Lower Keys for some is not just to fish for these elusive silver creatures -- it’s an obsession. For Jon Ain, of Vail, Colorado, adding a few more fly-caught permit was no easy task this week. Ain avidly fishes for permit and he managed to add 5 more fish to his total record of 238 permit on fly.

There is only one man who revolutionized fishing for permit with a fly rod, which was Delmar E. Brown, who is better known in the fishing community as the late Del Brown. Brown unfortunately passed away in 2003 at the age of 84. He caught 513 permit on fly in his lifetime. To give you an idea of how tremendous that is, the next record holder for permit is probably Ain, according to Russell Thornberry, of the D.O.P.A.P (Distinguished Order of Permit Angling Purists). His legacy lives on though as a little fly called the Merkin. The Merkin Crab is probably the top selling saltwater fly in history.

This fly emulates a crab fleeing into the grass or trying to bury itself in the sand. The dumbbell eyes allow the fly to sink rather quickly, while the feather or rubber band claws trail behind making the crab fly look as if it is swimming and very much alive. The initial shape of the Merkin was more oval shaped like a live blue crab might look, but many patterns have developed over the years that have a more tapered look and allows the fly to move more quickly towards the bottom.

Permit are known for having great eyesight and hearing. Therefore presenting the fly to them requires plenty of accuracy and if you get the permit’s attention, their likelihood of following the fly is much greater. Fly anglers certainly should not expect to catch a permit on a fly on their first day of saltwater fishing, and possibly not any day after that. Those who do manage the feat of enticing, hooking and landing a permit will certainly be the focus of envy at the dock. After all, they have achieved the greatest goal in saltwater fly fishing, in my opinion.

This brings me to the focus of this weeks report, the first annual March Merkin Permit Tournament. I got the opportunity to attend the captains meeting on March 14th and it was such a pleasure to be in the presence of some of the best permit guides and anglers in the area. Permit fishing is as tough as it gets here in the Keys and 23 boats were up for the challenge.

The tournament was out of Hurricane Hole Marina and was hosted by Jon Ain and Dave Horn, both avid permit anglers who have spent much time chasing permit in the Keys and in other spots in the Caribbean.

The tournament was created because of the popular demand for a permit tournament in March, since the Del Brown was moved to July by popular angler vote. Historically the weather has been windy and therefore tough fly fishing for permit. Many of the anglers who normally fish the Del Brown were delighted to be able to fish this week.

Lucky for all participants, the weather was pretty nice. Although you would think the leader board would be filled with a history of the best permit angling ever, at the end of three days of fishing, only a handful of boats actually managed to land a permit on fly.
“We had 15 shots but saw permit in spurts,” said Ain, describing his first day of fishing. Ain, fishing with guide Capt. Doug Kilpatrick, was all warmed-up for this tournament, having caught a hefty 31- pound permit the day before the tournament.

The next two days played out nicely for Ain and Kilpatrick, landing two permit on fly. “The third day was so calm it was hard to get close to the fish,” Ain said. He described to be how difficult it was to make an 80- foot cast with complete accuracy.

Largest Permit and First Place went to Jon Ain with guide Capt. Doug Kilpatrick. Ain caught 2 permit during the 3 day tournament, one weighing 28- pounds, the other 18- pounds. Second place went to Moe Slayton who was guided by Capt. Mike Guerin, and Third Place was awarded to Tom Rowland who was fishing with Capt. Ernie Maynard.

This tournament was unique in that permit were counted by inches. Each inch earned 4 points. As proclaimed on the back of their stylish tournament tees, “Every Inch Counts.”

Elsewhere, fishing has remained steady in the Key West area. Light tackle fishing for tarpon in the Harbor area has been steady but not really ‘on fire’ yet. Reef and wreck fishing has been the best bet this week with plenty of nice mutton snapper, yellowtail, cero mackerel and the occasional cobia.

Key West Fishing Tournament Kick-Off

KEY WEST – This week in fishing here in the Keys could be described as a bumpy ride for many of the offshore fisherman. A blazing south wind made for high seas and some tough fishing conditions for our contestants in the Kickoff Tournament which starts the seven-month long Key West Fishing Tournament.

The greatest thing about this tournament is that captains may enter their catch at many of the local marinas and each angler receives recognition for their catch with a handsome certificate that they receive by mail. Doris Harris heads up the tournament and says it’s her way of giving back to fishing in our community now that she doesn’t spend much time on the water.

Thirty five boats and 131 anglers competed this year in the Kickoff Tournament. Participants were allowed to fish from their home ports around the lower Keys and could fish with up to 4 anglers per team.

Saturday was a blustery day for offshore anglers making it difficult to travel far for any particular species of fish. Angler Holly Amolio-Barr, of Key West, was fishing on the Double Down with husband and captain, Brice Barr. She described the fishing to be fun but a challenge in rough seas. “At one point I was trying to photograph the sailfish and got complete drenched by a wave.” Barr explained that she had persuaded two of her good friends who were here on vacation to fish the tournament with her, making for an all-girl team. “They were all good sports for their first fishing experience,” Barr said.

Team Double Down ended up with a total of 7 sailfish releases, three were by Barr herself. She topped the category for Most Sailfish Released and was awarded a beautiful sailfish sculpture.
There were only a few boats participating on the flats, one being Captain Tim Carlisle on The OutCast, and his angler Gloria Rampfel, both of Sugarloaf Key. Carlisle has always been very active in the Key West Tournament and this year was no exception. After the first day of fishing Rampfel had 14 released bonefish under her belt. There was certainly no slouching off on Sunday for Rampfel. When the day was done, Carlisle had put her on another 13 bones leaving them with 27 releases over two days. Ramfel took the top award for most bonefish releases.
Other division results include heaviest kingfish, 54.4- pound kingfish caught by angler Jeff Leach of Jacksonville, FL. Leach was fishing aboard Second Generation with Captain Rob Delph. Heaviest dolphin award went to Donna Tucker of Middletown, NJ, fishing aboard Mad Dash with Captain Finnlay Sinclair. Although there have been several more dolphin caught this week, rough seas had made it tough to travel further into the Gulfstream for the slammer dolphin.
Heaviest Barracuda was awarded to Karl Paganelli of Sand Lake, MI. Paganelli landed a healthy 23.12-pound barracuda. He was fishing with Captain Chip Veach aboard the Super Grouper.
Wreck and reef fishing has continued to be pretty good around the lower Keys area this week. Chris Decker, fishing aboard the Rainmaker out of Ramrod Key, managed to take first prize for heaviest mutton snapper. His fish weighing in at 17.8- pounds.

The largest cobia of the tournament weighed in at 76.12- pounds. A new record for this tournament in the men’s 20- pound line class. The catch was credited to Karl Paganelli of Sand Lake, MI fishing with Captain Chip Veach on the Super Grouper. Paganelli is a veteran angler to the tournament who also took the 30- pound class division achievement award in 2005.
Heaviest Grouper went to Ron Glinski of Whiteville, NC. Glinski was also fishing with Captain Rob Delph aboard Second Generation. His fish weighed in at 31.4- pounds.

There must have been some hot fishing action aboard the Capt. John’s Greyhound out of Charter Boat Row in Key West. Two anglers brought home top awards for Heaviest Mangrove Snapper and Heaviest Grunt. Thomas Grainey of Key West landed a nice 3- pound 12 oz. mangrove snapper while Laural Gikas of Rogers City, MI caught a 2- pound grunt.
Most tarpon releases was awarded to David Stern of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, fishing aboard the New Horizons with Capt. Bruce Cronin. Stern landed 8 tarpon over the two days of the tournament.
Most permit releases went to David Pesi of Miami, FL, which fishing aboard the Sea Spirit. Pesi released one permit.

And last but not least was the Junior Division champ who not only won heaviest fish but also an award for furthest traveled. Brendon Roebuck of Chatham, Ontario was fishing with his father Cliff aboard Sting Rea with Captain Justin Rea. The Roebuck’s spend plenty of time fishing on their lake in Ontario so it’s no surprise that Brandon was able to spot a nice 8- pound redfish on the flat, make the cast and land the fish. Roebuck landed several other fish including another redfish, seatrout, bonnethead sharks and jack crevalle.

Other mentionables in the tournament were Captain’s Best Catch which was awarded to Capt. Chip Veach for guiding two winners, one of which is a new tournament record. The other was the Hard Luck Award which went to Sandra Downs of Cudjoe Key, FL. Downs was fishing with her family aboard the Sea Hawk. Several unfortunate events throughout the tournament contributed to this award. One crucial event being the loss of a 20- pound dolphin that jumped off the gaff.

March 14th through 17th marks the first annual March Merkin Permit Tournament here in Key West. This fly fishing only tournament took the place of the Del Brown Permit Tournament which was moved to July after last year’s popular vote. It seemed as though anglers were getting tired of the poor weather conditions in March and July posed a better time for calmer weather and better fishing.

Luckily for the March Merkin tournament organizers, John Ain and David Horn, the weather has been nothing but beautiful and we will probably see a higher number of permit releases this week. Twenty three boats are scheduled to fish the tournament and some of the top permit guides and anglers are participants. Look for fish stories and results next week.

March 8th Fishing Report

Here we are in March already and I’d have to say based on my ten years of living in the Keys, this has been one of the nicest and kindest winters weather-wise that we’ve had in years. The topic of conversation around mid-February has often been focused around the question, “When do you think this wind is going to stop blowing?” This February and into early March has been a dream for our fishing fleet and the fishing action proves it.

It’s no surprise why the Southern Kingfish Association would hold not one but two tournaments in the Key West area in one season. The king mackerel fishing has been outstanding. The SKA Pro Tournament brought the best of the best in kingfishing back to Murray Marina in Key West for the first leg of a 5 tournament tour. The first day of fishing went off with a bang. The dramatic bimini start was orchestrated out in front of Key West with the historic PT boat sounding off its cannon to start the tournament. The calm seas and beautiful weather allowed many of these boats to run comfortably to the Dry Tortugas fishing grounds. At the end of the day our waters to the west of Key West has produced many smoker kings tipping the scales at 50- and 60- pounds plus.
Meanwhile the charter captains of several offshore boats agree that kingfish is still the hot bite this week. Captain Joe Mercurio on the Triple Time out of A&B Marina has had his share of luck catching his limit of kings on any given day. “The blue water has been kind of mean,” said Mercurio, meaning that it’s given up a lot of good fish. Mercurio frustrated with some of the good fish he’s had on the line, a sailfish jumping off, and another fish pulling the hook. Regardless, Mercurio had some good days of fishing, catching a 30- pound wahoo off Eastern Dry Rocks. He also mentioned that a couple mahi mahi have been caught in the 20- pound class. His charter ended up with a nice catch of schoolie mahi mahi, “Enough for dinner,” Mercurio said. Smaller mahi dolphin have been plentiful and generally in only a couple hundred feet of water. All of Mercurio’s fishing is done trolling skirted and bare ballyhoo.
I asked Mercurio about the sailfishing, he replied, “Most action seems to be to the west with a few sails being caught off Western.” Mercurio is one of few charter captains who have been fishing these waters for decades.
Captain Rob Nevius on Jerkwater Charters out of Hurricane Hole Marina agrees that king mackerel have been granting some hot action to the west of Key West just off the reef edge. Nevius has been getting them on live bait but says just chumming them up and jigging seems to work the best. Nevius runs a light tackle SeaVee boat and really enjoys the action that light tackle sport fishing has to offer here in the Lower Keys.
As for other action around Key West, Nevius explained that the cobia bite has been pretty hot too. He’s been finding cobia in the Gulf in some of the ‘typical’ cobia spots in larger schools. Nevius has had some fabulous days of cobia fishing, catching his limit and boating cobia in the 20- to 25- pound range.
Sailfishing is certainly a hot topic in the Keys in March and April. The sailfish migrate through our area each year around now but the action is still not up to speed. Nevius recalls last year’s bite started much earlier. “Last year January and February we had a great run of sailfish,” he said. This year has been a little different. “I’ve found that a north wind pushes the green water out and puts the fish down,” he added. Ideal conditions off Key West for sails are to have the blue water inside 200 feet of water. “It seems to be the best time to fish for them,” Nevius remarked.
Tarpon fishing has been spotty this week. The southerly breezes seemed to keep them biting in the Key West Harbor and Northwest Channel. As the winds turn to a more north direction, the fishing becomes more difficult for tarpon. That doesn’t mean they are non-existent, just more difficult to get a bite.
Several flats guides I talked to said they’ve had their shots at some great fishing this week. Loads of bonefish from Big Pine to the Marquesas Keys means the water temperatures are getting up there slowly but surely. There are also plenty of large permit around, many of them tailing in very shallow water looking for a feast.
Our only hope is that March will give us more mild weather and more fabulous fishing opportunities.

KeyWest Fishing Report - March 1, 2006

KEY WEST – Key West fishing this week certainly had some fabulous highlights. Our weather was perfect there for about a week with calm winds and clear blue skies. Those who know fishing, especially in saltwater, know that fronts and changing weather patterns effect the fishing, not always shutting it down but simply changing it. Our last weekend front brought slightly cooler temperatures into the area but it is quickly warming up and really starting to feel like spring in the Lower Keys.

I’ve heard many great tales of fishing on the flats this week from our local flats captains. Permit tailing on the flats, tarpon on the deeper flats, many of them caught on fly. This is one of the best times for permit here in the Lower Keys. They feed heavily on the flats for small blue crabs and shrimp and to any fly fisherman, this is one of the best times to try for a permit on a fly. There has always been a question of whether a permit is a reef and wreck fish, or a flats fish. They spend time in both places. A permit seems to almost be like a criminal on the flats, he’s just there to steal a few crustaceans and then return to deeper water. This past week has had some pretty calm days making it difficult to get close enough to a tailing permit to make a decent cast. Hundreds of anglers travel here religiously to fish for permit, many of them have caught one, and some are still looking for their shot at glory. The late Del Brown caught over 500 permit on fly. It’s almost unimaginable to catch so many permit on fly since its taken 3 years of practice, fly casting in the driveway, to get to the point where I could actually get the fly to the permit without scaring the living daylights out of him. I think your first permit should be compared sometimes to getting a hole-in-one on a par three.

Permit can be found predominantly cruising the flats in March and many larger permit, some up to 40- pounds can be found in Key West Harbor mixed in with the seasonal tarpon and possibly a few cobia. Permit in the Harbor are often down deep and adding a couple split shots to your crab bait when drifting back in the current will get the bait down far enough to get a good bite.
Several tarpon guides say this time of the year is perfect for early tarpon fishing providing the water temperature is warm enough. I caught up with one of the go to guides for tarpon today, Captain Gary Maconi on the Fishin’ Magician out of Murray Marina. To give you any idea of how much Maconi loves tarpon, his other vessel is named “Megalops Atlanticus,” which is the scientific name for tarpon. I asked Gary if he thought it was going to be a good day for tarpon. He replied, “The temperature is a little lower than I’d expect, it dropped 8 degrees since yesterday, but I’ve caught them in this temperature water.” As with any fishing scenario anywhere in the world, it fluctuates with warm and cool fronts, moon phases, tides and, of course, wind direction. I talked to Maconi later in the day and his angler got one tarpon. Hooking a tarpon in Key West Harbor is pretty fun and not as easy as you think. As the captain puts some cut bait chum in the water you drift your bait back at the same speed as the current. The bait is moving so fast that you may only feel a slight speed up in the line, that’s when you lock it up and set the hook as hard as you can. A tarpon’s mouth is very much like a cinder block, difficult to set a hook and have it stay put while the fish makes several aerobatic jumps.
Several boats braved the small craft warnings and higher than normal winds early this week to do some reef fishing. Despite the cooler temps the cero mackerel and king mackerel were still biting strong. Captain Craig Eubanks on the Mr. Z out of A&B Marina explained that the fishing was still a bit slow but they managed to get a few nice yellowtail and some cero mackerel and barracuda on the reef during a half day charter. Eubanks has been fishing out of Key West for nearly 15 years.

This week Key West welcomes the SKA Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour. The tournament headquarters will be at Murray Marina on Stock Island where the rules allow these top pro teams to weigh in one kingfish per day. This leg of the tour is one in 5 of the tour series. SKA tabulates the results from all these events and the team with the best aggregate earns the title “Top Angler of the Year.”

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