Ascension Bay-2018

It was good to be back in the Yucatan, and specifically at La Pescadora Lodge, fishing Ascension Bay.

Many have said that Ascension Bay is home to more permit than any other fishery in the world, and after this week I believe it!  Our group saw hundreds of permit, and had multiple shots each day!  We boated a total of 39 permit, and it was a special week for me, since 35 of the permit were caught using my Spawning Shrimp.

Permit & Lee's Spawning Shrimp

On my last trip to La Pescadora, I was able to spend time with master guide, Jose, and understand his views on the spawning shrimp, and how to improve on existing, commercially tied patterns!  This pattern, in a variety of colors, has accounted for over 120 permit, from Cuba to Belize!

My first of 7 permit, caught this week!

Doug & 16# permit, tagged and released!

Of course, with all flats fishing, the weather plays a huge roll in creating the right conditions for great fishing, and we hit it just right.  

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One afternoon, we found this permit in a shallow bay, that was quite muddy, so in an attempt to keep the fly a bit higher in the water column, I switched to a Slow Sinking Shrimp....and the results were great!  

Note: This fly worked great in Espiritu Santu Bay, the previous year, with 4 permit brought to hand!

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We decided to explore the back country around Santa Rosa Lagoon, and although we found only a few tarpon, due to high water, we enjoyed the change of pace, and spectacular views.  It is a huge mangrove lagoon, and is about as untouched as it gets.

 Pushing and pulling the panga through the mangroves!

We did encounter a number of hungry tarpon, and had a great time with this high flying fish!

My partner, Jesse, into a nice back country tarpon!

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With calm conditions, on our last day, Jose was eager to run up the coast to explore the area for tarpon and permit.  He made a great choice.  With tarpon rolling, Doug and I were soon into the 30 to 40 lb. fish!

 After wrestling with 5-6 of these incredible jumpers, we were focused, again, on permit.  Although most of the permit were small, there were hundreds of them, and Doug and I had many great shots.
I ended up with 4 permit, that last afternoon, and Doug caught 6!
All of these permit were caught using my Spawning Shrimp!

....out of nowhere, a giant barracuda slashed my permit!  

 It seems you are always seeing something new on the flats!

We realized that with 10 permit, and 5 tarpon, we might want to find some bonefish, to finish the grand slam(s).  The thought that we could catch 5 grand slams was crazy.  With only a short time to hunt for bonefish, we only were able to catch one.  Sometimes you get a little greedy, when the fishing is this good!

Many thanks to Doug Behrman 

for assembling this great bunch of fly fishermen.  Javi and Marcel from Spain; Frank and John from the UK, made up the European team.  

Doug, Dana, Jesse, and myself, made up the team from the US, and 

      if  a  trophy would have been the prize, it would have been                 

red, white and blue!  Grin!

Also, many thanks to Lilly and her staff, as well as to Jose and his wonderful guides, at La Pescadora Lodge!

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