January Special at The Palometa Club

Book 5 Guests & the 6th Comes for Free! 

Or 

20% Discount off Published Rates

This promotion is based on shared room / guides and is applicable for the weeks of 

January 5-12 & January 12-19.

Far too many anglers are missing out on the awesome fishing that can happen in 

January! Ascension Bay is a ghost town with most lodges and guides, and we have 

had some of our BEST fishing of the season in January the last several years 

(other than El Nino in 2016). As a rule of thumb, you don’t often see the larger 

schools of permit like you do later in the spring and summer, but you do get 

your shots at solitary fish and smaller groups that are completely unpressured 

and happy to eat the fly. We also see and catch some of the largest permit of 

the season in January and February. Yes, there might be concerns about drawing 

the short straw with a cold front, but these events usually don’t last long, and 

odds are that the vast majority of January sees very mild temperatures and our 

typical southeasterly trade winds. The lack of activity on the Bay, the opportunities 

for the big boys, and limitless chances for bonefish, baby tarpon, and the best 

Snook fishing of the year make 

January very appealing. Now is a chance to jump on board at a discounted rate! 

Contact us at (403)271-1016 or info@countrypleasures.com for more info

Smokin' Deals On "Bucket List" Summer Permit Trips

***HUGE SUMMER SPECIAL - PALOMETA CLUB***

Summer can offer some of the most insanely good Permit fishing there is. This August, we have a couple weeks available with smoking deals to make it easier for you to sample this great fishery.

August 4-11 or 11-18, 2017

7 NIGHTS / 6 DAYS = $3240 (Normally $4050)

6 NIGHTS / 5 DAYS = $2880 (Normally $3600)

5 NIGHTS / 4 DAYS = $2440 (Normally $3050)

Call (403) 271-1016 or mail info@countrypleasures.com
 

Tuesdays Tips - Picking Your Target

Time and again I see clients who are, at very least, decent casters bonk fish right on the noggin. One of the biggest reasons (I think) for this is where we focus our eyes. Once a fish is spotted, the anglers recognizes direction of movement, distance, etc. anglers should focus on where the fly should land, not solely the fish.

If their eye is focused on the fish then that's what they're going to hit. Focus on where the fly should land and make the cast! (this is that split second where that couple hours worth of practice before the trip goes a long way).

So, that's fine and dandy, but where in tarnation should one put the fly? Well, as it was put to me a long time ago "you might start by throwing at the end that eats"
After that you might want to get a tad more technical, but not much. To present the fly to Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit, etc., there are a few things I think are a must.
**note: everything here is general, the nuances of migratory Tarpon fishing with regard to angles, etc. is much more complex. We'll save that for another day.
1-  I always want the fly in front of the fish. The fish swims into the fly.
2 - wherever possible I want the fly to cross the fishes direction of travel when it is retrieved.
The best way I have found (for me, and others seem to get it as well) to achieve these are to throw at a box, not at the fish.

To try and make sense for you, once you spot the fish, picture a 2 foot square box in front of the fish. (**this 2 foot box doesn't work for deep water, over 4 feet deep,  you need to increase the box size. This will get the fly deeper and to the fish) 
Always focus, and try to land the fly on the forward, far side corner of that box from the fish. If you do this, and the fly goes where you focus, the fly will be in the perfect spot. 
If you focus on the fish, you'll probably hit the fish.

Here are some examples to outline what we're talking about:

Crossing shot: fly line lands front, far side of box. Fish always sees fly. This shows left to right cross, for right to left same principle...far front of box.

Approaching Shot: fly lands forward corner of box, whichever side fish is traveling (fish going left, throw left corner, going right, right corner). **Even if a fish is coming straight at you throw to one side of the box. This will cross the fish with the fly. If you are right handed, throw to the left corner, opposite for left handed caster.

Going Away Shot: You're probably screwed, but you never know. Think of the box ahead and to the side of the fish. The fly should land in the farthest corner of the box from the fish and direction of travel. Drawings show both left to right and right to left scenarios. **If you take this shot, don't move the fly when it lands. Let the fish turn and react to the fly and then retrieve as appropriate. If you strip immediately you will likely spook the fish.
If the fish doesn't react to the fly then you chalk it up to a low percentage shot anyway and move on.

Hard to get spots open at The Palometa Club

Get Ready.....

That brief period when you wish your eyes were better, you hit what you aim at, and the rubber lipped SOB is a little dumb.

Special Rates at Palometa Club

It’s hard to believe that the start of the 2017 season at the Palometa Club is right around the corner. Now that El Niño is long gone and a very mild winter appears to be in our future, we anticipate excellent spring-like conditions and awesome fishing during the early season.
We’re once again going to have a busy year, but we still have two weeks in January with openings. While discounts are rare for us, we’re excited to offer significantly reduced rates during the weeks of January 13-20 and January 20-27. This is a chance to jump on an $850 discount for a full week at Palometa Club. Shorter stay discounts are also an option as follows:

January Discount Recap

Eligible Weeks:
January 13-20 & January 20-27, 2017
Pricing (Based on Shared Room / Boat):
7 Nights / 6 Days – $4050 —> $3200 ($850 Discount)
6 Nights / 5 Days – $3600 —> $2950 ($650 Discount)
5 Nights / 4 Days – $3050 —> $2500 ($550 Discount)
4 Nights / 3 Days – $2500 —> $1950 ($550 Discount)
*** Short week discounts do not include cost of additional ground transfers to / from Cancun (CUN).

NEW PALOMETA CLUB VIDEO

Check out a new Palometa Club video featuring some highlights from last season pulled together by TwoFisted Heart Productions.


Tailwaters - Palometa Club - 2016 promo from TwoFisted Heart Productions on Vimeo.

Tips and Tricks- Bonefish/Permit Leaders

It's getting to be the time of year when people are getting ready to go on their saltwater trips. 

Here's a couple suggestions for your leaders for 

Bonefish and Permit:

- Most of the leader manufacturers offer fluorocarbon saltwater leaders, for  Bonefish and Permit. You're best to stay away from the fluorocarbon leader. Why? Because one of the properties of fluoro is it's higher density. A fluorocarbon leader will sink horizontally, leading to the fly keeling on the bottom instead of "hopping" off the bottom on each strip. This will lead to numerous bottom and grass hookups, and snags, as well as a ton of spooked fish.

- Use a monofilament saltwater leader and replace the tippet (front 20-24") with fluorocarbon. This will fish the fly properly and give you the abrasion resistance at the tippet that you need.

The above drawing shows (top) how a mono leader/fluoro tippet will fish on the flat. The fly will pop off the bottom on strips. The bottom drawing shows how a full fluoro leader will sink. As the leader is horizontal on the bottom, the fly will drag, leading to spooked fish and snagged flies.

- Why should I use a saltwater leader? Why not freshwater stuff? The answer is simple, saltwater leaders have longer, stiffer butt sections and they are way easier to turn over in a flats environment.

- Should I make my own leaders? Certainly, most of us here at the shop build our own leaders for Bonefish and Permit. As long as you use clear, stiff, monos like Ande. If you're keen on building your own leaders, we have bulk spools of Ande Monofilament here at the shop and we can show you the proper tapers for either Bonefish or Permit.

 

- What length of leader should I use? For Bonefish, 10-12 foot leaders will cover pretty much anything you might encounter Bonefishing. To make things simple, we recommend the 10 foot, 12 pound Bonefish leaders. As they are mono leaders, you just add about 20-24" of fluorocarbon tippet on the end and you have a perfect Bonefish leader.

For Permit, accuracy is paramount. This is why we always recommend to people heading off to go Permit fishing that they use nothing longer than 10 foot leaders. Anything longer and the denser, heavier Permit flies can be a real challenge to turn over. Nothing more frustrating than a 12 foot leader that you can't turn over on a 60 foot cast to the Permit shot of your dreams. 10 foot!
In our opinion, the best setup for Permit is a 10 foot, 16 pound saltwater leader (mono). Cut the front 24" off the leader and replace with 16 pound Flourocarbon. (12 or 14 pound tippet may be required in certain locations and situations).
 
- What knot should I use for tying leaders? Tippets? We always tell people to use the knot they are comfortable tying and have confidence in. Having said that, we tie all of our own leaders, from butt to tippet, with Blood Knots. Even the tricky mono to fluoro connection. Your blood knots should have at least five wraps each way on the blood knot for mono to mono. We do 5 wraps on the mono side and 6 wraps on the fluoro side for mono to fluoro connections.

New Drake Is Here!

Once again, having shop staff that can speak and write complete sentences pays off. The new The Drake Magazine just arrived and our very own Burbot Lovetalk aka Josh Markle has another article in it. Nice! And also, our good buddy, Brandon Fisher has a back pager on summer Permit at Palometa Club

Summer Permit Fishing

For a long time now, I've wanted to get away and do some summer (July or August) Permit fishing. Until this year it just never came together given that it's our busiest season in the shop and it's pretty tough to get away.


This year, an old friend asked if I would join him for a week he had booked from August 27 to September 5 at The Palometa Club and I couldn't help myself. This wasn't an option until 2015, when Dick and Kaye Cameron, owners of the Palometa Club, opened their first ever short summer season. The first year was very well received and the many stories told by guides of massive schools of Permit on the flats during the summer proved to be true. The success of this first season led to what I'm sure will be a permanent mid-July to end of August summer season at P.C.

In the past, we have never done any shop trips to the Caribbean region for a few reasons: As we live in an area where we only get about 100 days of reasonably nice weather to trout fish most of us want to take advantage of it, a lot of people are a little (or a lot) hesitant about the heat during July and August, and weather can certainly affect you. Should an organized storm like a tropical depression or hurricane occur just before or during your trip it can make for pretty tough fishing. 

Anyways, for those who are somewhat afflicted with Permititus, the summer offers the possibility of Permit Shangri La so off we headed this past August. Our arrival presented just what was expected, high 30 Celsius temperatures without the ever present trade winds of the fall and winter months. In fact, for the first four days, it was so calm you could not tell where the water ended and the horizon began.

The stories turned out to be true. Our first four days offered up an incredible number of shots. With the mirror calm conditions it made for pretty high test fishing to very spooky fish. I saw fish that were led by about 10 feet slowly swim toward the fly and then, when they reached the tiny rings caused by the fly landing, left much more quickly than they came.
Even with the tricky conditions, between two of us we landed 13 Permit in our first two days. Pretty amazing Permit fishing!
And what's really cool is that most days we were the only angling boat on the entire bay. We have it all to ourselves, except for a couple lobster fisherman here and there. really cool!

As for the elements, it's kinda hot. If the weather is stable you won't have much wind so you better have really good breathable clothing and you'll drink water like you never thought possible.

Our final four days were a little more challenging. What became Hurricane Hermine traveled out of the Atlantic, making landfall in Florida. Even though it was a long ways away, a low of that magnitude affects the weather for great distances around it. Our weather wasn't that bad, just unstable. Wind speeds went from almost zero to around 12-15 knots (actually perfect for Permit fishing). Unfortunately, the wind direction became highly unstable, switching directions as many as three times a day and there was a lot more cloud (the enemy of any flats angler). This made for some somewhat unhappy Permit. In the span of a day, it went from fish everywhere on the flats to pretty slim pickings.
We still caught fish, but it certainly wasn't the "gong show" of the first four days. When it was all said and done, the pair of us landed 18 Permit. With the usual oopsies and at least one hooked fish cut off on something, it should have been more.

Would I go back during the summer? Hell Yes!, even if you get a couple days of stable weather you're going to see Permit shots like you've never seen before. Ascension Bay is the most prolific Permit fishery I'm aware of year round, but summer is another game entirely. And when you factor in the most dialed in Permit guides I've run across, it's P.A.P. (Permit Affliction Paradise).

Should you try it? If Permit fishing turns your crank you really should do this. The only downside I know of would be for those who can't handle heat. You're going to have to be prepared for about two hours every afternoon where you're going to be a little warm. But it's really not that bad. Plus all of the reason why I would go back in July or August in a second. 

The only thing with this summer program is that it's kind of a limited edition thing. They only run 3 boats a week (instead of the core season 6) and it's very well subscribed (full). If you want in on it I would get it booked sooner rather than later.