In the late 90’s when legendary permit fly angler Del Brown was first approached with the idea of a permit fly tournament, his first response was, “you must be crazy!” After some thought, Brown warmed up to the proposal, and even became excited about such a difficult and unique competition. Then when the final bomb was dropped that the tournament would proudly carry his name, Del ( the godfather of permit fly anglers with over 500 mit’s to his credit) humbly admitted he couldn’t have been more honored.

The late, great Del Brown would certainly have called this year’s field “crazy”. Participants faced 25-30 plus mph winds and nearly total cloud cover, making the already tough job of fooling a permit on fly even more challenging.

Mark Richens of London, England made the most out of only a handful of shots by landing two permit of 23 and 26 inches to become the 2010 Grand Champion. The 26 incher also won the Largest Fish Award. Richens was on the bow of a brand new Mirage 18. Richens fired crab flies with a 10 weight clear floating line and fluorocarbon leaders.

Last year’s defending champion Greg Vincent from Grand Bahama Island teamed up with local Key West Capt. Justin Rea to take Second Place with a pair of 18 inch permit. Vincent and Rea experienced some misfortune on Day One, with several fish coming off on the bite, and a snapped pushpole while trying to slow momentum of the boat against a formidable breeze. This omnipresent pair on a Mirage 17 also missed a bite on Day Two and narrowly avoided a catastrophe when the fly fell out of their fish only seconds after it was in the net! Peter Schneirla from New York, N.Y., took Third Place with a 24 incher while being poled, also on a Mirage 17, by lower keys Capt. Bill Houze.

This event was headquartered out of the very accommodating Hurricane Hole Restaurant/Marina/Bar. Extraordinary kick-off dinners were enjoyed at the Azur Restaurant in downtown Key West. Permit caught in the Del Brown are measured to the fork of the tail and photographed on a tri-colored ruler. Fish up to 18 inches are worth 100 points, 18-30 inches are 150 points, and 30 plus big silvery discs are 250 points. Ties are broken by total inches. For more information about the Del Brown, contact tournament director Charlotte Ambrogio at CSASUN@aol.com, or call her at 305-942-0428.

Capt. Mark Krowka, Tournament Director Charlotte Ambrogio, Grand Champion Angler Mark Richens

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