Four permit. Four escapes.

Tyson Sands · Sandspur Adventures Journal

Here’s how I picture Papa at one of his spots. A cast. A little pull. A twitch. Then wait.

The line comes tight. Hot damn! Now it’s peeling off the reel.

Papa was my grandfather, Hagen Sands. In Joe Brooks’s account, he figured that first permit had to go fifty pounds. “He took off for Texas,” Papa said. As far as he knew, the fish was still running, trailing his fly line and backing.

Papa kept fishing. Three more permit ate the fly. All three got away. I bet that first one stung, but Papa loved to fish. Three more times with a permit on the line? I’d call that icing on the cake.

Four permit. Four escapes. Anybody in Texas seen Papa’s fly line?

Source

Joe Brooks, “Historic Moments in Saltwater Fly Fishing: from the Writings of Joe Brooks,” The American Fly Fisher 5, no. 3 (Summer 1978), printed p. 7. I’ve imagined the opening cast. Brooks records the four hookups and Papa’s Texas line, and leaves the date and exact fishing spot open. Read the museum’s three-page extract.

Cover art directed by Tyson Sands. Illustration created with AI.