With Permit Record, Florida Angler Seeks to Protect Belize's Flats Fishery

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On Dec. 1, 1969, Sports Illustrated (SI) published a piece by the relatively unknown—at the time—writer Thomas McGuane.

Entitled “The Longest Silence,” the essay from the SI Vault was about saltwater fly fishing, a subject that was somewhat new and particularly challenging in that era. Still, the prose painted on paper by McGuane was lyrical and compelling, and helped lure a new generation into the saltwater pastime.

“What is emphatic in angling is made so by the long silences—the unproductive periods,” wrote McGuane in the essay’s opening line, words that would go on to become the celebrated title of McGuane’s collection of fly fishing essays, one of the most canonical and treasured fly angling books of all time.

McGuane’s words were the perfect description of fly fishing for permit, an angling endeavor whose odds of success seemed about as probable as a 9-to-5 worker going to the moon.

“Always, full of hope, I would cast,” wrote McGuane of his early permit fly-fishing experiences. “The fly was anathema to them. One look and they were gone. I cast to a few hundred. It seemed futile, all wrong, like trying to bait a tiger with watermelons. The fish would see the fly, light out or ignore it, sometimes flare at it, but never, never touch it.”

Record-Breaking Pursuit

When that essay was published in SI seven months after the first issue of Fly Fisherman magazine appeared in print and four years before McGuane’s critically acclaimed 92 in the Shade novel was first published, such sentiment was true. But in the years since, fly anglers in general and fly guides specifically, have figured out how to reduce the long, silent periods between fruitless casting and a permit bending a 10-weight. While the flat’s fish with the scythe shaped tail remains exceedingly difficult to catch, today, there is the hope of actually hearing your fly reel drag sing, thanks to a few resolute specialists who have made chasing permit on the fly their life’s chief angling mission.

One of those fly anglers is Ken Watkins, an enthusiastic fly angler from the Florida Keys, who became so enthralled with catching permit, especially in Belize at Ambergris Caye, that he bought a condo there along with his wife Chris in the hopes of boosting his own chances at breaking the longest silence. Because of that, instead of the unicorn that the permit is to most others, Watkins began to get to know the fish and how to catch it on a deep level, quietly pursuing the permit for more than a decade and assembling a resume of permit fishing—and catching—excellence that is unlike nearly all others.

In fact, only a few weeks ago, Watkins quietly achieved angling immortality in saltwater fly fishing, capping more than a decade of dedicated pursuit and permit catching. That took place in August 2025 when he caught his 529th permit on the fly, formally surpassing the late Del Brown’s lifetime record mark of 513 permit on the fly, which was also surpassed in February, 2025 by Mark Ward’s 514th permit catch on the fly 

A legacy member of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT), Watkins’ decade long pursuit followed a familiar script in such tales of outdoors excellence. As with any such pursuit, there was a commitment to the task, a determination to see it through on the tough days, many fruitless days when the task itself might be questioned, unwavering teamwork thanks to guide Capt. Darrell Smith and Watkin’s wife Chris, and a long smoldering inner fire that fueled it all from start to finish.

But as is the case in most other long, worthwhile pursuits of excellence, something happened along the way that changed the arc of Watkins’ effort, moving from a personal quest to something more. When it began, it was a way to touch the silence that McGuane once wrote about. Then it became a pathway to try and do the unthinkable and beat Babe Ruth’s record, so to speak, with the idea of toppling Del Brown’s longstanding and seemingly impossible to break record of 513 permit caught on the fly.  

Along the path of Watkins’ journey, it became more about bringing awareness and raising concerns about the endangered flats fishery around Belize’s fabled Ambergris Caye, which is being destroyed by commercial development that threatens the rookery islands and sensitive grass flats that have produced some of the saltwater world’s most legendary flats fishing. And as Watkins approached the day when he tried to break the coveted permit-catching record—incidentally, his Islamorada, Fla. friend and fly fishing guide Capt. Charlie Ellis indicates that Watkins has actually caught a total of 1,213 permit to date, some 529 on the fly—the quest had fully transformed from something personal to something global that needs a resounding call to action to save one of the world’s most treasured natural resources.

All of the above comes from an angler who dared to dream. Despite having only six permit caught—three on the fly, three on spinning gear—in the first decade of his fly fishing career spent primarily with Capt. Chuck Schafstall, Watkins life was changed to some degree when he first visited Ambergris Caye in 2013. When he fished with Capt. Darrel Smith, the legendary permit guiding king who operates the Fly With Me guide service in Belize, his fly angling fate was sealed because Watkins fell in love with Belize, its people and culture, and the exceptional flats fishing. So good was the angling that he found that he has fished exclusively with Capt. Smith for over a decade now and bought a condo in San Pedro with his wife back in 2018.

Using Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) fly rods and Tibor fly reels, Ken was inspired to learn all that he could about permit, shifting his angling focus exclusively to the flat’s species. As he began to increase his catch-and-release count, Watkins heard about and decided to pursue Brown’s record there in Ambergris Caye, committing to hundreds of days on the water and thousands of hours on the skiff to learn the nuances of the permit and mount his record chasing charge.

That decision also came with some steely inner resolve: “Fly fishing is a challenge,” said Watkins. “Fly fishing for permit is a greater challenge.”

Paradise in Peril

There’s little doubt that in general, flats fisheries around North America and the rest of the world are in trouble, from the uncertainty of climate change issues to runaway development all the way to the water’s edge to the pollution and decay in water quality that threatens many fisheries at the landscape level.

It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, but Belize isn’t immune from these challenges, despite the fact that the Caribbean nation filled with turquoise blue natural treasures harbors some of the world’s best flats fishing for permit, bonefish, tarpon, and snook.

And that’s especially true at Ambergris Caye, an ecological jewel that serves as the largest island in Belize, lying adjacent to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-longest coral reef system in the world. Acting as a protective wall—and supporting some amazing blue-water fishing nearby—the reef protects a virtual tropical paradise of seagrass meadows, shallow sandy flats, and intricate mangrove lined estuaries that beckon permit, tarpon, bonefish, snook, and more.

But such riches also attract attention, and the eyes of developers, politicians, and others are looking to build unchecked coastal development that alters or destroys the habitat that sustain the nation’s epic flats fishery. The building of over-the-water cabanas, dredging to reclaim land, and other environmental risks pose great peril to the legendary permit flats of Belize that Watkins and others love so much.

Why is this so important? Well, according to BTT, to start with, the permit fishery in Belize is an important cog in the nation’s economic engine, bringing (along with fishing for bonefish and tarpon too), an annual economic impact of at least $155 million USD. Along with providing thousands of jobs and supporting coastal communities, the fishery is also culturally important to Belize, so much so that the nation passed regulations in 2009 that made fishing for flats species catch-and-release only.

That great legal move, however, has not stopped the peril to the nation's saltwater fisheries, including Ambergris Caye, resources which BTT notes continue "...to be threatened by coastal development and dredging that destroys or degrades flats habitats. We urgently need to fill in missing information on which habitats and locations are most important to flats species, so we can push back against irresponsible development and dredging."

BTT continues to spearhead research that includes using acoustic telemetry to both track permit and understand how they utilize the habitat in Belize. An expensive task that is labor- and time-intensive, the important work continues despite many challenges. As data is collected, the information is being shared with the Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, along with the nation's Department of Fisheries.

"We are also working with the Belize Flats Fishery Association (BFFA) and fishing guides, helping to empower their advocacy to protect the natural resources their culture and livelihoods depend on," notes a BTT news release.

Incidentally, if you'd like to help support this cause, you can donate once or monthly at the conservation group's website.

Brown’s Overshadowing of Permit Fly Fishing

Obviously, conserving the flats fishery at Ambergris Caye and throughout Belize is of paramount importance. And part of that conservation initiative undoubtedly finds its roots in the huge shadow that the pioneering Brown left over flats fishing in general, and permit fishing specifically. To say that he’s the Lefty Kreh of permit fishing would not be an exaggeration.

Why? For starters, there’s the immortal 513 permit that Brown landed on the fly, a mark that seemed unbreakable for many years. While a small number of fly anglers have cracked the code and logged dozens of permit catches on the long rod, the task remains as formidable as ever to most saltwater fly rod enthusiasts.

Brown also looms large over the sport for another reason, because as the IGFA Facebook page reported earlier this year, he affected all permit fly anglers in another way too.

That’s because as the IGFA noted on its earlier social media post, back “On March 13, 1986, angler Del Brown set the IGFA Men’s 4-kg (8 lb.) Tippet Class World Record for permit with this 18.82-kilogram (41-pound, 8-ounce) fish. Del was fly fishing in Key West, Florida, and guided to this record catch by IGFA Hall of Famer, Captain Steve Huff. They landed the permit after an outstanding 1-hour and 3-minute fight.”

For the record (no pun intended), not only does that catch remain the 8-lb. tippet class world record, nearly 40 years later it remains the largest permit ever caught and landed on a fly rod too.

There are other ways that Brown, who passed away of a heart attack on May 28, 2003 at the age of 84, has left his mark. In all, he has held 12 IGFA records over the years, five of which are still active. Those records, including seven for permit, were all set in the Florida Keys and involve five species (permit, tarpon, mutton snapper, snook, and great Barracuda) caught between 1984 and 1999.

Then there’s the late angler's namesake Florida Keys permit fly fishing derby, the Del Brown Permit Tournament, a catch and release event held annually since 2001. The tournament is dedicated to the memory of the man who made permit fishing with a fly rod famous, honoring his legendary 513 permit caught on a fly rod, the IGFA world record that still stands with his name on it, and the legendary permit catching fly, the "Merkin", a pioneering crab-imitation, that Brown originated to catch these nearly impossible to catch game fish.

And finally, don’t forget that Brown, along with legendary Keys’ guide Steve Huff, were such a formidable team in shaping flats fishing and permit fly fishing that they were named together to Fly Fisherman magazine’s "50 Most Influential Fly Fishers" list several years ago.

“Many of Steve Huff’s peers have called him ‘the best guide who’s ever lived,’” that story noted. “Del Brown caught 513 permit on a fly, and is objectively the best permit fisherman who ever lived. Together they fished Florida’s saltwater flats from 1980 to 2001, when Brown was 83 years old. On the day he realized that Brown no longer had the stamina for flats fishing, Huff cried all the way back to the boat ramp. Together they were a shining example of perseverance and saltwater success at the highest level.”

And maybe that’s the whole point of what McGuane called “The Longest Silence,” the sport that Brown pioneered, and the hallowed record that Watkins and others have pursued with great vigor and expense in the last half century. And that’s the call to persevere and bring saltwater fly fishing to the highest possible level of success, one that will inspire others to follow suit and become advocates for the permit and its fragile habitat in the years ahead.

“Permit will humble you,” said Ellis. “They will test your patience, your skill, and your resolve. But in their elusiveness lies their gift: they remind us why wild places matter, and why they must be protected.”

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ADDENDUM: We must note that this record had already been broken by Alejandro Vega Cruz, aka “Sandflea." He did it back in 2023, and his lifetime permit count is now 581 and counting. Sandflea has won many permit tournaments in Mexico and Belize and he manages Isla Holbox Tarpon Club. There is no official clearing house for all of these permit catches. ––The Editors.

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