The One Permit Fly To Rule Them All

In the not-so-distant past, anglers returning from Cuba brought with them news of a fly that was a game-changer for hooking up with permit. As permit are one of the most finicky species of fish to target on the fly rod, hardcore permit fishermen, a breed of angler separate from the rest of us, spoke of the fly in messianic tones.

Rumours of NASA scientists playing a hand in developing the pattern accompanied the talk of the fly. Pages of notes, and years of testing, were apparently involved. Detailed diagrams and blueprints were said to exist.

It was the one permit fly to rule them all. Not to downplay the hype, the fly has its own Facebook page, and a web page is dedicated counting the number of permit it has tricked.

It is the Avalon Permit Fly.

In truth, years of testing were involved in the development of the fly pattern, though the NASA connection remains unsubstantiated. And pages of notes can certainly be assumed to have been collected.

The Avalon fly was developed by permit angler Mauro Ginevri, who started fishing the Cuban flats for permit in 2000. Mauro became frustrated with the success rate of hooking up with the fussy permit. With the obsession dedicated permit hunters are known for, he started research & development of an ideal permit fly in 2001.

Mauro sought out the prey species in the Cuban waters where he fished and discovered numbers of large, 9cm-long shrimp with each pass of the mesh nets they used to conduct their survey on the flats the permit fed on.

With the prey species determined, he turned his focus toward the actions of fly patterns underwater. He spent extensive time in a swimming pool watching flies sinking and being stripped; while many patterns sank hook-up, most twisted sideways once stripped. Thinking this could be a reason for the refusal, he aimed to develop a balanced fly that remained hook point-up while stripped.

Avalon Fly designer Mauro Ginevri

The solution was presented to Mauro by a guest of the lodge in 2007: the guest presented him with a fly with a keel of hard monofilament with steel beads added for weight. Mauro incorporated the mono keel in his design, and set out to perfect his permit fly.

In April of 2009, Mauro was satisfied with his design and handed guests of the lodge his new fly pattern to try out. The result was the stuff of legends.

Is it Avalon fly the one permit fly to rule them all?

That's really up to the permit to decide. But at the time of writing, the Avalon Fly Permit Counter shows 351 permit caught with the pattern since its inception in 2009.

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Clear Cure Goo Pro Staffer Ian Wallace put together a step-by-step for his variant of the Avalon Permit Fly, shared with us below.

Materials

• Hook: Mustad 34007, #2
• Thread: orange 3/0
• Eyes: black nickel dumbell, 4mm (5/32") 
• Mouth: orange McFlylon yarn
• Feelers: black crystal flash
• Legs: round orange rubber, barred black
• Body: cream marabou (or tan)
• Body cover: pearl diamond braid
• Monofilament keel: 20lb, stiff/hard
• Beads: 4 x 2.8mm, nickel or stainless steel
• Wing: Cream & brown-barred rabbit zonker (or tan & black-barred)
• Head & under body: Clear Cure Goo Thin (or Hydro) and Fleck

Method

Step 1: Tie in your dumbbells and take the thread to the point just above the hook barb.

Step 2: Rotate the vise & tie in a short piece of the orange McFlylon yarn.

Step 3: Rotate the vise back and tie in a doubled-over piece of the black flash. On top of the flash, tie in a double strand of the orange rubber legs

Step 4: Tie in two pieces of diamond braid, one on each side of the hook shank, then tie in two pieces of the stiff, 20lb mono on top of the shank. Cover the mono completely with thread.

Step 5: Tie in a whole marabou feather by its tips, and bring the thread to the eyes.

Step 6: Twist the marabou into a rope and wrap forward. Tie off the marabou just behind the dumbbell eyes. Cut two strips of rabbit zonker, keeping the leather of the zonker slightly longer than the hook shank. Tie these in just behind the dumbbells, one on either side of the shank.

Step 7: Rotate the vise and pull the diamond braid up to behind the dumbbell, having one of the pieces of diamond braid on each side of the body. Tie off on both pieces of diamond braid on the underside of of the dumbell eyes.

Step 8: Dub some of the remaining marabou (after trimming in Step 6), and cover the area behind the dumbells where the zonker wings are tied in. Bring thread to the eye side of the dumbells.

Step 9: Put two beads onto each piece of mono, slide the mono through the hook eye and secure with thread. When securing the mono:

• make sure the loops are even so the fly will sit on an even keel when inverted,
• ensure the ends of the mono are secured in the middle of the head underneath the shank; as the mono acts as a weed guard.

Coat the head & wraps of the dumbbell eyes with Clear Cure Goo Thin or Hydro and zap it with the light.

Step 10: Trim the weed guards to in line with the hook point, bar the rubber legs with a Sharpie or Copic marker, and trim the legs & feelers to about 5cm long. To give the fly a more pronounced back, coat the underside of the fly (between the two strands of diamond braid) with Clear Cure Goo Fleck, and cure it with the light.

The bottom of the finished fly is pictured above, with the top of Ian's Avalon Permit Fly variant pictured below.

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