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Palometa Club Permit

It's not often that you have a chance to win a free fishing trip by landing a fish, but that's exactly what's happening this year at the Palometa Club. The folks at the Palometa Club, a saltwater-junkie's dream destination on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, expect to log their 1,000th permit this year. To celebrate that momentous catch, they're planning to give the lucky angler who lands that fish a free return trip back to the club the following season.

Currently, the permit tally at the Palometa Club sits at 869. When the season opens in just a couple of weeks, on November 1, that number will begin climbing. The guides at the lodge are guessing that permit number 1,000 will likely come to hand sometime in April or May. Landing a permit is a momentous enough of an occasion on its own, but with a free trip on the line, there are bound to be some shaky arms and pounding hearts come springtime in the Yucatan.

This could be you.

While most North American trout anglers are starting to bundle up, slinging streamers and squeezing in the last floats of the year, the Kiwis are celebrating the opening of trout season. “Brown trout rivers” opened October 1st, though rivers where rainbows are prolific are still a bit longer closed due to spawning.

More than 10,000 miles from Atlanta (okay, so it’s really 8,580 miles to Queenstown as the extended range model crow flies), all of my Kiwi angler friends are urging on summer and stuffing their fly boxes with hare and coppers, bead head pheasant tails, Dore’s Mr. Glisters, big #10 triple-hackle bushy-as-Hell dries and cicada patterns that can take double figure fish on top, and whatever else tends to take trout that live literally in their back yards.

These Chum Salmon from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, will be flash frozen before being sold at market as "Keta" or "Silverbrite" salmon.

Many people avoid cooking seafood as often as they could be or should be as a result of the perceived inconvenience. This is largely due to a well-heeled misconception that frozen seafood is of lower quality than fresh seafood. As a result, many view seafood as something you don't keep on hand, and instead buy fresh from the market the day that you intend to cook it.

First off, it is important to note that "fresh" seafood is almost always itself a misconception. With rare exceptions, seafood that is represented as fresh at your grocery store's seafood counter is actually nothing more than previously frozen seafood that the store has thawed before selling it to you. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of fish that are harvested from the ocean and sold on U.S. store shelves are frozen shortly after being caught and the result is a seafood product that is of equal and often higher quality than if that fish arrived at market without being frozen. Don't believe me? Well, consider that Japan's finest sushi chefs will use frozen fish without pause and in fact often prefer it.

I struggle to contain my sadness over the fact that I will never own this.

If you haven't stumbled across and had a chance to check out Flood Tide Co.'s apparel, you should remedy that. For a couple of years now, Flood Tide's Paul Puckett has been creating some of the most alluring fishing shwag out there. The gear all features Puckett's art, much of which is an odd-sounding but giddily-pleasing blend of famous celebrity movie characters and fish. And, while I'll likely never forgive Paul for failing to get me one of his now discontinued "Walter" shirts -- which featured John Goodman's character Walter Sobchak from the Cohen Brother's ridiculously well done The Big Lebowski -- that doesn't mean I'm not keen on laying my hands on lots of Puckett's other art.

Flood Tide offers stickers, shirts and hats, including the newly available Gadsden Crab Hat with a "Don't Tread on Me" patch, seen below. Hopefully, some day soon we'll see some of Puckett's art available as prints, because I have walls waiting for much of it.

A dink, by autumn brown trout standards.

Autumn, to many, conjures up images of heading to the stream on a brisk, sunny day in search of big brown trout. Whether you're a seasoned fly fisherman or a beginner, the often low, gin clear waters of autumn present numerous challenges for the angler. Being prepared and having a game plan in place before you hit the water increases your chances of success. Following are 3 good reads to help you get ready for stalking big browns this fall.

Late Summer and Early Autumn Browns

The always insightful Kent Klewein of Gink & Gasoline offers up some advice on how to make the most of late summer and early autumn terrestrial fishing, including information on how holding patterns change for trout as the season progresses. Be sure to check out Kent's thoughts to make sure you're not overlooking water that you should be fishing.

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