Team Hinrichs Wins 2006 RedBone Series Fly Fishing Division
The Oldest City Red/Trout Celebrity Classic was held at the Camachee Cove Marina in St. Augustine, Florida November 2-4th, 2006. Twenty-three of the area’s best fishing guides and anglers showed up to compete and raise money benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The first day of the tournament was canceled due to gale force winds up to 40mph after anglers and guides met at the Camachee Cove Marina. Several of the boats on the way to the marina were swamped by treacherous waves near the St. Augustine Inlet, a push pole was broken and nerves shaken, but fortunately no one was hurt. On day two, Capt. Warren Hinrichs with anglers Vaughn Cochran and Stan Britton, targeted tailing redfish in the grass. Veteran angler and artist Vaughn Cochran was first to get on the board with a nice tailing fish in the grass caught on a custom spoon fly. Stan Britton caught his first red on fly later in the morning. The rest of the day the Team made a long run south in search of trout and clean water without any luck. The two fly caught reds were enough to earn Cochran/Britton/Hinrichs first place in the Fly Fishing Division in the prestigious catch and release tournament.

Team Hinrichs Wins 2006 Del Brown Invitational
Day 1 — 18th of July
On the first day of the Del Brown Invitational Permit Tournament, Capt. Kris Suplee and I started off finding a lot of permit just like most of the fourteen other teams. Finding the fish wasn’t the problem, catching them was! We saw and cast to permit that were finned out in slick calm conditions in 3-4-ft. of water. It was incredible watching how the fish moved and distorted their fins as the tide slowly pulled the fish out to deeper water. I estimate that we saw at least 100 fish. In hindsight, I wish I had a camera instead of a fly rod to capture the incredible visual displays of fins. We also had some shots at waking fish, but the casts had to be at least 80 feet with an 8-weight fly rod. The temperatures were brutally hot in the slicked off conditions. At one point in the day, both Kris and I suffered from heat cramps and Kris got physically sick later in the morning from the aggressive, low profile poling after numerous schools of permit. We were both disappointed at the end of the day with no fish on the tape. However, much to our surprise, other anglers caught fish during the first day. Leading the pack after day one sometimes isn’t always a good thing especially since the Tournament consisted of some of the world’s best skiff guides and permit anglers!

Day 2 - 19th of July
Capt. Suplee had been on the water for at least two weeks prior to the Tournament, so he knew where the permit were. Kris made a quick call to move right at 8AM to find shallower water. The move paid off as I cast to numerous fish including one fish that tailed on my small, lightly weighted Merkin. Unfortunately, there was no hook-up. Conditions actually looked promising with some surface chop and a very light breeze. Capt. Kris made another great call to reel up and move again, which sealed our fate for the rest of the Tournament. Within a few minutes of poling down a flat, Kris spotted a huge permit in about 4 feet of water. The fish charged in fast towards our skiff, but I was able to get the fly in front of it. The huge permit immediately tipped up on the fly and we were off to the races as I strip stuck after I felt the heavy weight of the fish. The fight was incredible — the fish swam between and around numerous crab pots, under the boat, around the motor, around the push pole and made numerous blistering runs before finally being netted. After the fish was released alive, Kris followed the fish in the skiff for several minutes with the motor running to make sure it was OK. Approximately 2 hours later, Capt. Suplee moved to another spot. Once again the move paid off as I hooked up, but the fly pulled after the initial run. Oh tartar sauce! A few minutes later, I had a permit eat again, but was able to get a better hook-up. The second fish was also another very nice fish that made numerous runs. Good permit karma was on the Suplee skiff during day two! About an hour later, I felt a connection with Del Brown even though I never had the honor of meeting the man. Seconds later, I spotted two small permit. Weird — absolutely! Kris yelled strip as one of the fish rushed the fly and the third fish was on the reel and to the boat in short order. We even took time out to cast to numerous bonefish during the day but no more fish were caught in the challenging conditions on day two.

Day 3 - 20th of July
Capt. Suplee and I had received 1st Runner Up the two previous years. We experienced the carpet being ripped out from under us too many times. Cocky, confidence was not on our minds, but rather hard work and humble focus flashed in our eyes — or was it the lightning flashing to the west?! Wide prop wash juxtaposed to a black horizon ran through my brain as Simon, Kris, Kilpatrick and Houze/Benson led the charge as if to battle the ominous storm. This was our most difficult day mentally, because we knew that we had to make each shot count. After hiding under a mangrove island, Kris and I noticed the surrounding mangrove islands were getting repeatedly struck by lightning. A last minute joint decision was made to run for our lives back towards Key West. I felt like an ant running for cover across a kitchen floor! The 30-minute run paid off and I had a few more shots at permit. However, the fish were very unsettled by the terrible conditions. Suplee moved again and the move paid off once more when we found some mudding fish. I cast towards the fresh muds and hooked up, but the storm was getting dangerously close. Was it a small permit? The fish ran through some mangroves and we had to untangle the fly line. I was disappointed to see it wasn’t a permit, but the smile returned to our faces as we landed and released a 9lb. bonefish. As the bone swam off, the rain and lightning consumed us. We were once again forced to crouch in the bottom of the skiff as lightning kept us pinned under the mangroves. The conditions slowly cleared and Kris found some tailing permit, but the fish were extremely spooky due to the unsettled weather. Both Kris and I discussed and agreed that if someone caught more fish than us — they definitely deserved first place! At the end of the day, no boats caught a permit.

The three permit lead established on day two ensured that we finally took top honors - both Grand Champion and also Largest Permit. Five other awesome teams each caught one permit, but legendary Guide Dale Perez and Angler Doug Mayer won second place. Guide Bill Houze and Angler Will Benson won third place with one permit slightly smaller that Team Perez/Mayer. That’s tournament fishing.

The Del Brown Tournament remains one of the most challenging and rewarding flats, fly fishing tournaments on the planet. The best skiff guides in the world coach their anglers towards catching a fish of a lifetime. Egos, bad attitudes and doubt need to be left at the dock for success. Permit fishing is truly the ultimate team sport with guide and angler working as one to succeed.

Charlotte Ambrogio, Tournament Director, (305) 664-2444 or e-mail Capt. Kris Suplee at www.flatsbandit.com for fishing the Lower Keys and Key West.

2005 Del Brown Invitational
The Del Brown Invitational Permit Tournament was held March 8-11th at the Hurricane Hole Marina in Key West. I fished again this year with Capt. Kris Suplee of Marathon, who can be reached at 305.395.3314 or www.flatsbandit.com. The weather was challenging for the week. The water temperature was cold, the skies were overcast and a front raged through on Wednesday the 8th, which kept things very unsettled. Permit like consistency.

Day one - Capt. Suplee and I didn't see a permit.
Day two - we fished the Marquesas with no other boats in sight! We didn't see a fish all day, but we could sense things were heating up later in the day.
Day three - we started in the Marquesas, which became calm, overcast and had too much boat traffic later in the morning. Capt. Suplee made a split second decision to run to a different area to find better conditions for permit. His knowledge and experience paid off when I caught a 27" permit on fly. This was the second fish we saw during the tournament. This fish was good enough to secure us the first runner-up position and win largest permit of the tournament. Last year, Capt. Suplee and I were the first runner-up too - we lost by an inch! On the final day, I threw an 8-wt. and 12-ft.+ leader in very calm conditions. I cast over the back of my fish to have the Merkin sweep toward him. The good fish karma was used up at that point. We did have a 'buzzer fish" at 3:55, but no hook-up.

Of course Capt. Simon Becker and Steve Dunn caught a fish! No surprise there. Andy Mill and Capt. Dustin Huff caught two permit to win the tournament. No surprise there either. The tournament will be moved to July per a vote by the group.

2005 Mosquito Lagoon Cystic Fibrosis RedBone Tournament April 22-23
Fished with expert anglers Kevin English and his father. The dynamic duo caught lots of 14" trout and small reds on spinning gear. After two days of fishing, the total was 4 keeper reds and 5 legal trout, which was a very respectable showing. Also, the anglers Red/Trouted, which means both anglers caught redfish and trout. Conditions were calm the first day, but the winds increased out of the west on the second day, which made things more challenging. All in all, great fishing for a great cause.