B_&_T_J_2015_

E

M I K E H O D G E

is a freelance outdoor writer

who lives and fishes in Florida

Profiles in Conservation

Al Perkinson

Imagine what Al Perkinson must have felt like. One moment, Stu Apte passed by.

Then it was Andy Mill and Mark Sosin followed by Tom McGuane and Steve Huff.

The soft-spoken, white-haired gentleman was surrounded by angling greatness

this past November during two fruitful days of discussion at the 5th Bonefish &

Tarpon Trust Symposium, an event that allowed for a bit of reflection.

“Early on I was a huge fan of Flip Pallot, Curt Gowdy and Chico

(Fernandez),” Perkinson said. “I was enamored with what they

did and how they fished, how they presented it. It made me want

to do that as soon as I got older to fish for bonefish, tarpon and

permit and get involved. That’s when I got involved with Bonefish

& Tarpon Trust. I think it was Bonefish Unlimited at the time.

As I saw people who were involved in it, they were all my heroes.

They were protecting the thing I loved the most. I felt I needed to

get involved and support it any way I could.”

Once a fan and a follower of fishing fame, Perkinson is now an

industry leader. The Vice President of Marketing at Costa Del

Mar forged a partnership with BTT to create a permit tagging

program in Florida. Project Permit is in its fifth year and still

going strong. But anyone who has ever toyed with the elusive

quarry knows that these fish don’t always cooperate, even for the

sake of science.

“We’re not recapturing as many fish as we need to,” Perkinson

said. “We’re getting a lot of fish tagged. We’re not recapturing

them. Everyone, if you catch a permit, if you get a tag, send the

information into BTT, so they can track it. These fish, they travel.

Their habitat is not just the Florida Keys. We’re extending the

program into the Yucatan and into Mexico and into Belize. We’re

really trying to get the Belize program up and running right now.”

Perkinson, who won BTT’s Lefty Kreh Sportsmanship Award,

considers himself a permit fanatic. His favorite haunt? The Blue

Horizon Lodge, home of Lincoln Westby, a fellow permit chaser.

“It’s a really complex fish,” Perkinson said. “There’s just so many

factors that affect its behavior. The environment that they live in

is really amazing. The people that pursue it are obsessed, crazy

people. All of those things come together. You can do everything

right and still not catch it. It’s a very skittish fish. You can get the

fly there and you don’t know if it’s going to turn this way or that

way and you miss it.”

Landing permit takes teamwork. The guide has to find the fish

and get the skiff into position. The angler has to make the cast,

set the hook and land the fish. The same is true in conservation,

where groups and individuals have to mesh for the greater good.

“We’re all in this community together,” Perkinson said. “A

community consists of a lot of different groups. You’ve got

anglers, you’ve got conservationists, you’ve got the government

and you’ve got companies that make their living off it. We’ve all

got to work to together to make sure that the sport we all love is

successful. Conservation is a central part of all that.”