That is hard to believe. Even a bullet traveling at 10 times that speed slows down to a halt in a second or two in water. I don't think anything, much less a fish, can travel that fast in water. Even if they could it would only be for a very, very short span. I also did a calculation. I couldn't find data for Permit so I based it on the speed of a very fast fish, a Wahoo. The data source I used is fishbase.org. I was surprised to learn a Wahoo can, for a second or two, move at a burstspeed up to 47 MPH. This would mean a 3.5 inch spool would rotate at 4500 RPM (75 RPS), but only for a second or two. It would slow down after that initial burst. I believe this burst is used to catch their prey and may not happen when hooked and there is no reel drag to slow them down in this calculation. That's pretty darn fast but I think the Orvis people may be exagerating a bit and they shouldn't be implying that a fish can move at those speeds for a long distance while pulling against the drag.

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Joe



[This message has been edited by flyfisherjoe (edited 13 February 2005).]