SEEN IN THE MAR/APR 2006 ISSUE of South Florida Sport Fishing Magazine
Written by Jan Maizler
Stalking powerful permit on the ultra-shallow flats presents a new level of challenges. Review these tips and tactics for making the most of your Florida Keys skinny water adventure Fishing nomenclature names the permit Trachinotus falcatus. Maybe two of the last syllables is the perfect place to begin, meaning that if permit could talk, “not-us” would be their immediate response as to whether they felt at home on the flats. Indeed, when permit prowl skinny water for a meal, they are considered by savvy shallow water anglers to be a great challenge. This is factual, because permit are flats visitors - not residents, like bonefish. And like most visitors, they tend to be more cautious in less than optimal and familiar environs.Experienced anglers know that when permit are hanging offshore in close proximity to structure such as reefs and wrecks, they are not terribly hard to catch. That's where they generally live. Like many bottom dwelling species, permit do not use structure as ambush points, but rather as buffet tables for crunchy crab entrees. Ditto, for easily accessed inshore deep-water lairs like Key West Harbor. Hooking a fresh crab on a jig and easing it through a chum slick to the harbor bottom is a method that catches them quite frequently.
The key to understanding permit on the flats and effectively pursuing them there is to realize that these fish have learned that coming ashore to feed in the ultra-skinny shallows offers a bountiful, bellyful experience. Mutton snapper did the same off Key West for many years, but they were eventually decimated by commercial fishing. Cobia still exhibit this same behavior when they enter the shallows off Tampa Bay.In Florida, skinny water flats fishing for permit begins in Miami's Biscayne Bay and extends all the way south past Key West to the Marquesas, an area worthy of being dubbed the Permit Coast.
The Florida Keys can rightfully feel proud that this area is unique to the entire planet and is the epicenter for world record Atlantic permit fishing; some of the fish are well over fifty pounds!Again, successful permit fishing on Keys flats addresses the idea that visiting the ultra skinny plateaus is a part time experience for these fish- and you can bet that an exit strategy is always in place. Involve this fact in your poling strategies and stick to the deeper edges of flats as well as working flats slopes that abut channels and contours leading into deeper water. If you couple this with the kind of crunchy, rocky bottom that holds crabs and such, you're in prime skinny water permit territory.
Fishing the flats along the Permit Coast should be considered a year-round possibility that only avoids periods when cold fronts drive water temperatures below the mid-seventies. This approach is less arbitrary and forces you to consider and include all the between-front, warmer water days of south Florida's springtime in addition to the remainder of the year.Your consideration of permit as a cautious visitor to the flats can be maximized by using wind in your strategy.
All experienced anglers who ply Florida Key's shallows know that windier days on the flats allow closer and shorter casts to their quarry. This is because wind breaks up the water surface and disguises the image of angler and skiff. In addition, the countless wavelets muffle the sound of any fly, lure, or bait as it hits the surface, as well as allowing slightly heavier lines and tippets.You'll often find these brisk conditions from February through early May. The wind may be over twenty knots and you'd normally decline a long trip to the flats. As long as you can make a safe passage, you might want to reconsider; since most permit cruising the ultra shallows on these days are much less spooky. They'll also be hungry as winter waters give way to springtime conditions. Somewhat unlike tarpon, permit are generally happy with windy conditions.
Some anglers and guides hold the opinion that permit leave the flats for offshore spawning during April and May. However, since they do not migrate en masse as a giant silver cloud, you can rest assured that you will find some permit there. I always have and you will too.
Perfecting Permit Presentations-Now that you've crossed the bumpy bays of early spring, you'll find it especially gratifying to have the luxury of brisker weather so you can use heavier tackle to shorten your battles with these powerful fighters. Beefed- up tackle will enable fish to be released with more vigor, thus they will be less subject to predation by their ever-present skinny water enemy, sharks. You can feel free to use 12 lb. spin and plug tackle and a double line at the business end. Fly gear can be nine-weight or even ten, because of the need for casting power in the midst of influential wind forces. As south Florida heads into summer, the waters along the Permit Coast from north of Key Largo to south of Key West often flatten and grow calm like a country lake. These conditions will make it easier for you to see permit cruising, tailing, and pushing water - conversely, spooky permit will be able to see and hear you and your skiff with greater acuity in these same glassy conditions. Now is the time to start lengthening your casts, so that you won't be spotted before you make your presentation. The best way to increase your casting distance is to lighten the pound test of your monofilament line or decrease the diameter of your super-braid, as well as increase the length of your spinning or baitcasting rod. For fly tackle, calm water permit tactics may involve dropping down to an eight-weight outfit.
When faced with summer like conditions on the flats, presentations to cruising permit should “lead” the fish a bit more. Baits like live shrimp and crabs should be smaller to lighten their impact on the ripple free surface. Leaders should be longer and lighter on all types of tackle. On fly gear, I recommend fluorocarbon for building a leader in its entirety. On spinning or plug tackle loaded with monofilament or fiber running line, try 3- to 5-feet of 15 lb. fluorocarbon leader. During the calmest conditions, you want the impact of your presentation on the water to be as stealthy as possible!You may have heard that with tailing permit - regardless of the conditions - you have to “drop it on top of them” to get their attention. Don't interpret this as instructions to land your presentation right on their heads. The usual advice for casting lures or flies to a tailing permit that is intently distracted by its foraging activity, is to get the presentation close enough for the fish to sense that another feeding possibility has presented itself. When fishing with live shrimp and crabs, many guides encourage their clients to cast past and forward of the permit and bring the bait right across the surface to the tailing fish, and then let the live bait drop to the fish's eye level. The truth is that both of these methods work.
Super-braids and flats permit - a match made in heaven.
You will find that fishing braided line such as PowerPro may work to your advantage in two focal situations when using spinning or baitcasting tackle. The first is when you are pursuing permit on the flats where any abundance of rock piles, reefs, and/or sea fans demand that you use a line that has extreme abrasion resistance to optimally cope with these obstructions. The second situation concerns those glass-like calm conditions where long casts and faraway hook-sets are necessary. You'll appreciate a line that not only casts a great distance, but one that has virtually no stretch. My choice in these situations is 8 or 10 lb. PowerPro which has the ultra-thin diameter of about 2 lb. monofilament. If I strike a permit at 60 feet away with a two foot long sweep of the rod, I know my hook essentially moves two feet, substantially more than stretchy monofilament nylon. The length of my hook-sweep will of course be affected by the length and material of my leader, which is why I use no more than five feet of fluorocarbon leader. Fluorocarbon is less stretchy and less visible than a comparable setup constructed of monofilament.
Those in-the-know fish it slow!
Considering permit are in the jack family, some anglers practice the idea of "bringing the jack out of the permit" in their retrieve style - Do Not Do That! Rather, bring out the pompano and palometa instead. In contrast to permit, jacks are voracious, highly aggressive bullies that run down, corner, and ambush terrified finfish. When was the last time you saw a jack attack and gobble a crab or sea urchin off the bottom? Jacks want movement- but permit feed on hard shelled life forms that hide in weeds, sea grass, and in the sandy bottom. Generally, permit prey uses the freeze-and-hide defense, rather than the fleeing defenses that pilchards, mullet, and sardines utilize on jacks.A close look at the fish's architecture also reveals exactly how they eat. Permit are armed with crushers versus teeth, which verifies the "hard bodied" prey assumption- clams, lobsters, urchins, and crabs are easily crushed. If you're casting live shrimp at permit, give the fish minimal line on the strike by just extending your rod tip and coming tight. This is because permit's powerful mouths make short work of a shrimp's comparatively soft body. The rounded hard head of a permit verifies the ease with which evolution gives this fish the ability to pin its prey against the ocean floor. While a large sickle tail provides plenty of power and stabilization when tailing and head-down feeding. A jack's feeding experience is primarily a horizontal pursuit, while a permit is more of a vertical pin and crush feeder. This has enormous implications when considering a presentation style. On the flats, a still-fished crab is really the most comfortable encounter for a permit.
The challenge that drives fly-fishermen crazy when stalking these silvery speedsters on that tackle is simply that most flies don't really look like a realistic representation of what permit generally eat. Combine this with a lush, massive living biomass underfoot on the flats and it's easy to see why permit would ignore your vise-created concoction for the natural crunchy stuff - the kind that scurries around like a spider and disappears into the sand. For fly-fishermen, the key to overcoming this challenge is enticing permit to take your fly with a combination of a realistic-enough appearance coupled with an even-more realistic retrieve style. For permit on fly, you may very well find that at the moment of truth, no retrieve is the best retrieve of all!Pleasing permit offerings-Although this list is far from extensive, it does chronicle the prime choices.
Flats anglers with any level of experience know that permit will grab many baits, lures, and flies as long as they are properly presented. But remember that if you want to really stack the odds in your favor, fish a live crab. If you're looking for the greatest challenge, pursue them on fly.
Other Baits and Artificials
*Live shrimp *Live blue crabs *Live hermit crabs *Live spider crabs *Fresh sand fleas *D.O.A. Shrimp *D.O.A. Crab *SPRO Bucktail in Pink Shad *BackBone Jig in Brown *Chernobyl Crab fly
If you are new to the flats, do not have a flats boat, or are a seasoned angler visiting our state, it will be essential to hire an experienced permit guide. The best are often booked a year in advance - do your research and call them as early as you can. When I am doing a story, I use the following guides when I fish the Permit Coast-Miami/Biscayne Bay: Captain Joe Gonzalez 305-798-0841 Upper/Middle Keys: Captain Greg Poland 305-852-9940 Lower Keys: Captain Fernand Braun 305-872-9004 Key West/Marquesas: Captain Tom Rowland 305-294-7447
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