By Jan S. Maizler Article & Travel Editor
Photos By Jan S. Maizler
It was the kind of South Florida day that sets a scribe's pen swirling - clear blue skies dotted by an occasional marshmallow cloud and to the East, a big bright lemon-colored sun rising over the Atlantic. As I drove my SUV over Rickenbacker Causeway towards Crandon marina, I gazed out over south Biscayne Bay to enjoy the light southeasterly breeze that would complete the perfect conditions for my permit trip with Captain Ken Collette.
As I eased into the boat ramp area, I saw Ken patiently waiting on the poling tower of his ActionCraft. Ken saw me and waved. I had the feeling he had the same optimistic satisfaction that comes from choosing a weekday featuring good water current and from filling his livewell with frisky crabs as he told me he would.
Underway
Though I've fished basically every permit destination in the Western hemisphere, it continued to amaze me that my home waters of Miami offered world-class action barely thirty minutes from downtown. In fact, I've caught permit on the flats within minutes of leaving Crandon Marina. But, there will be more permit sightings south of Soldier's Key to Broad Creek, which is considered the range of skiffs running out of Miami. The entire expanse of what I call the Permit Coast is basically Miami to the Marquesas. This area has the largest numbers of big Atlantic permit (trachinotus falcatus) in the world.
As we eased into the channel, Ken mentioned his optimism about us choosing a perfect tidal profile of a one o'clock high tide, which would give us the poler's advantage of the sun at our backs basically all day. Unlike the vast lower Keys and backcountry, smaller Biscayne Bay offered fewer options as to tide and location opportunities.
Ken turned his skiff south and slowly pushed the throttle down. His nimble skiff was on plane quickly, providing that whoosh-over-liquid feeling that lets boating anglers know that the day had really begun.
As we sped across the bay, I gazed at Ken's tackle, which was neatly stowed in the under gunwales racks. Four beefy spinning outfits stared back up at me. Every one of these "pit bulls" was thick, seven-feet long and sported bright yellow monofilament line. When I asked Ken about the risk of using such a loud line color on permit, he explained that for many of his light tackle anglers, it was advantageous for them to see their lines while casting live crabs in relation to constantly moving permit. He encouraged me to also see that he had six feet of clear twenty-pound fluorocarbon leader attached to the hook- this would clearly satisfy the stealth requirements of a light tackle presentation. His weaponry was topped off with razor-sharp 2/0 Gamakatsu J-hooks.
The calm bay waters provided us with only a 30-minute run to our first spot on the ocean side of the Ragged Keys. This honeyhole is a series of crab-rich rockpiles that have produced permit as long as I can remember. Ken cut his engine about 100 yards to the East and slowly poled his boat Westward with the incoming tide. It did not take long for both of us to spot two permit tailing right on top of a rockpile. I quickly cast my crab and once it landed, quickly reeled it on the surface to a spot not more than two feet uptide of the busy fish. The combination of a far away "splashdown" coupled with a close presentation did the trick and one of the permit whirled upward and sucked in my crab.
I let my line come tight and I struck the fish smartly. The ensuing fight was a close quarters combat of trying to keep the fish out of the soft corals and then a fast pursuit by engine once the fish blasted into the channel on a scorching series of runs. After a 20-minute battle, we had the fish alongside the skiff. After a quick lift up for a "grip and grin" photo, we released the battler, which seemed about twenty pounds.
Since our area was "motored-up", Ken ran his skiff about three hundred yards south to a channel which featured a strip flat in the center. After Ken poled halfway across the flat, he staked out the boat by anchor. After he came forward to the bow casting platform, he pointed to a sandy strip 30 feet downtide in the two 0' clock position, and said, "start watching for permit finning out over the area."
A half hour passed, but then both of us started seeing flashes along the bottom of the strip. Ken said he was sure they were permit feeing on crabs on the bottom. He quickly changed over to a pompano jig and worked the offering with the tide across the sand. On the third presentation, his rod heeled over and his drag starting screaming the blues. Ken's fighting ability made a short song of it and soon, we were releasing a six-pound permit. I rigged my rod the same way and followed up with a fish of the same size not long after his little prize was released.
As the incoming tide was about to crest, Ken eased off the flat and let the boat drift with the tide until we were approaching a big flat west of the Ragged Keys. He began poling and then called out "school of permit at one O'clock." I instantly saw a bunch of huge permit circling over a sandy basin. All it took was a quick uptide cast and one of the fish gobbled the crab. While this permit was clearly the biggest fish we hooked, I felt less nervous since the entire bottom was grass without any corals. We fought the fish without incident and boated it for pictures in about forty-five minutes. It looked about thirty pounds.
After all the excitement of a magic mission accomplished in such short order, we were happy to call it a day.
Permit Fishing Pointers
Permit have a higher minimum water temperature requirement than bonefish. Generally, permit start entering the flats when the water temperatures hit the mid-seventies.
Conversely, permit can tolerate extremely hot water temperatures long after the bonefish have left the flats. In fact, there is no hot summer month or time of day when catching a permit is not possible.
Though it's a common contention among Florida Keys flats guides that permit go offshore to spawn in May, there's always permit around since this event does not occur en masse. In other parts of the Caribbean, the timing of the permit spawn is far more complex.
Permit grab baits and conduct their battle in the entire water column - this means the surface of the water all the way to the very bottom. Neither the bonefish nor tarpon can claim this height of a feeding and fighting range.
If you want permit on the flats, think about crabs and think about structure. This means hard and soft corals, rock piles, reefy recesses, and potholes on the flats themselves. In the channels next to the flats, focus on wind-driven weed lines, flotsam, as well as pilings and channel markers where crabs might hide. Naturally, permit can be found cruising on the way to all these points.
Of course, the primary determinant for entry is water height on the flats and because permit are more deep-bodied than bonefish, they require deeper water starting around eighteen inches. The high spring tides in Florida offer the highest water on the flats where the permit can get into flats waters that were previously inaccessible. The big tides of Fall offer even deeper waters for the now more free-ranging permit.
There are five ways permit make themselves known. First, by cruising. Second, by tailing. Third, by finning into the current over basins. Fourth, by flashing or "mooning" in large groups on channel edges. Fifth, by parasitically following rays that create muds and dislodge crabs and such.
Regarding presentation of bait, lures, or fly, "lead" your permit if it is cruising. If the fish is tailing, make the presentation closer to the fish.
If the waters are ultra-calm, go to lighter and smaller baits and artificials, lighter lines and leaders, and keep casts to the permit further away and more delicate. In windier weather, permit tolerate closer casts, heavier leader construction, larger baits and slightly larger lures. Not surprisingly, many veteran permit anglers prefer breezy weather.
Once the permit has seen your presentation, use the mood and behavior of your fish to decide what to do next. Live baits generally "fish themselves." With fly and artificial, keep retrieving if the fish attacks the offering. For curious "window shoppers", letting the presentation drop to the bottom like a hiding crab may cause a "taildown" and take. Each permit is different.
Remember that the key to a permit strike on bait, lure, or fly is to have life-simulating movement accompanied by visibly swimming legs. All baits should be live and include small crabs, mantis shrimp, or common shrimp. Flies and lures should generally follow the same appearance and retrieve action guidelines. There will always be exceptions.
Author/writer Jan S. Maizler is CyberAngler's Travel and Article Editor.
Jan is a past IGFA world record holder for bonefish on two-pound test line and permit on four-pound test line. He has caught and released over two thousand bonefish and one thousand tarpon in his angling career. Jan has been fishing in salt water since 1962.
In 1977 he published his first flats fishing book entitled Flats Fishing. Since then, he has written eight books and published hundreds of articles on angling in many leading websites and magazines. His newest book is Fishing Florida's Flats by University Press of Florida.
He has been a long-time angler and resource of Miami's Biscayne Bay, a fishery that offers some of the largest bonefish in the world. Jan has travelled the world over in his angling pursuits. For more information on Jan, search his name, Jan Maizler, on Yahoo.com or Google.com. Read more About Jan.
Author/writer Jan S. Maizler is CyberAngler's Travel and Article Editor.