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A real challenge
Permit climb the flats to feed on the crustaceans they find along the way, whether in sandy, sandy-loamy, turtle grass or rocky areas. They often travel in small or large groups, except for the largest specimens, which become solitary.
They are very selective fish and extremely difficult to get to bite! When you're looking for this species, you're bound to get a lot of rejections, and it's a real challenge to get past their distrust and find what they want. The Holy Grail of flats fishing!
A very combative and enduring fish that gives a hell of a feeling on a fly rod.
Fishing situations
Permits are found on deeper flats than bonefish. They are taller fish that need a certain height of water to feed, even if they don't hesitate to have part of their dorsal and caudal fins out of the water to flush out their prey! They can move quite quickly and spot their food very quickly, thanks to their excellent eyesight thanks to their oversized eyes.
There are several fishing situations for the permit.
- Cruising fish
Permits swim quickly in search of food and make short stops in areas where food is abundant. It's not uncommon to see a group of fish swimming below the surface or between two waters, in which case you need to quickly dispatch your fly into their field of vision to try and entice them. They are sometimes biters in this situation, but not always.
- Tailing fish
They regularly stop in certain areas to eat and often tail, i.e. they lift their tail out of the water and sometimes even their dorsal fin, tilting their body towards the bottom to catch prey. In this case, they move more slowly as they feed, giving us a little more time to position our fly. The quality of the presentation is very important in this case, but it's an excellent fishing situation.
- Fish in the waves
They can also come into the surf to take advantage of the waves that churn up and dislodge prey from rocky areas. In this situation, they can be seen literally surfing the waves as they rise, then breaking on the shore. Crab imitations are often more effective in this situation. Permits are sometimes given to other fish such as triggerfish, which have the same behavior and feeding habits, particularly in Mexico.
Imitation shrimp
Shrimp imitations are often used for permit fishing, although some guides and anglers swear by crab-imitating flies for permit fishing.
The advantage of shrimp is that you can more easily intercept a permit or a group of fish by casting well upstream of their trajectory and bringing the fly back into their field of vision. As shrimp swim with jerky movements, this is not a problem and imitates their behavior. We can therefore animate more or less quickly so that our fly passes close to the fish(es) for a good presentation. It is also more permissive in the case of a less precise caster.
Personally, I prefer them.
However, you need to use the right size, the right ballast and the right color to match the substrate on which the fish feed.
In any case, refusals are commonplace, as these fish really do come to inspect your flies, sometimes just a few centimetres behind them!
At other times, the permit will speed off to swallow your imitation without a second thought! Go figure...
The most popular shrimp for permit fishing are :
EP Spawning shrimp, EP Mantis shrimp, Squimp, Avalon Fly, Verveka shrimp,...
Crab flies
Crab flies are among the most widely used imitations for searching for permit, especially when tailing. Some anglers only use crabs for their fishing, although shrimp also work well on this species.
Personally, I've never taken a permit on a crab and all my catches have been made with various imitations of shrimp, whether in Mexico or Cuba.
But crabs do take many permits, as they actively seek them out. However, they are heavier, less easy to cast (catching in the wind) and make for a less delicate landing. In case of tailing, I think this is certainly one of the best flies, all that remains is to find the right size and color of the day!
The best-known crabs are :
Rag head crab, Ep Crab, Alphlexo, Flats crab, Strong Arm merkin, Grand Slam Crab, Bauer Crab,...
