Permit can show themselves, tails and fins wagging, just feet from an angler and slip under the surface in water shallower than their thin body is tall. They may vanish in water that is crystal clear and calm, leaving not even the slightest wake. But permit are not elusive. They are everywhere in such locations as the Mexican Yucatan, Belize, and Honduras, and they are often willing to eat.
Permit
Permit are in the jack family, and are closely related to pompano, which also feed mostly on crabs and shrimp. Permit, however, when hungry, can be voracious predators, chasing down large baitfish or squid, contradicting their reputation as timid feeders that only eat crabs. These fish live in tropical waters around the globe, and they come into the shallow flats found throughout the Caribbean where they are pursued by fly fishers. Because the permit is often so difficult to catch, the fish is regarded as saltwater fly fishing's most coveted trophy.
Put the Fly in front of the Fish
When fishing for permit, if the fish spook for one reason or another, they will usually flee, but often they whirl around after startling, and begin feeding again. Spooking the fish by casting too close is frustrating, but it also means the cast was just inches from putting the fly where it needed to be. The most important thing when fly fishing for permit is a responsibility of the angler: the fish must see the fly. Even if the fly in the water is a crab that is supposed to remain motionless on the bottom, if the fish passes it over, by all means, strip the fly or cast again. There is no way to predict a fish changing directions, and often it will, coming right back to the fly's previous location, but the fish must have the fly directly in its headway, so cast again, or strip it however you must to get it in place. Once on the fly, if a permit is hungry, it will generally follow the fly for a short distance as it is stripped, and then either the fish will turn away, or the line will tighten.
Flies and Feeding Habits
Often shrimp flies are best because they strip well. Rabbit fur on a fly undulates giving any shrimp fly natural motion, and permit love to follow a fly often for some distance before engulfing it or passing it up. Crab flies that swim well when stripped, such as Puglisi's crabs, also work well. If a fish passes the fly up, though wise to cast again, it may mean that the fish is not hungry, and a permit's hunger is also a requirement for success. Often these fish simply will not eat. The type of fly is irrelevant when the fish are not feeding.
Permit are not hungry all the time. Occasionally these fish seem to have a decent memory and though they may remain in the area, they refuse to eat after being even slightly spooked. They cruise almost as if in a daze, showing no interest in whatever is thrown their way. But there may be other factors that influence the permit's feeding habits. As Rogelio Velasco, owner of Pesca Maya lodge on Ascension Bay, Mexico reasons, after nights when the moon was bright, the fish are not hungry. "They are up all night eating, and they are full the next day."
But if luck is on your side, and you place the fly in front of a hungry permit, the fish just might eat, and that is all there is to it. It may take many shots at many fish, but chances are that if you give permit what they wants to see, such as a tasty crab or shrimp (fly), one fish will eventually reward you by taking the fly, and the rest is in your hands.
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