🌊 Best on the flood💨 Likes calm wind📅 Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Sep, Oct
- Water temp
- 72–86°F
- Depth
- 2–20 ft
- Max weight
- 30.9lb
- Day vs night
- ☀️ 🌙
Permit are the deep-bodied, silver cousins of pompano, famous on the Keys flats and increasingly targeted in the southeast Atlantic surf from Jupiter to Palm Beach and along the Gulf beaches of southwest Florida. Shore anglers find them in the troughs just behind the first bar, along beach points and inlet edges, and wading the Keys flats on a rising tide when they push up to feed on crabs. Clear water, bright sun for spotting and a good tidal flow around the new and full moons all help. From the surf, fish a sand flea or small live crab on a pompano or fish-finder rig with 20–30 lb fluorocarbon, a 1/0–3/0 circle hook and 2–4 oz of lead; on the flats, a small live crab freelined or a crab-style jig cast ahead of a cruising fish. They are powerful and run far, so bring 20 lb braid and plenty of it. Permit are mostly released; check current FWC rules before keeping one.
Best bait for permit
- 1 Blue Crab
- 2 Sand Fleas (Mole Crabs)
- 3 Pompano Jig
- 4 Live Shrimp
- 5 Bucktail Jig
Rigs that work
- 1 Pompano Rig
- 2 Fish-Finder Rig
- 3 Freeline Live Bait
- 4 Jighead
