By CAM Staff
Landing a permit in a kayak is an accomplishment; they’re tough to see, tough to approach, sometimes finicky about eating, and stubborn fighters. But nothing in flats fishing is more satisfying than grabbing a large permit by the tail for a photo. While out in the kayak, the three primary ways to encounter these silver slabs are when they tail, float, or simply when you see them through the water column.
The kayak has some unique advantages with tailing and floating fish. Tailing permit (and bonefish), will get in amazingly shallow water, especially on an incoming tide. And permit, with their tall bodies, push more water than many of the other fish you’ll see on a flat, making them easier to spot. Most flats are not of uniform depth; at low tide, they are a series of small gullies and troughs with exposed bottom in between, and these areas can be tricky or impossible for a boat to navigate, but a kayak only draws 3 to 4 inches of water, so maneuvering around the flats at low tide is a breeze. Also, this allow you to approach the fish from the inside, or shallow side of a flat, rather than from the deeper, outside water. This set up is great because fish are probably expecting predators from the direction of shallow water.
Floating permits are one of the coolest things you’ll see in flats fishing. Sometimes you’ll find them floating in the open, but usually it’s on a channel edge, or in a patch of Sargasso weed in 3 to 6 feet of water. The spike shaped tips of their dorsal fin and tail are the only thing sticking above the surface, and the low angle of sight from the kayak is actually an advantage in this situation. Looking through a small monocular, you can survey a patch of Sargasso weed or a channel edge at some distance, without alerting any fish that are there, and determine the best way to approach them.
Whether tailing or floating, permit can be very spooky fish to approach, especially in calm conditions. But the stealth of a kayak is a huge advantage; you can silently pole or paddle and slide into casting range undetected. The kayak presents a low profile, enabling anglers to get closer to the fish, and giving them a few extra seconds to get a good shot at a fish before they move out of range or spook.
The number of permit for this time of year have been way above normal, so paddle out there and find yourself a floater or tailer!
[easy-social-share]