By Marco Pompano, Surf Fishing Guide
I’m really so stoked the permits are back, and I mean the permit fish, the number one fast predator trophy fish. Best eyes in the business, they’re paranoid, they’re elusive, and they only hang out with a few other permits, not a big school. They feed off crab, shrimp, and other crustaceans. They get big, and they’re super hard to catch. In the last few weeks they have arrived in the shallow warm waters, where they’re usually found, mostly going down to the Keys.
People from around the world come down to the Florida Keys to charter boats to get permits as trophy fish. So, guess what? I caught one yesterday. A nice 19-inch, fat and wide permit, a really pretty fish. My friends who fish from Wilbur By the Sea to Ponce Inlet have been getting some monster permits. Nicky Hilliard, for example, got two giants just the other day, not a lot. Sometimes two at a time.
It’s my first one this year and I had my friend Melanie, who fishes with me all the time, reel it in, which she did perfectly. They only come around for a short time. That’s why we target them right now. I caught mine on sand fleas, my friends caught theirs on crabs and fish gum, so it seems they like to eat different things once they decide to feed. Permits are like pompano. You can keep six a day over eleven inches to the fork, meaning tail. You are allowed to keep two, up to 22 inches, per day, with one exceeding 22 inches.
I hate to say it but it seems like the season is coming to a close. I have four poles out right now. I have one keeper pompano, almost thirteen inches to the fork. I’ve thrown back about five that were eleven inches, which I could’ve kept, but they were skinny so I gave them a kiss on the lips and sent them back for another day, or so they could send in their uncle. I’ll gladly catch him. The water is in the mid-80s, so the fish are heading north to cooler waters. Also, at this time of year the shrimp boats come close in, big boats, and with them, we think, the sharks come in, because all my lines have been bitten off by things that are way too big for me to catch.
It’s getting incredibly hot here, so actually the only place to be is standing in the water on the beach, cooling down, waiting for a fish. So, with that in mind, if I were you I would try my hardest to go to the beach. Take a swim, take a surf, take a paddle to enjoy the summer.
As for me, it’s time to head home, take a cold shower, put on my old all-time favorite reggae, Master Lieutenant Stitchie, and me and these pompano and permit are heading to the smoker!
