Permit Fly Fishing In Islamorada, FL

Permit have a way of turning otherwise rational fly anglers into obsessive lunatics. They are difficult to find, difficult to approach, and even harder to feed, which is exactly why so many of us spend an unreasonable amount of time looking for them. Islamorada and the Upper Keys sit beside an enormous network of banks, basins, and shallow flats in Florida Bay that permit move onto to feed, creating one of the best places in Florida to hunt them with a fly rod.

A day of permit fishing here usually involves a lot of looking. We pole across shallow banks, work edges where deeper water meets the flat, and scan large stretches of turtle grass for anything that looks different. A patch of nervous water, a mud cloud in the wrong place, or the flash of a black tail can be enough to change the entire direction of the boat. Sometimes a fish gives itself away from a long distance. Other times it appears fifty feet away and immediately puts everyone on the skiff into scramble mode.

Permit spend much of their lives in deeper water where they are relatively comfortable. When they move onto the flats, everything changes. In shallow water they become wary of boats, shadows, noise, and just about anything else that looks out of place. We look for wakes, pushes, nervous water, muds, and the big black tails that give feeding fish away. Sometimes they travel alone, other times in small groups or schools, and each situation requires a slightly different approach.

Some fish are clearly feeding and give you time to work into position. Others cruise steadily across a bank and force the shot to happen quickly. A permit may follow the fly all the way to the boat before deciding something isn't right, or completely ignore a presentation that looked perfect to everyone involved. That unpredictability is part of what makes them so addictive. You never really know how a fish is going to react until the fly is in front of it.

Catching one requires a lot to go right. The boat has to get into position without being noticed, the angler has to make an accurate presentation, and the permit still has to decide that whatever is being dragged across the bottom looks enough like a crab or shrimp to eat. Even after everything is done correctly, there are no guarantees. Most of the time they win, but we celebrate the occasional times they lose.