Outdoors Column | Fishing for the Gulf for the elusive permit
As anglers we usually have a few plans in mind when heading out for a trip. What we want to do might not work out because of bait, weather, or other boats, so we have to have other plans in mind. Occasionally plan B, C or D turns out to be an awesome time.
When I talked with Tom Howard, we wanted to get out last weekend and search some new waters for whatever may bite offshore. Exploring numbers is always fun and seeing what could be on new spots provides a bit of excitement in the hunt.
But then an opportunity arose. Pass crabs. We had the opportunity to pick up a few and there was no chance we were going to pass. This gave us the ability to target the ghosts of the Gulf, permit.
With 14 pass crabs joining 13 dozen shrimp in the livewell we hit the flats to catch some whitebait and pinfish as well. Our plan of searching new spots 30-miles offshore changed quickly to head to nearshore reefs and wrecks to put the pass crabs out for one of the most elusive Gulf fish.
The first spot was void of any permit. On the second spot Howard lowered the Rhodan trolling motor as I sat in the tower of his 26-foot Gause and kept my eyes peeled into the clean and calm Gulf water. The beautiful April weather meant schools of bait all around the horizon. The structure we were fishing left a dark outline behind the boat. Howard and Mike Campbell both tossed crabs out on medium heavy spinning tackle with light 25-pound leader and small circle hooks. In only a few minutes Howard’s crab was the first to be eaten.
I hopped down from the tower when I saw the brilliant silver shine reflect below as it swam around the boat. Campbell cleared his line too. Howard worked the targeted permit boat side as I netted it. It wasn’t the biggest, but we were all extremely excited to see the new plan was coming through.
Campbell tossed his crab back out as I joined in as well. His was the next to be eaten. At first the fish swam back toward the boat. I told him to reel quickly as they will often swim back and spit the hook if pressure is lost. When he got tight and the fish turned it made a blistering run, appearing to be a much larger size. Campbell wasn’t quite sure how big the fish at the end of his line was, as he had never felt the power of the permit.
After 15-minutes Howard and I started to tease Campbell, asking him what was taking so long. Another five minutes and we saw the massive silver shimmer. It still wasn’t quite done and made Campbell work harder than he could have imagined. Another 5 or 10-minutes later the permit was beside the boat, but it was so large it wouldn’t fully fit in the net!
Howard assisted and grabbed the tail as we swung it in together. It went 32-inches to the fork, and probably was in the 30-pound range!
We tossed out the remaining crabs and one by one each was eaten. We caught seven or eight of the permit and lost a handful more. It was an unreal bite on one of the springtime’s coolest fish.
The hardest part of permit fishing is finding them. Three days later I went back on the hunt to five popular permit spots and was unable to coax any into eating. Permit fishing can be hours of boredom followed by minutes of chaos. Those good days are special.
Our plans was to hunt and we accomplished that goal. It just went from hunting new spots to hunting ghostly permit and the result was memorable.