Permit flies

Questions about Saltwater Fishing

Permit flies

Postby jaym » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:22 pm

Hello Larry,

I wanted to get your thoughts on permit flies. Permit flies seem to run the gamut from ultra realistic to impressionistic. Personally my success have been on flies that "act" like a piece of food versus ones that are very detailed. I searched the forum and you seemed to have some success on crab flies with the twister tails as claws. Have you had any advances you would like to share?

We can talk about tarpon flies next.

Jason
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Re: Permit flies

Postby dahlberg » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:20 pm

The flies I had great success in "open" water over wrecks had flat deerhair bodies, marinetex with lead imbedded bellies, and a latex curly tail made from a dental dam to simulate the swimmerets, not the claws. If tail was too long they wouldn't bite it. also wanted it to fall at a diagonal angle, not straight down. gotta read the fish of course. fly was a total kamakazee to cast.
Strategy as when to cast comes much more into play when fishing the flats imo.
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L
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Re: Permit flies

Postby jaym » Fri Jan 15, 2016 2:39 pm

Larry,

You are right about the strategy as to when to cast on the flats. And just when you think that you have made progress and gaining and edge you get a bunch of refusals and start the process all over.

Interestingly I have been in the Keys the last few years and have gotten pretty good at predicting when there will be a crab flush. I think this is a breeding behavior but you will see a large amount of crabs floating out on a tide, some holding onto grass/flotsam and others just floating but as you noticed the only thing moving is the swimmerets. We get a similar flush on the west coast of Florida but the crabs do tend to swim more and you will see them dimpling the surface. Tarpon love them. I was at the BTT symposium last year and one of the sessions was on Permit and Mike Holiday talked about an open water scenario like you mentioned but he said his key was that the belly of the crab has to be white or they will not eat the fly.

Jason
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Re: Permit flies

Postby dahlberg » Fri Jan 15, 2016 4:03 pm

When the wind is blowing 20+, and it's tipping the fish over when they tail, the water is cloudy, and they're rooting for a crab you can bomb an egg sinker with a cut out hunk of bathroom sponge on them and they might eat it. Fooling them when they have good viz and they're munching on crabs in open water is a whole 'nother deal from what I've observed. I've had a few actually hit a crab fly that was skimming on the surface, coming up like a GT from straight behind and eating it with their back out of the water also. If I was going to go back and chase them that's a category of flies and tactic I would continue to explore.
I know one thing for sure, and it's one of my immutable laws of angling, "you can't catch a fish that knows you're after it."
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L
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Re: Permit flies

Postby jaym » Fri Jan 15, 2016 5:12 pm

Larry

The second permit I caught on top water did exactly what you described. I fish with a captain in Key West that has been refining that technique the last few years and it is really awesome. The sound they make when they suck down something of the surface is unique. I have no doubt they would eat a diver.

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