Species

Permit

The hardest fish on the flats: deep-bodied, silver, with sickle-shaped fins and a taste for crabs. Catch a bonefish, a tarpon and a permit in one day and you have the "grand slam".

Trachinotus falcatus

Photo: SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC., Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, adjusted to 3:2

Spawning: Spawns offshore in open water (FishBase, Wikipedia); our sources give no season.
Typical method: Sight casting crab flies on the flats
Top bait: Live crab

Plan a day fishing for Permit

How to recognise it

Deep, strongly compressed body, narrow seen head-on
Dorsal and anal fins with dark sickle-shaped front lobes, deeply forked tail, no scutes on the lateral line
Large orange-yellow patch on the belly in front of the anal fin, dark pectoral fins

Easily confused with: Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) and palometa (T. goodei) look similar, especially as juveniles. Reliable permit marks are the orange-yellow belly patch and the dark front lobes of the fins (Wikipedia). The genus has 20 species (German Wikipedia).

How to catch it

Methods: Sight casting crab flies on the flats, Drifting live crabs over wrecks and reefs, Light spinning with a jig and shrimp along channel edges

Baits: Live crab, Crab fly, Shrimp, Jig with shrimp imitation

On the flats on a rising tide, when the sickle-shaped tail tips show as the fish root in the bottom; offshore over wrecks year round (rule of thumb from travel offers). In south Florida harvest is closed from May to July (see rules).

Habitat and food

Western Atlantic from Massachusetts to southeastern Brazil including the Bahamas and many West Indian islands; reports from Africa are misidentifications (FishBase). Adults in channels and holes, over sand flats and around reefs, usually 0 to 30 m, solitary or in small groups; juveniles in the surf zone (FishBase, Wikipedia).

Adults eat mollusks, crabs, shrimp and small fish, juveniles benthic invertebrates (FishBase).

Size and age

FishBase: max. 122 cm, commonly around 94 cm, maximum published weight 36 kg, maximum age 23 years. Record fish according to Sport Fishing Magazine: 60 lb (27.2 kg) from Paranagua, Brazil, 2002; IGFA database not accessed.

Protection and rules

Conservation status: IUCN: Least Concern (2012; FishBase). Florida: in the Special Permit Zone south of Cape Florida and Cape Sable one fish per angler per day of at least 22 inches fork length, no more than two per vessel, harvest closed from May 1 to July 31, hook and line only; outside the zone two fish between 11 and 22 inches, one of which may be larger (Salt Water Sportsman 2012; the FWC page was blocked for us on 19 Oct 2026, check the current rule). Belize: catch and release only for bonefish, tarpon and permit since 2009 (CZMAI brochure 2019). Bahamas: the flats regulations cover permit, licence and guide rules as for bonefish (bahamas.com).

Rules by country

Size limits, bag limits, seasons and licences are set by each country, in the USA by each state. Pescaday does not list these rules: check them with your operator and the national authority before you fish. Notes with sources are given above under conservation status. Licence pages: Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, USA. Fishing travel guide

In the kitchen

Excellent food fish (FishBase). On the flats of Belize, Mexico and Cuba it is released as a rule, in Belize by law.

Sources (7)

Last checked 2026-10-19. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].

Know more?

Additions, photos of your catches or a mistake in the text: write to us and we will gladly credit you as a helper.

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