Why Are Permit So Hard to Catch on Fly?
Are Permit really that picky??
Not really, they will eat many things, even part of a turkey sandwich one of my clients fed to them. They can eat baitfish if they feel like it, though of course they seem to prefer shrimp and crabs (who doesn't?).
Are you ready for the brutal truth: Permit flies are just heavier and harder to cast well for most people. That's it. Presentation and accuracy of the fly is much harder than for most other saltwater species. It's that big ol' lead eye on the fly. This is another reason Flexo crabs are so good, because they really aren't as heavy as some of the other crab patterns plus they are less air-resistant and don't get waterlogged either (made of flexible waterproof mesh essentially).
Permit flies are just heavier. It's that simple.
Tarpon flies? Usually unweighted and pretty easy to cast given the size of the rods used (10wt/11wt, even 12wt sometimes). Light, small flies (relative to the rod size) means much easier casts. Hook set is a different story but at least they take the fly in the first place.
Bonefish flies? Are you kidding? The lightest saltwater flies in existence. Easy to cast, plus Bonefish are pretty agreeable to almost anything.
My biggest warning to customers is against the trend lately of fishing lighter and lighter rods for Permit and Tarpon, even for Bonefish. Between high winds on the flats and heavy or cumbersome flies, going from a 10wt to a 9wt for Permit has been rough on beginners. In the old days, I would have far more people buying 10wt rods for Permit and 11-12wt rods for Tarpon. Meanwhile, the flies still weigh the same while the more powerful combos to launch bigger flies are ignored. People want "the most powerful 9wt" but that's called a 10wt...
So what's the bottom line to help you catch more Permit and cast easier? Fish the lightest Permit flies you can get away with relative to water depth. Thank me later. Also, don't strip so fast. Crabs can't move at light speed. Not all crabs can even swim at all, they can only crawl along the bottom. Think like a crab! They scurry, they don't teleport.
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