Permit Fishing in Key Largo, FL
The flats grail. Spooky, crab-eating, and famously humbling on fly.
Typical season in Florida
- January: also fished
- February: off peak
- March: peak
- April: peak
- May: peak
- June: peak
- July: also fished
- August: also fished
- September: also fished
- October: also fished
- November: also fished
- December: also fished
Peak months: March to June. Also fished: July to January.
In the Keys and Biscayne Bay Special Permit Zone, permit harvest is closed April 1 to July 31. Catch and release stays open.
Peak months are general guidance for the region, not regulations. Always check your state's current rules and ask us before you book.
Species guide
Permit (Trachinotus falcatus)
- How to identify
- Deep, round silver body, dark sickle-shaped fins and a blunt head.
- Size
- Commonly 10 to 30 pounds; the largest pass 50 pounds
- Lifespan
- Up to about 20 years
- Habitat
- Shallow flats on the tide, plus offshore wrecks and reefs where they spawn.
- Range
- Western Atlantic from Florida and the Gulf of America through the Caribbean to Brazil.
- Diet
- Crabs, shrimp, clams and other shellfish
Did you know? Permit gather by the hundreds over offshore wrecks to spawn in spring and early summer.
