Setting up permit tackle for offshore means rigging beefed-up versions of your flats gear so you can sight-cast a live crab or jig it to the mid water column over a wreck. In this How 2 Tuesday, fresh off filming Into the Blue with Captain Steve Roger and Captain Scott Walker, I break down how I set up for permit on the Gulf wrecks. I cover the seven-foot rods, the reels and braid, the fluorocarbon leaders, and the four-ought circle hook, and then how to fish a live crab, whether the permit are tailing on the surface, holding in clear water, or invisible and marked only on the electronics around the middle of the water column.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Start close to your flats setup, then add backbone for the wreck. I run a seven-foot rod, but offshore I bump from a medium-heavy flats rod to a heavier ten- to twenty-pound action so I can turn a fish away from the structure. I pair it with a Daiwa 4000 or 5000 reel, twenty-pound braid at the lightest, a twenty-five- to forty-pound fluorocarbon leader, and a four-ought circle hook, with several rods rigged bare and others with light and heavier jigs.
On the flats I like a seven-foot medium-heavy rod such as a St. Croix Mojo or Legend Inshore in the eight- to seventeen-pound range with a fast tip, paired with a Daiwa 3000 Saltist or Ballistic. Offshore I step up to a seven-foot heavier ten- to twenty-pound action rod with more backbone and a Daiwa 4000 or 5000 reel, because the deeper water and the wreck give the permit a chance to break you off if you are undergunned.
On the flats I use about a foot and a half of fluorocarbon and a four-ought circle hook with a live crab, and the weight of the crab lets you cast it on a bare hook. Offshore I keep the four-ought circle hook but go to a heavier twenty-five- to forty-pound fluorocarbon leader because the wreck can cut you off. Having several rods pre-rigged with bare hooks plus a couple with light and heavier jigs lets you adapt fast.
When it is cloudy and nothing is showing on the surface, remember a permit is roughly a mid water column fish, so over fifty feet of water they often hold around twenty-five feet down. Mark them on your electronics, then either drop a crab with a split shot or jig straight down if you can hold over them, or set up a drift over the wreck and pay out line until your crab reaches about the middle of the column, where schooled permit bite very well.
A live crab is the permit's favorite food and it also keeps you from catching everything else. Fished over a wreck a crab largely avoids the jack crevalles and amberjacks that would otherwise eat you up, though you may pick up a cobia or a goliath grouper down low. A well-presented crab, whether thrown to a tailing fish or jigged to the mid column, generally gets bit, which makes it the centerpiece of the whole setup.
Three scenarios. On a clear, sunny day permit tail on the surface and you throw a regular live crab right at them, sometimes in a hundred feet of water. On a sunny day with fish holding twenty feet down in clear water, you use a light jig to reach the visible school. And on a cloudy day with nothing showing, you mark fish on the machine and drift a crab on a jig, often pink, down to about half the water column.
My offshore permit gear is really my flats gear with more muscle. I explain why I keep the seven-foot length and the four-ought circle hook but step up the rod action, reel size, and leader for the wreck in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The real skill offshore is catching permit you cannot see. I treat them as a mid-water-column fish, mark them on the electronics, and drift or drop a crab to about half the depth. I describe how to pay out line over a wreck and stay off the bottom in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Tailing fish on top, a school holding twenty feet down, or nothing showing at all, each calls for a different presentation, from a bare-hook crab to a light jig to a pink jig on the drift. I walk through all three in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Permit are my favorite fish, and the offshore wrecks are a fantastic place to chase them. Rig a little heavier than the flats, keep a live crab in the mix, and learn to reach the mid column, and you will hook up whether you can see them or not.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
permit · offshore wrecks · live crab · Into the Blue · Steve Roger · Scott Walker · Daiwa · St. Croix · circle hook · mid water column · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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