Permit

Another species anglers are catching on our charters are permit. This popular sport fish often gets mistaken for Florida pompano. Permit can grow much larger than pompano, up to 15 or 20 pounds with a length exceeding 3 feet in length. The more common size for permit is around 40 to 50 pounds. While larger permit are more easily distinguishable than pompano, the smaller sized fish can be more difficult to tell apart. Small permit have orange patches on chins, fins and bellies, whereas pompano have yellow coloring. Other differences are, permit have small teeth on their tongues and pompano don’t have any teeth at all and permit are up to 48” in fork length compared to 25” fork length for pompano. Permit can be found along offshore wrecks, oil platforms and artificial reefs as well as grass and sand flats and holes located inshore.