Permit (Trachinotus falcatus) is a popular sport fish on fly and light tackle.

Permit can grow to more than 50+ pounds in weight. A 15- to 20-pound permit is a common sight, and the fish can easily exceed 3 feet in length. Permit can live long lives. In a study of specimens from Tampa Bay and the Florida Keys, a 3-foot permit was aged at 23 years. Because this species can grow about an additional foot, researchers believe its life span may be even longer.

For a permit in Florida, life typically begins in spring or summer, though spawning in the Keys may occur year-round. Permit are multiple-batch spawners, meaning one fish can produce and shed eggs more than once a season. Reproduction typically takes place offshore over reefs 33 to 100 feet deep.

Permit grow out of the larval stage and settle in their nursery habitat within 15 to 20 days of hatching.  A study in the Florida Keys found newly settled juveniles (less than 1 inch in standard length and less than 1 month old) along windward beaches in every month but July. Over the next two to three years of their lives, permit reach sexual maturity and, at an estimated 22 inches for females and 19.4 inches for males, about half of their potential size.

Permit frequent offshore wrecks, oil platforms, and artificial reefs, as well as grass and sand flats, deep channels, and holes inshore. On the flats, permit are a more challenging catch than bonefish, tarpon, or any other sport fish that inhabits the area, but this is why we enjoy the challenge.