Permit Identification needed

[bgabel]

Can anyone positively identify the fish in the attached picture? I caught it in Aruba and thought is was a Palameto (spelling?) but the more I look at it maybe it was a permit. It was only about 14" long but put up a great fight. I got all excited when I saw the dorcel fin break the surface thinking it was a permit but figured it couldn't have been a permit when I got it in. So if anyone could put an end to this I would appreciate it. I was by myself so the pic isn't the greatest. :confused:

[ruge13]

might help...


www.theoutdoorlodge.com/fishing/species/jacks.html

[ChuckD]

granted a micro-permit(as I like to call them) but a permit nonetheless. I caught one down in Aruba myself(along with some decent bonefish!)

[ruge13]

At first glance thought it might be a bar jack with the profile, however the anal and dorsal fins are way too proportionaly pronounced for any other jack, my vote is permit.

[titleguy]

I've caught those "micro" permit in April around Sarasota FL fishing around deeper rocks. Fight like crazy, I thought I had a Pompano until I saw the longer dorsal and anal fin. Three years ago, I caught quite a few in this one spot. :-%

[Mark Cahill]

from FishBase is a dead ringer

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Trachinotus&speciesname=falcatus

[BobG]

I think that fish is called a pompano, and is a first cousin of the permit. The exagerated, black dorsal and anal fins sort of give it away.
I caught a whole buch of those one evening on the "airport flats" on Eleuthera one year.
By the way, they fight like hell for their size! :eek:

[bgabel]

Great guys thanks for confirming it!!! --127-3- That website definitely confirms it, there was another picture of a juvenile permit and it is a dead ringer. I can't believe it that I caught a permit, my first! I need to go celebrate. I caught a ton of these baby permit about the size of the one attached. I couldn't keep them off my fly, they kept me from catching a nice bonefish because a school of them would get to the fly before the bonefish would see it. Maybe Aruba has a decent population because there were thousands on the one flat I was fishing, got to be some larger ones out there.

[Mark Cahill]

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Trachinotus&speciesname=goodei

If it was a permit, I doubt you'd have had a problem keeping them off your fly. There was a time not so long ago when they were thought to be uncatchable by the fly. Apparently a crab pattern is the only thing they'll touch.

We'll have Jack Samson, the author of "Fly Fishing for Permit" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0881505803/reeltimetheint00/104-0418204-8189512) in Ask The Authors next week, so let's ask the expert...

[Slamdance]

Looks like a Pompano to me.

[widdoes]

My money's on the Palometa(http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/pomppalo.html), but tough to tell from the picture. The lack of vertical bars is interesting, but the apparent bluish tint makes me think palometa. Also, the wilingness to take a fly, as these are no permit in that respect. Used to have a ball with them in the marinas in the Bahamas. Schools would cruise and eat everything. A pretty fish, and it sure beats sitting here up to your tookus in snow, eh.
Good one.
WJ

[Guy]

While permit have long black tipped anal and dorsal fins, they do not extend all the way to the tail. The fish in question here has a fin length that is more typical of the palometa, although it is missing the bars on the side that palometa typically carry. I have caught several similar fish in the Bahamas thinking they were palameta as well. Now I am curious, I'll have to go back through my fish pics to see if they are barred on the side or not.

Thanks all for posting. It's -40 outside here and looking over tropical fish pictures gives me a warm fuzzzy!

[Tom Kelly]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Aruba in the fall. I'm taking a flyrod ,and plan to do a little fishing. I would appreciate any information you could give me on your Aruba flyfishing adventure.

[bgabel]

You guys are killing me here, first getting me all excited saying it was a permit and now everyone says it is a palametto. Whatever it was it was fun to catch, but it would be nice if it was my first permit. I wait to see what the expert says next week!

[bgabel]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Aruba in the fall. I'm taking a flyrod ,and plan to do a little fishing. I would appreciate any information you could give me on your Aruba flyfishing adventure.


Tom Kelly,
I posted a lot of info on my trip on a past posting. Do a search on this forum for Aruba you should find it. If not let me know and I will give you all the info I know. Basically Aruba is a great place, fishing is decent and well worth the effort to bring the fly rod. You can definitely catch bonefish, Permit is in question but research I did before my trip said there is permit around. My suggestion for you is to get to baby beach at sunrise before the crowds and fish the inlet into the protected beach area. THere were large schools of what I though were palemetto but there was one very large one that looked like a permit. Tons of other fish around, large baracuda and I would bet there are bonefish in the shallows before the crowds. I fished the flats where the windsurfers go, saw some feeding bones, caught a few small ones blind casting though. Good luck, you'll have a blast!

[lemaymiami]

That's a palometa. It's a first cousin to the permit, but doesn't get very big at all. They're great little fish. The long black fins are his signature. If you caught it on fly it's just as great a catch as a permit on fly...

[ikan besar]

It's the size that matters: a 2# permit is no greater a catch than a 2# palometa or a 2# pompano, they are all in the same family. We owe the fishing magazines for making permit the holy grail. They are likely sought more often due to how big they can get - neither the pompano or palometa get much above 6-8 pounds (and that would be a whopper).

As to fly patterns, permit will eat a fly that mimics whatever food source is nearby, be it baitfish, baby octopus, crabs, shrimp, etc. In southern Belize you can catch permit on 1" clousers worked near the bottom just as easily as any other pattern. In the Yucatan, a dark brown shrimp pattern works as well as a Merkin Crab.

Be happy you caught that fish regardless of what kind it was, it's a nice looking animal.

[Mark Cahill]

Just finished posting the RT Newswire (http://www.reel-time.com/newswire.php)for the day. Two stories about pompano in there you'll want to check out.

[widdoes]

I was watching FF The World this weekend and, lo and behold, here we are at Boca Paila where I will be returning in April. This week's guest, Scottish comedian Billy Connolley, catches what is clearly a palometta- about 2 lbs, long black dorsal and anal fins and 4 black vertical bars on the side. And everybody starts freaking out that he's caught a permit. Now, I don't mean to diminish any caught fish, but I do have some experience with this species, and they will attack a fly rather willingly. My limited experience with permit (also at BP) has been more along the lines of the nerve-wracking, heart-pounding frustration that you read about in all those nasty magazines (i.e.- I've seen a bunch but never caught one). Also in the show, they announce that the spanish word for permit is "palometta". Now I'm confused!
-Wild John
PS- Bgabel, I'd celebrate your catch regardless, no rerason to waste a cause for celebration! :-% --127-3-

[bgabel]

Just finished posting the RT Newswire (http://www.reel-time.com/newswire.php)for the day. Two stories about pompano in there you'll want to check out.

Mark how do we ask the author of the permit book about the idenfication of the picture? I am still up in the air about this debate.

[ruge13]

When the Permit forum is up soon, just post the question in there and it will be answered..:)