Permit fishing in Biscayne Bay

In Biscayne Bay, permit peak April–June and August–October and are around year-round, spawning in April–June, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. April: Spawning on the nearshore wrecks and reefs; Special Permit Zone catch-and-release season — check MyFWC.

1. JanuaryAroundOn the offshore wrecks; flats only in a warm spell.
2. FebruaryAroundSnook opens; kings and cobia nearshore; the flats reload between fronts. Snook harvest opens the 1st — the inlets and bridges. Cobia and kings on the wrecks; bonefish and permit on the flats when the water tops 72.
3. MarchArrivingFish tail on the bay flats as the water warms; first fish on the wrecks.
4. AprilSpawningSpawning on the nearshore wrecks and reefs; Special Permit Zone catch-and-release season — check MyFWC.
5. MaySpawningPeak wreck spawn around the full moon; tagging traced one Biscayne fish 120 miles to a wreck south of Key West.
6. JuneSpawningLast spawn moons offshore; flats fish on the oceanside of Key Biscayne.
7. JulyAroundSummer: snook, snapper and bones before the heat. Fish the first two hours of light: snook on the beach, bonefish on the flats; then the reef and the bridges for snapper.
8. AugustPeakFlats peak — the bay flats and Stiltsville banks on the morning incoming.
9. SeptemberPeakStill on the flats and the wrecks.
10. OctoberPeakMullet run peak: snook, tarpon, jacks on every inlet and beach. The best beach fishing of the year — follow the mullet schools. Bones and permit on the flats; kings begin to return nearshore.
11. NovemberAroundSailfish begin; bones on the fall tides; snook at the inlets. Bonefish on the oceanside flats on the big fall tides; snook in the inlets; kings and the first cobia on the wrecks.
12. DecemberAround

Biscayne Bay's grass flats and the finger channels between them, the bayside mangrove shorelines of the national park, the inlets (Government Cut, Haulover, Port Everglades), and the reef line within a couple of miles of the beach.

Fish Scouter charts 515 artificial reef, 478 grass flat, 391 wreck, 1 channel edge spots in the Miami & Biscayne Bay map area — the kinds permit hold on.

• Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.
• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.

• Leader20–30 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook1/0–3/0
• Jig head3/8–1/2 oz
• Braid15–20 lb

Feeds in 70–90°F water, best at 74–86°F.

All about permit · Miami & Biscayne Bay, the whole year