Now that the Juno Beach fishing pier is officially open 24 hours the Permit bite will be on! "Team Pier Rat" will have to be in full effect once again. Over the past few seasons my crew and I have caught a slew of monster permit on this new pier. We use calico crabs which we catch up in the surf line using dead fish or chicken in a crab trap. The hoop nets work rather well if you place a small mesh screen inside the ring and then fasten your crab bait to the screen. Wire ties also work to secure the screen inside the hoop-net (for those rough nights).

Once we have a bunch of live calico crabs we head out to the tee to cast them out and then sit around and wait for bite. I have caught probably more permit at night then in the daytime. They have those big round eyes that I believe assists them in locating the crabs in the sand. I primarily use a 4/0 on a 8-10 foot bridge rod so that I can reach out and touch someone on the cast. My fishing rig consists of 30 feet of 80 or 100 pound wind-on leader, so that if those monsters get me up around the barnacle covered pilings I will have no trouble keeping the line from chaffing and breaking off. For a hook I use a #5-7 Gamagutzu circle hook. Sinker depends on the ocean, if it's really rough with a stiff wind and current I'll use a grappling type weight or satellite as they are known in tackle stores. But, most of the time I just use a 5 to 6 ounce bank sinker on a sliding swivel.

Permit are very temperamental on the bite, they tend to drop the crab if they feel the least resistance. This is why I use a light clicker and the sliding weight rig. The weight will remain in the sand while the permit takes the bait and starts his run. The reason for the circle hook is simple, with all that line out and the fish running out, and the weight back in the sand I just lock over and start reeling. When the permit running and the reeling line both come tight against one another, that circle hook does the job and sets up usually right in the cheese (right in the corner of the mouth). If you've never caught a permit you don't know what you've been missing. My biggest to this day is 40 pounds. But my buddy Tommy Vreeland caught one 41 pounds and Steve Harts sister came in visiting from Texas and she landed a 44 pounder one night. As for Steve Hart himself well, he has caught a few over 35 pounds to say the least! And I think that Steve's sister still holds the Juno Pier record for the biggest permit.

Good luck fishing and hope to see ya'll up there some night. Until then...bent rods and screamin' drags!