BigBendFishing.Net

True story. I'm new to the board but since I check in often to steal all the info I can I decided I needed to contribute. The logical response to the Permit line is BS! -but it's true. We caught it in a trawl in the channel out of the FSU Marine Lab. I teach there and we were working the trawl west of the Turkey Point shoal near the channel and up came a Permit. I'm guessing it went about 3 lbs. I know fish but I still couldn't believe it. I showed it to another biologist who has done sampling all over the state for years and he confirmed my ID.

good 1st post! how do you tell the difference between permit and pompano? also, i know there are a few dirt roads near there, is it legal to walk back in there and fish from shore?

Good report. Keep em coming

(ps...here ya go Chalk...a source for "YAK" fishing)

Nice report... So you yak fish! I'm looking at getting into it. Need a yak first, though.

Distinguishing Permit from Pompano was, for me initially, more based on a familiarity with Pompano and knowing that this fish looked different. Inverts is more my trade and my knowledge of fish is mostly from years of fishing. The Permit looked thicker above the eye. I've also seen plenty of photos so I guessed Permit. Like I wrote above I was not convinced until I showed it to a biologist who specializes in fish indentification. He said that the quickest way to tell the difference is size. Pompano don't get bigger than 7-8 lbs and Permit can make 50. A small Permit within the Pompano's size range can be ID'd by the general "deepness" of the fish -particularly at it's forehead.
Getting to Turkey Point? You can walk in the many trails east of the Lab. It's St Joe land so it's nobody will be around to tell you not to. (for now)

thanks littoral!