Photos and Stories: Big Permit in The Bahamas

Written by: Jeremy Kehrein, Sporting Travel Program Manager for Orvis Adventures


This gorgeous permit was feeding off the back of a ray and was very particular about pattern.
Photo by Christiaan Pretorius

A few years ago, we posted about Orvis Adventures customer Bob Cosgriff catching a permit of a lifetime on the outer islands of the Bahamas. Bob is obsessed with the species and spends countless hours in pursuit of shots at these elusive game fish. He surely spends a lot more time looking for these fish than actually seeing or even landing them, but each year he travels to Abaco Lodge in the Bahamas to kick off their fall season and target mostly permit.


The flat-calm water on the second day meant that Bob’s casts had to be perfect to avoid spooking the permit.
Photo by Travis Sands

As you can see, Bob had a good couple of days on the flats. He had good weather for half of the trip and made the best of the challenging conditions during the rest, and the result was two permit to the boat. The first fish came off a ray that was stirring up the bottom, and Bob had enough time to cast his fly multiple times and even change flies before finally getting a solid eat. The second fish came on dead-calm day, when seriously stealthy casts were required.

Congratulations, again, Bob!


Permit #1 goes back to fight another day.
Photo by Christiaan Pretorius

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *