Permit abound in Belize. Certain stretches of water, from the northern outside flats of Ambergris Cay, south to the waters past Placencia and the Monkey River, have tremendous numbers. Some of the flats off the coast of Dangriga and Placencia individually produce over 20 sightings of large permit on a single incoming tide.

There are also phenomenal numbers of permit around the rich waters of the Turneffe Islands. Turneffe Flats Lodge is in the enviable position of having this tremendously productive area almost to itself.

Over the past ten years I have chased permit, bonefish, and tarpon on the flats with some of the best guides in Belize. Permit especially elicit the greatest debates about technique and strategies; I've listened to all of them at one time or another.

I have learned most from three experts: David Westby, who guides out of Placencia and Dangriga and occasionally Blue Marlin Lodge; Winston "Pops" Cabral, who guides for Turneffe Flats Lodge; and California angler Will Bauer, who has taken more than 50 permit on a crab pattern he designed. Despite some minor differences in technique, these three share a common set of principles that they consider essential. Here is a brief summary of their most important ones:

1. Flies. Use small, crablike patterns about the size of a nickel. Del Brown's famous Merkin fly is a killer. Favorite colors for crab patterns include tan, dark-olive green, or a mixture of both. In water less than four feet deep, use a lightly-weighted fly that enters the water with a minimum of commotion. The small fly will not alarm the fish if it lands softly.

2. Fly placement. If the permit is feeding, put the fly as close to the fish as you can. If the permit is not feeding, and if you can predict its path of travel, cast ahead of the fish. Time your cast so the fly will descend toward the bottom, or rest on the bottom, just as the permit swims to it.

Know how to read the movements of a permit--only cast when you are sure it can locate the fly. It is not enough to merely see the fish. You must know the direction in which it is feeding, and what it is doing. Try and locate s exact position by observing its tail or dorsal fin, or both. When you know which way the fish is looking and feeding, make your cast.

As soon as the fly touches down and begins to sink, pull all the curves out of the line without pulling in the fly. A straight line will telegraph any slight pull or unnatural tension as the fish sucks in the pattern and begins to move.

3. Retrieves. Do not strip the fly with a conventional "bonefish strip" (six to eight inches at a time). Use a very small, steady pulling motion that moves the fly like a crawling crab. In many cases, permit actually take a motionless fly.

4. Setting the hook. Never set the hook by lifting the rod. If the fish has not taken the fly, this motion will spook it by moving the fly too far and too fast. Set the hook with a solid "strip" or pull with your line-hand, leaving the rod pointed at the fish. If the line is straight to the fish, this will drive the hook home.

This is not easy fishing. In approximately 25 days of specialized sight fishing just for permit in Belize, I have seen hundreds of them. Only 14 have taken my fly, and I have only landed 4.

5. Tackle. Favored rods for this fishing are 9-foot, 8-weights, and 9 1/2-foot, 9-weights. Leaders should be about 12 feet long, tapered to .012" to .015" tippets. Most experts favor hard nylon, such as Mason, or fluorocarbon tippets, such as Umpqua's Deceiver material. Reels should be of high saltwater quality with at least 250 yards of 30-pound backing.