THE 4TH PERMIT - The Mission Fly Blog

In search of Trachinotus africanus (aka the fourth permit), Oliver White and Jako Lucas went to Oman. They came away with a new permit box ticked and a different way of fishing experienced and a film (now on the F3T film tour).

The rugged Oman coastline

Depending on where you live, you will probably have different ideas of what counts as a permit. There’s the Atlantic permit, Trachinotus atlanticus, which if you’re from North America, Central America or the Caribbean is what will come to mind when permit are mentioned. If you’re from South Africa, the Seychelles, Oman, Australia or elsewhere across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, there’s a good chance you will think of an Indo-Pacific permit, Trachinotus blochii. More recently, other species of permit like the Trachinotus anak found in the tropical waters of Northern Australia, have had their status as legit permit targets solidified by permit fly fishing nuts from all over the world.

There are many variants and sub-species from the greater permit/pompano clan that have claims before the court of public permit opinion. Take for example the Trachinotus mookaleeaka the ‘Indian permit’ and Trachinotus maxillosus aka ‘Guinea permit,’ but they are caught too infrequently and too little is known about them for a solid case to be made. Perhaps the last addition to the confirmed/legit/viable target permit list is the Africanus permit, Trachinotus africanus. Found along the Omani coast, where it overlaps in range with the blochii, the africanus has been targeted for years by veteran DIY saltwater fly anglers and a few Middle East-based operators.

After successfully adding the Anak permit to their species tick list while filming Glorious Bastards in Australia a few years ago, it made sense that jet-setting guides Oliver White and Jako Lucas would be drawn to Oman to target the africanus, aka the 4th permit. There, they teamed up with local experts Nick Bowles, Stu Webb and the rest of the Ocean Active crew. The film from that trip, Four Of A Kind, is currently playing on the F3T circuit. We caught up with Oliver and Jako to find out a bit more about this fishery.