How To Catch Permit On Top, with RA Beattie

Permit on a floating fly? Don't you need to fish heavy flies that get right to the bottom, where permit feed? Sometimes, but over the past decade permit anglers have discovered that permit eat crabs on the surface, and if you've spent enough time on salt water you will see crabs swimming along the surface. Fishing floating crabs make a lot of sense as you'll learn when you listen to this podcast with film maker and permit angler RA Beattie [27:05]. In the Fly Box this week, we have some questions that might solve problems you have had, including: I have trouble with my fly wallet, either losing flies or tearing out the fleece. Is this a matter of user error? Should I apply flotant to foam flies and flies with deer and elk hair, or will they float by themselves? Do jig nymphs harm smaller trout? If I use large beads on my nymphs, will they inhibit hooking qualities? I have trouble with my line tangling when striper fishing. Do you have any tips? Do featherwing streamers offer any advantages? Why do people fish streamers smaller that a size 10 and when is it best to use them? The hooks on my bonefish flies keep breaking . Why is this happening?

You can listen to How To Catch Permit On Top, with RA Beattie online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How To Catch Permit On Top, with RA Beattie is an episode from The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast by James Hathaway.

This episode is 53:27 long.

This episode was published on Apr 6, 2026.

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