Selecting the perfect Permit experience for you!

Mayazul, Espíritu Santo Bay, and Beh Kay are our three permit-first programs in Mexico, but they fish two distinct fisheries and approach the challenge a little differently.

Mayazul Lodge fishes Ascension Bay, home to the legendary “Permit Alley,” where the program is built around creating as many quality permit opportunities as possible.

Beh Kay Lodge and Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge both fish Bahía Espíritu Santo, or Espíritu Santo Bay. At Beh Kay, permit are at the center of the entire program, from guide rotation and daily planning to the water selected according to tides, light, wind, and fish movement. At ESB, permit are the defining species and the foundation of the lodge’s reputation, while the extraordinary diversity of the bay also keeps anglers ready for bonefish, tarpon, and snook throughout the day.

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

All three of our Mexican permit programs—Mayazul, Beh Kay, and Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge—are excellent matches if your priority is maximizing opportunities at permit. They fish two of the most productive permit fisheries in the world: Ascension Bay at Mayazul, and Bahía Espíritu Santo at Beh Kay and ESB.

The main difference is in how you fish them. Mayazul uses traditional pangas with two guides—a captain and a helper—while Beh Kay and ESB fish from technical skiffs with one guide. Both approaches are highly effective, and all three programs are built around finding and presenting to permit.

If sheer opportunity is your priority, the biggest advantage is to book on a single-angler, single-boat basis. Having the guide and boat entirely focused on one angler gives you the best chance to capitalize on every permit encounter throughout the day.

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge is the strongest fit. Permit may be the foundation of ESB’s reputation, but what really separates the fishery is the concentration of permit, bonefish, tarpon, and snook within the same interconnected ecosystem.

Fishing at ESB is deliberately opportunistic. A day might begin looking for tailing permit before changing gears for resident tarpon along the mangroves or bonefish pushing onto a flooded flat. The skiffs are rigged so anglers can respond immediately when another species presents itself, and multiple species can be encountered in a single day—and sometimes on the same flat. Add ESB’s long migratory tarpon season and the result is one of the Caribbean’s most complete Grand Slam and Super Slam programs.

Match with Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge

Beh Kay was built for exactly this kind of permit angler. Espíritu Santo Bay is not a one-dimensional fishery: you may find tailing permit in skinny water, cruising singles over white sand, large schools moving across turtle grass, fish feeding along mangrove edges, or small groups sliding through deeper lagoons and natural channels.

Some days are about covering water and finding moving fish. Others demand patience, accuracy, timing, and the right presentation to one fish in the right light. Beh Kay’s collaborative guide program is designed around those changing conditions, with guides rotating through the week, sharing information, and shaping each day around where the best opportunities are developing.

Match with Beh Kay Lodge

Catching a permit on a floating crab is one of the most visual and exciting ways to target the species, but it is also highly dependent on the right conditions and fish behavior.

At Mayazul, Beh Kay, and Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, our guides are willing to put in the effort to make it happen when the situation is right for a floating pattern. It is not something that can be expected every day, but when permit are feeding high in the water column and conditions line up, all three programs can offer the opportunity to present a floating crab to these notoriously difficult fish.

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

Permit have earned their reputation for a reason. You can make the right cast, present the right fly, and do everything your guide asks—and the fish still gets the final vote. For a first-time permit angler, good guidance, communication, and the ability to create repeated quality opportunities matter enormously.

Beh Kay was specifically designed to suit both experienced permit anglers and anglers hoping to catch their first permit on fly. ESB’s highly experienced guide team works equally well with seasoned permit anglers and newcomers to saltwater fly fishing. At Mayazul, two guides per boat and a culture built around permit give first-time anglers another strong platform from which to take on the challenge.

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

For anglers who want to step off the skiff and stalk permit on foot, both Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge and Beh Kay offer wading opportunities when tides, bottom, fish location, and conditions allow.

At ESB, anglers occasionally leave the technical skiffs to stalk tailing permit across shallow flats—one of the purest forms of sight-fishing in the Caribbean. Beh Kay also mixes skiff fishing with opportunities to wade shallow water, particularly when fish are tailing or moving through quieter flats where a careful approach on foot can make the difference.

Match with Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

If getting far away from developed coastlines and fishing pressure is part of the appeal, Bahía Espíritu Santo is the place to look.

Both Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge and Beh Kay Lodge are located along the remote coastline near Punta Herrero, where the boats put in to access the bay each day. From there, anglers fish deep into the protected waters of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, exploring vast flats, lagoons, mangrove shorelines, and backcountry water with very little outside pressure.

The setting is wild and isolated, and the fishing day is shaped by tides, light, wind, and fish movement rather than nearby development.

Match with Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, and Beh Kay Lodge

If permit is your main focus but you also want a meaningful opportunity at large migratory tarpon, Mayazul Lodge in Ascension Bay is the strongest match.

Ascension Bay has a more defined migration of big tarpon, with fish beginning to show in April and remaining in the system through roughly mid-September. During that window, anglers can encounter large migratory fish while still keeping permit as the primary objective of the trip.

It is a rare combination: one of the world’s great permit fisheries, with the added possibility of a serious shot at a big tarpon during the migration.

Match with Mayazul Lodge

If you want the fishing to be matched by a high level of comfort, hospitality, and overall lodge experience, all four destinations are excellent choices.

Mayazul, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, Beh Kay Lodge, and Abaco Lodge each combine outstanding flats fishing with comfortable accommodations, attentive service, excellent food, and experienced lodge teams focused on making the entire trip feel seamless from start to finish.

The fishing, setting, and style of each lodge are different, but all four are strong choices for anglers who want a first-class lodge experience without compromising the quality of the fishing. 

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, Beh Kay Lodge, and Abaco Lodge

Abaco is the obvious choice. Bonefish are the main target on the Marls, where anglers fish an immense network of shallow flats and mangrove cays and regularly enjoy classic sight-fishing from the bow of a skiff.

Permit are a different proposition here. They are not particularly numerous, so Abaco should not be viewed as a dedicated permit destination in the same way as our three Mexican lodges. But permit are seen regularly, become more consistent during the warmer months, and some exceptionally large fish move through these flats. For an angler who wants productive bonefishing every day while staying ready for one serious permit opportunity, Abaco fills a very different—and very attractive—niche.

Match with Abaco Lodge

Abaco Lodge is one of the simplest saltwater trips in the portfolio. Commercial flights operate directly from the U.S. to Marsh Harbour, and the lodge is only a short drive from the airport.

Once there, the logistics remain just as easy. Abaco Lodge is located directly on the famed Marls, with its Maverick flats skiffs docked at the property. There is no daily trailering and no long overland transfer before fishing—just breakfast, a short walk to the dock, and quick access to the flats.

Match with Abaco Lodge

Abaco is the strongest fit for mixed fishing and non-fishing parties. Great Abaco offers more than the flats, with beaches, island culture, snorkeling, kayaking, diving, and golf available for guests who want time away from the skiff.

Back at the lodge, the pool, waterfront setting, fire pit, comfortable common areas, and full-service atmosphere also make it easy for a non-angler to enjoy the destination independently while the anglers are on the water.

Match with Abaco Lodge

Each property has a very different feel.

Mayazul is small by design: intimate, eclectic, elegant, and set directly beside the Caribbean with just four rooms. ESB is remote and refined, with beachfront rooms and a traditional open-air palapa at the center of lodge life. Beh Kay takes a completely different approach with spacious geodesic domes overlooking the sea, giving the property one of the most distinctive personalities in Caribbean fly fishing. Abaco is the larger and more traditional lodge experience, combining waterfront accommodations with a pool, fire pit, fly shop, fitness area, and easy access to the rest of Great Abaco Island.

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, Beh Kay Lodge, and Abaco Lodge

No problem. All four lodges have quality loaner rods, reels, and fly lines available, allowing anglers to travel without bringing a full saltwater setup. Mayazul and Beh Kay are also Sage Experience Destinations, with Sage and RIO equipment specifically selected for the species and fisheries they operate.

Each lodge also carries the right local fly patterns on site for purchase, including proven permit and tarpon flies selected specifically for the conditions and fisheries you will be fishing. So even if you travel light, you can arrive knowing that the essential tackle and the right flies are available at the lodge

Match with Mayazul Lodge, Espíritu Santo Bay Lodge, Beh Kay Lodge, and Abaco Lodge