Holiday season brings pompano to area waters
With the Christmas season approaching, another season is doing the same. Yes, that’s right — it’s time to start stalking the shoreline for pompano.
The beaches of Anna Maria Island are a great place to start searching. Despite the spring beach renourishment changing our local shoreline, pompano fishers should be able to find a bite.
Some of the more popular pompano spots are now buried with sand, so you may need to do your homework to find the fish.
And by homework, I mean cruising up and down the beach until the right conditions appear. Look for spots along the beach where the north-south trough exists. The trough is the stretch of water between the shoreline and the first sandbar. Pompano use this as a highway to hunt for sand fleas up and down the shore. If you can find the trough, you’re looking in the right place. You just have to hope the fish appear.
To catch pompano, fishers can use a variety of baits and lures. Pompano like crustaceans. So using live shrimp, sand fleas and even small crabs will produce a bite. Small jigs also work well for pompano. There are a variety of sizes and shapes, so it’s best to carry a few of each to see which one works on any given day.
You can have the best of both worlds by taking the jig you’re using and tipping it with a small piece of shrimp. This way, you have the action of the jig combined with the smell of the shrimp — a combination that can give you an edge when the pomps are being finicky.
Remember, according to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, pompano have to be at least 11-inches to the fork of the tail to go into the cooler. There is no maximum size. The bag limit for pompano is six per person per day.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier says fishing at the pier is settling into a wintertime pattern. Most pier fishers are using live shrimp as bait, which is a favorite food of black drum, flounder and sheepshead.
Using a bottom rig combined with the shrimp and casting it under the pier is resulting in catches of all three species mentioned. You can also expect to catch pinfish, French grunts and the occasional lizardfish between bites from edible fish.
While fishing at the R&R, some fishers are rigging with silver spoon or buck tail jigs. On occasion, schools of mackerel, jacks and bluefish will pass by the pier on their way in and out of Tampa Bay. When these schools pass by, those fishers quick to react and cast an artificial to the school are hooking up. You can cast live shrimp to catch these migratory fish, although the spoons and jigs seem to produce a better bite.
Capt. Warren Girle is fishing nearshore structure in the Gulf of Mexico when the winds are down. By using fresh-cut shiners or live shrimp, Girle is finding keeper-size mangrove snapper. Fishing these baits directly on the bottom is producing a bite for Girle’s clients. Keeper-size snapper 12-16 inches are the norm. While targeting snapper, Girle’s anglers also are reeling up plenty of Key West grunts and juvenile grouper.
Moving inshore, Girle is drifting the flats of southern Sarasota Bay with good action occurring at depths of 5-7 feet. While drifting, fishers casting small jigs tipped with shrimp are attracting a variety of species. Pompano, the targeted species, are showing in decent numbers, while other species, such as mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and jacks, are filling in the bite. All of these fish provide great action on light tackle and the pompano are great for dinner, too.
Finally, Girle is working in residential canals and docks for sheepshead and black drum. Both species are responding to live shrimp or a knocker rig.
Capt. Rick Gross of Fishy Business Charters is finding redfish, black drum and sheepshead accommodating this week. By casting live shrimp around rocks and docks throughout the bays, Manatee River and Intracoastal Waterway, Gross is leading his clients to ample numbers of fish. Flounder are being found around docks and are responding to live shrimp.
Spotted seatrout are being caught this week by Gross, especially while using artificials, including Berkley Gulp shrimp on a jig head. By slowly drifting the flats and casting to sandy potholes, Gross is reeling up trout 18 inches.
Finally, drifting the flats is resulting in more catches than just spotted seatrout. Ladyfish, bluefish, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle are all being caught in between trout bites. Gross advises carrying an ample amount of jigs due to the fact that the macks, ladyfish and bluefish will cut your leader without even trying. There is nothing worse than getting on a good bite and running out of jigs.
Capt. Aaron Lowman at Island Discount Tackle in Holmes Beach is fishing sandy potholes and ditches in the backcountry of Anna Maria Sound with good results on flounder. By bouncing Berkley Gulp shrimp on a jig head along the sandy bottom, Lowman is catching flounder 15-20 inches. While using jigs for flounder, Lowman is finding redfish and spotted seatrout eager to bite, especially in warmer days.
Along the beaches of Anna Maria Island, Lowman is catching pompano. By using small jigs tipped with shrimp, his clients are able to entice the tasty fish to bite. Mixed in are bluefish, jacks and ladyfish.
Send high-resolution photos and fishing reports to fish@islander.org.