How to Catch Florida Pompano

by David Conway - http://www.floridasportsman.com/2012/10/15/floridapompano

On surf road, take only what they give you.

On New Smyrna Beach, shown here, and a few other Florida locales, you can
drive to your favorite spot on the beach.
No fish drives me crazy like pompanodrive being the operative word here.
Temperamental and flighty, quick as light itself and nearly as unreliable as the
lottoI love pompano. But if you want to consistently hook up to pomps from
the beach, youre going to have to get familiar with the road. Heres your
roadmap for how to catch Florida pompano.
Now, whiting are fine, red and black drum are fun, snook are good too. I
wouldnt even turn down a bluefish or two. But when it comes to winter surf
fishing, all these are supporting cast to that lead playerpompano.
I keep about a 60-mile range, between Juno Beach and north Fort Pierce, that
Im regularly willing to travel between November and May to fish for pompano,
with one or two longer-range treks each season to new places. Ill try to track
pompano by figuring out where the most recent weather fronts and

temperature drops will push the fish. Once I remember thats a completely
fruitless pursuit, Ill get in touch with my network of informants for the
pompanos current location and immediatelythat morning or eveninggo to
fish for them when the word is good. Cell phones start ringing soon after
dawn, with news of that mornings bite. After 24 hours, burn that information
or it will burn you.
The epic traveling of Larry Fishman Finch of Jacksonville makes my own
and most anglerspompano wanderings look like quick commutes. In search
of pomps and other winter surf catches, Finch, who also teaches a surf fishing
seminar at the FS Fishing Shows and runs his own family operated seafood
market, Atlantic Coast Seafood in Jacksonville, will fish from his hometown
south to Hobe Sound Beach and wont hesitate to cross to the west coast when
the bites on there.
Last year, according to Finch, Northeast Florida pomps stayed between
Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach all winter, because the water
temperature stayed in the 60s. The temperature has to get into the 50s to
drive them south, he says.
It was so good I didnt even have to go as far south as Playalinda, he told me
at the spring seasons end, back in May.
Once the temperature does drop steeply, the pompano go south fast. Gulfside
pompano will run down into the Lower Keys in January and February, and in
the Atlantic, pompano south of the Palm Beaches are common, though access
to them is difficult.
The structure and contours of a beach determine a great deal about the style
of the fishing there. In northern Florida, beaches slope out gently, and the
tides slowly wash in, creeping up over the wide, broad shorelines. In that
terrain, anglers like Finch employ tall sand spikes with rounded poles that
easily allow the sea to wash around them, and theyll fish in the surf as the
water floods around them, up to their knees.
You can get two to three hours of fishing here on the incoming tide, and then
theyll move across the bar, Finch says. When the tides low, they tend to
hang out farther, behind that bar, and thats when you have to have the long
casts to get them.
South of Canaveral, the beaches drop off precipitously to the surf, and the
troughs are carved steeply, the bars high and the water is closer to the dunes.
When the tide crashes in, pompano may charge the beach or run the trough,
but youll be standing on dry land and trying to find the fish.

Larry Fishman Finch lands a good pompano.

The Panhandles surf bite starts with flounder and reds in the fall, and
pompano kick in sometime in October or November. When the pomps hit a lull
in the coldest months, whiting fill in the gap before pompano bounce back by
February. Like the Northeasts, the Panhandles beaches slope gently seaward,
but the critters in the sand itself are not the same in the regions.
One of the main differences from the east coast in our beach fishing, says
Tom Putnam, owner of the Half-Hitch Tackle stores along the Panhandle, is
that we dont have as much shellfish and crustacean life close to our beaches
other than sandfleas, and, unfortunately, beach projects right in Panama City
killed off our sandflea populations a couple years ago. Though sandflea
populations are still good around Cape San Blas, Mexico Beach, and south
Walton County.
The interest in surf fishing around here all depends on how good the
pompano bite is, Putnam admits. That Dan Russell Pier is reopened is good
news. When theres a good bite on the pier, word spreads fast.
So much of winter surf fishing depends on water quality. If you dont have that
hot tip or you just want to go, you can drive your range checking conditions at
various beaches until you stop at the best of the day. Remember, pompano like
first light and last light to feed, and moving tidal flows. Great conditions for
pompano are powdery blue to light green water, with those visible ruffles of
sand flaring near the shorelines where currents churned by the tidal flows
between cuts stir up the critters pompano eat. Dark green, turbid water might
be fine for bluefish and mackerel, but pompano will not often freely venture
into overly turbid waters with low visibility. You can take a big clue to their
favored habitat from their color. The gleaming gunmetal blue of pompano skin
reflects the colors of the waters that they like to frequent.
To watch a surfcaster hurl his rig into that wild sea is a beautiful thing, as fine
as a well-made fly cast or a well-thrown castnet. To watch that surfcaster
gingerly bring in a pompano or six is a sight some might call even finer.
But between the beach and the beached fish there is a great difference, all of
which is made up with that cast. And how to get the greatest distance is the
stuff of most surfcasters very wakingand some sleepingdreams.
For casting distance and keeping line above waves, most experts choose
conventional surf rods in the 12- to 14-foot range, rated for 3 to 6 ounces.
Saltwater durable reels with no levelwind are favored, allowing for longer
casts with less effort. The best reels have centrifugal or magnetic spool brake
systems which may be adjusted to help prevent backlashes. Monofilament in
15- to 20-pound test is ideal (braided poly tends to pull the sinker off bottom
in heavy surf). Most often, youll be throwing 4- to 6-ounce weights, either the
pyramid leads, or the more expensive, but more effective spider/sputnik style
weights.
Whiting, drum, croakers and flounder hang close to the shoreline, usually in
the first trough, as do snook and redfish, in their appearances in the surf. So I
always like to have a 7-foot, 10-pound-class spinning rod, with a lighter sinker,

to catch any fish coming down the trough, including the biggest, brazenest
pompano on their inward assaults for crabs and sand fleas.
The truth is, from the central coasts of Florida northward, pompano arent
strictly a winter surf catch. There might be pompano runs well into the
summer. But even though they might still be out there, Ill stop fishing for
pompano after the winter-spring season, because it makes me feel so good to
anticipate and finally welcome them back each year. I wouldnt ever want to
get tired of a fish that has pan as its middle name.
Essential Equipment for the Surfcaster
Surfcastings simplicity is one of its main appeals. You need your casting
outfit, a few weights, baits and leader material and rigs and, new this year,
youll need a fishing license when fishing from shore. If you really want to get
fancy, youll want knife, rags, dehooker, mesh bag to keep live sandfleas, sand
spikesall of which can conveniently fit on a cart (Anglers Fish-N-Mate sells
three models of carts, from about $130 to $210:
http://www.rodrack.com/home.php.) Fellow FS contributor Mike Conner also
brings binoculars, so that I can look down the beach to see what people are
bringing in and find out exactly how far out theyre casting to get the fish, he
says.

Sandflea is a choice bait on both Floridas Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Finch has plenty of rigs pre-made, but he also brings his beads with him, to rig
with the exact bead color to match the color of the coquina clams on the beach
that day. You never know if the clams are going to be blue, white, or yellow,
so I have all those beads ready. I also bring hardshell clams with me to the
beach. Those are good baits.
Carry a variety of bait, he advises, including possibly fresh clams, live shrimp,
sandfleas live and sandfleas blanched. When a mans beside you catching
pompano on blanched fleaswe call them cookiesand youre fishing live
ones, you better have those cookies.
When fighting a pompano, go gently, Finch advises. Keep a loose drag to let
them run, says Finch. Only take what they give you. FS