Targeting Pompanos....

[Night Wing]

Nightwing,

The testimonial pages was neat. Creating the little "puffs of sand" to replicate a crab burying itself was interesting, I wonder if a deep diving crankbait drug through the sand would be effective.

Im going to give the pompano dance a try.

But pompano have small mouths. How small of a crankbait could you use to catch a pompano? Too big and if they are there, they might not hit the crankbait.

[BullyARed]

I ordered a catalogue from tightlines tackle in florida. They carry Doc's Goofy Jigs. I went on the website of Doc's Goofy Jigs, but I couldn't see where one can order straight from them. They give links to stores that carry there jigs. Here is a link to Doc's http://docsgoofyjigs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I made my own jigs and caught quite a few of them including blue runners in Navarre, FLA. Will post pictures.

[Dfusion]

is now a good time to target these suckers? I want one

I would think that they show up in droves when the water gets over about 80F. You may want to wait a few more months.
Nightwing, let me know how you do.
Cheers

[Night Wing]

I would think that they show up in droves when the water gets over about 80F. You may want to wait a few more months.
Nightwing, let me know how you do.
Cheers

A few more months! I was hoping 75 degree water temperature would have them here in droves.

[SavageOne66]

caught one a couple years ago that was about 1/2" short of the TX record, was some AMAZING eating, kinda reminded me of Mahi, at least consistency wise, with some lemon and butter on the grill it was UNBELIEVEABLE!

[Night Wing]

I started fishing for them last year because I caught one by "accident" and since I knew what it was and also knew there were no restrictions on them by TPWD, I took it home and ate it. Very good tasting fish. I'm just trying to find out where they congregate in numbers and it looks like I'm fishing too far off the beach to catch them. This is why this thread is so valuable to me. Lots of good info in it.

[red_chaser]

At the end of June last year, I caught a 17" pompano off the Surfside jetty with a live shrimp while trying for trout. Very tasty fish. Never caught another since.

I need a few details. Were you fishing on the bottom or using a popping cork when you caught that pompano?

We never got an answer for how to fish for them. Did you guys use a popping cork or a weighted bait? I'm really interested in getting some.

[bmh34]

Yup. Got a report from a buddy they caught some on fish bites in the corpus area. Looking a the pics, the water was pretty clear.

In our dirtier water, I would probably use a combination of fish bites and sand fleas.

[OlSalty]

I think those are permits.

I'd be really surprised to see permits around here. Never heard of one being caught anywhere remotely close.

I have caught pomps that had no yellow in them, and were actually almost slate blue in color.

Another thing, be careful stringing them. Even double-lip stringing, they have delicate mouths and tear off the stringer easily. I've had this happen more than once Especially if there are other fish on the stringer. Stringing through the eyes is the best option if you go that route.

Those might not be permits but Oh they are there. We have killer whales in the gulf of Mexico! We've caught red snapper at the jetties and they are a deep water fish and no they were not vermillion, lanes . Cobia have also been caught in our ship channel. There have also been instances of alligator gar being caught at South Bay. For the most part alligator gar is a freshwater fish but tolerant to salt water. Remember my friend, just because you have not heard or seen does not mean it does not happen. Permits range from Massachusetts to Brazil and anywhere in between they pretty much want to go.

[bmh34]

Not sure that is 100% accurate as they are a tropical/subtropical species. Whales being mammals, and salinity variances may not be a good comparison also. Tropical Fish tend to die when exposed to very cold water temps. Being that the permit found in both open, and inland waters, if we had a population, one would have shown up durring our horrible winter.

[mickeyd]

OK guys.....because this thread has generated so much interest and because some of us are not sure about pompano, etc. I consulted my sources: Vic Dunaway of "Sport Fish of the Gulf of Mexico" and Billy Sandifer of Padre Island(actually his website not him personally).
Pompano: They range year round all along the Gulf Coasts. Most in Florida and back E. are caught in the surf but also are taken in the bays as well as jetties, piers, bridges and channels. It is easy to confuse pompano with small permit but permit show a black splotch under the pectoral fin along with deeper bodies.

Permit: Sometimes called great pompano or round pompano, depending on the size. Like pompano they range the entire Gulf of Mexico, YEAR round. The largest permit are found in the most Souther portions of the Gulf. Like pompano, they may show yellow on the underside with more rounded bodies and blunter heads.

According to Sandifer's website the primo times to target pompano are December thru March. No mention of best time for permit.

So, I guess we now know more than we wanted to know about these critters. Oh yeah, I quite by accident hooked a few of these little guys this AM on Quintana Beach while hunting reds. Pics are on fishing report forum. Trying again manana as conditions are supposed to be similar. Almost forgot...both are members of the jack family.

[IronTexas]

Hey Mickeyd thanks for all the great info i saw your post on the fishing report Quintana bay party crashers nice report and catch bro So when your fishing are you on the pier or in your yak?? I will making my maiden voyage next weekend i was thinkin of goin to freeport area youthink its a good place for a newbie like me if so would you like to meet up with me and my cuzin when we go?? let me know if you would be available to meet up Well i appreciate all the knowledge you and the rest of the TKFers have dropped keep the info coming Fellas Keep fishing and tight lines Fellas

[mickeyd]

I live in Fulton where the yaks and boats are as we are spending some time away from the hustle up here at Quintana Beach where the boss likes to hang out. Surf up here at the beach. Pier and jetties around here are usually packed with locals and I like to spread out. I would like to bring the yaks up here sometime, especially after reading the fishing report about the guys going to "Freeport Marsh"....where-ever that is. I asked some locals if they knew or had heard of it and they looked at me and shook their heads. Another area around here that is yakable is the cuts along the Galveston-Surfside HW as you head N to San Luis Pass. Many tracks leading back into that area opposite the Gulf side of the HW. After reading advice from the Galveston crew, I do not think I want to try San Luis Pass unless I had someone to go with and/or show me the way back into the bay. The pass itself sounds rather tricky.
The surf today and possibly tomorrow looks to be good for yaks as it is and should be relatively calm, clear water and finally----some bait working. Got some mullet this evening with the castnet and hope to get a few more reds in the AM.
Might see you down the road and if you ever make it down to Fulton/Rockport/AP area send me a PM and we will hit some of the hot spots.

[Night Wing]

My interest in pompanos is strictly for eating. It gives me another specie to target besides flounder, spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper. These are the ones I like to eat. I don't fish for specks and reds that much. In this way, I'm an oddity on this site.

[TheAnt]

> 2009_1118QuintanaBeach090047.JPG

So is 18-Nov-2009 the date per the file name?

I did a good deal of research last fall because I wanted to catch some too. Start with a search like this and play with the kywords and their order in the list:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe ... as&spell=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are some big and EXCELLENT articles, look for "how to catch sand fleas, keep them alive, and pompano" as keywords. One site had a bucket design that looked interesting. You will see that Florida is the place but we got some too.

Another place to find them is supposed to be on the down-current side of a structure like the pilings on the SLP bridge. The currents are awesome there and boat traffic may mean some spills in a bad location... I don't think I will try that but the causeway may offer something... probably better with something closer to the open Gulf though. Well, I guess that means dangerous currents too. Wear your life jacket!

Jettys and BTB sounds best to me.

If I find some of my links I wll post.


Like this![/quote]

[TheAnt]

http://www.fishing-florida.com/article5.htm

[DSmithla]

Nightwing,

The testimonial pages was neat. Creating the little "puffs of sand" to replicate a crab burying itself was interesting, I wonder if a deep diving crankbait drug through the sand would be effective.

Im going to give the pompano dance a try.

But pompano have small mouths. How small of a crankbait could you use to catch a pompano? Too big and if they are there, they might not hit the crankbait.

You could use some of those crankbait flies Pogo makes.

[osochuck]

my neighbor landed one off the packery jetties yesterday on a sinking twitch bait, while i was targeting them with dead shrimp and got nada... go figure

hey another weird thing is they eat sand dollars, heard it on corpusfishing.com then when i caught some i check out the stomach and sure enuff sand dollars!!!

[Night Wing]

You could use some of those crankbait flies Pogo makes.

I can't use a fly rod for the simple reason I can't stand in my SPTW. When I use to fly flish, I always stood up, never sat down.

[IronTexas]

Lots of great info on the thread thanks to everyone who commented those were some really helpful links as well i will use all the info and hopefully next week yall will hear about some pomps that were caught grilled and fried

Keep Fishing and Tight Lines

[FISH4EVER]

Instead of "Beyond The Breakers", fishing for pompano might mean "Between The Breakers".

Good One NIGHTHAWK, sounds like a plan for sure, not to change the subject but I can hardly believe that smacks are swarming in already!

[IronTexas]

Yeah i know been reading alot of reports of ppl catching them like crazy might try my luck next weekend i would go this weekend but im riggin my new Kayak today i hear they are catching them all over the place a few at freeport then some at Sea Wolf park also. I hope they stick around until i can go out and catch my limit

[Night Wing]

For some reason, I think the bigger pompano are around the Surfside/Freeport area. If someone is at Surfside and the pompano aren't biting, a good "Plan B" would be to target some smacks. This is what my plan of attack is going to be.

[Big Kahuna]

Yeah man great thread. Posted up on this topic a year ago and got nothing. Dad would catch them with dead shrimp and at our house that fish is number one on eats. Gonna hit PINS tomorrow and try to get lucky.

Kahuna

[Night Wing]

Kahuna,

I think most people on the upper coast, like me, didn't know pompano were up in our waters.This is why I think your pompano post didn't get any responses. I caught one by accident since I was fishing for flounder and took it home. Good eating fish. Now, this gives me a second specie, beside smacks, to target when I go BTB fishing.