4 minute read
Warm Weather Pompano
Florida pompano are a much-overlooked fish--fun to catch and even better to eat. A feisty fish and a very hard swimmer that puts up a great fight on light tackle.
Pompano are in the jack family and first cousins to permit. Juvenile permit and pompano school together in many areas and are often difficult to tell apart. Since the net ban, the pompano population has increased tenfold giving local anglers a chance to catch fish.
Pompano are found in the warm waters of Tampa Bay and the shorelines of the Gulf beaches. This year has produced more pompano than I can remember. Due to the lack of greenback sardines in the area, more fishermen have started using live shrimp as a backup bait, which happens to be one of the pompano’s favorite meals.
Now, having said all of this, pompano fishing is very time consuming and lots of work. They can be caught from the shore around bridge pilings and by working the grass flats. One old trick is to run your boat on a plane through the flats and watch for them to skip your wave. Once you see them skip, work the area with jigs or live shrimp while drifting the flats.
My favorite tackle for pompano is 10 to 15-pound braided line on a medium spinning reel and a 7.6-foot fast action spinning rod. I found using 20-pound flu- orocarbon leader works best. Use a #1/0 circle hook with a fiddler crab or shrimp. When fishing the beaches, sand fleas are also a good choice and easy to catch.
Live baits are fished on the bottom with a small split shot. Use just enough weight to drag the bottom and stir up some sand drawing the attention of the pompano. When using live shrimp, I prefer to run the hook from the back and under the tail of the shrimp. Dragging the shrimp makes it look like it’s avoiding another predator and increases the bite. Another method, and my favorite, is using jigs. They give me the ability to cover a larger area whether I am fishing the shoreline or drifting the flats in a boat. You want to bounce the jig off the bottom so that, when it falls, a puff of sand pops up making it look like a crab trying to bury itself. Some of the best jigs I have found are the 1/4 and 3/8-ounce pompano jigs. They look like a banana in yellow or pink and white. The other is a feathered jig with a chrome head and white, red and silver feathers. Both of these are killers on pompano and other species.
Pier or bridge fishing for pompano is challenging. I use a 3/8 or 1/2-ounce pompano jig, depending on the current at the time. Drop the jig along the piling and bounce it off the bottom. The sinking motion of the jig entices strikes. Find the area with the best current flow for best results. When fishing around pilings or docks, it makes sense to increase you leader size to 30-pound test to avoid break offs. The lighter the line, the less weight needed to keep the bait on the bottom.
— Capt. Sergio Atanes is host of Florida West Coast Fishing Report on Facebook and YouTube every Monday night 7-8 p.m. live. He is also host to Aventuras De Pesca USA on national TV and Radio Show. reelfishing.com
St. Petersburg
www.stpetefishingoutfitters.com
When researching tournaments that I personally want to enter and compete in, I always consider who will benefit from the proceeds. Sure, it’s always nice to cut a check, have bragging rights or bring home a trophy. But, who are we supporting? The icing on the cake is, no matter who wins, we are supporting our local communities, businesses, non-profits and the people in it. That helps me determine which tournaments to enter.
By: Tanya Michelle
are fighting to get your body back to health. Aggressive, ongoing activity-based therapeutic rehabilitation, as well as, recreational outings will help insure you enjoy a better quality of life. Tighten The Drag Foundation assists with making rehabilitation happen for those who are willing to put forth the effort to beat the odds. Keeping a great outlook on life also means going outdoors often and enjoying whatever activities you did before your accident to help you stay positive and active.
Tighten The Drag Foundation hosts fundraising events year-round on a continual basis to provide scholarships which cover a variety of needs by the spinal cord injured. Their main event is a Fall Fishing Tournament. They also hold various other events throughout the year.
Their Fall Tournament is always held in September during National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness month.
...“tighten the drag” as a reference to bearing down on a fish to overpower, take control and be successful at achieving the goal...
Tampa Bay areas Captain Robert suffered a spinal cord injury and C6 burst fracture of the neck on August 18, 2012, while boating with friends in Crystal River when he dove in murky water to cool off. Never losing consciousness, he knew he was in trouble as popping and cracking of bones were ringing in his head. While going through a very long recovery process, and with the help of his family, they selflessly wanted to help others who have suffered spinal cord injuries. They created the Tighten The Drag Foundation.
Tighten The Drag Foundation was created to help those who have suffered a spinal cord injury. Traumatic spinal cord injuries will require that you dig deep and fight hard with everything you have in order to recover. Competitive tournament anglers use the term “tighten the drag” as a reference to bearing down on a fish to overpower, take control and be successful at achieving the goal of landing the fish. It is man vs beast. To overcome the 1 to 3% odds of recovery that every spinal cord Injury receives, you will need that same inner determination, grit and willpower when you www.tightenthedragfoundation.org info@tightenthedragfoundation.org
This years tournament will be held on: September 16, from 12:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Fish day or night, with many different divisions you can enter Check out their social media pages and/or their website for more details and to register. It’s a heartwarming event you don’t want to miss.
Feel the Power
Feel the Extreme
