Its a bit early for

[BOGSTER]

this but I just can't help it.
Every year around the first of march, the coastal waters call.
The drive to cast flies, jig chinabacks, and twitch corks is more than I can stand.
If I wasn't taking stretch fishing this weekend, I'd be making him take me.

My latest obsession has been pompano.
I have little to no experience with these little fish, but for some reason the urge to catch them is overwhelming. Its quite possible that it has everything to do with them looking like miniature permit, although my fascination probably has more to do with the youtube video I watched where two mexicans were flat wearing them out on a sandbar with 5wts.
From what I gather they show up around june/july.
I am openly and directly cyberscouting these fish.
Take me. Teach me.

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seriously.

[Foie Gras]

You're a homo.

[Fish]

They're hammering the pompanos in Stuart right now.

...and on jigs no less.

[Swamp Rat]

One of the best eating fish.

Around here, mole crabs and small hooks. In the suds, close in, and in troughs. Some folks actually use floats and fish for 'em with a rig that looks like a bream outfit.

[Fish]

[sprigdog]

i had these visions of catching pompano in the surf when i moved here.
I'd get up before work, drive to pawleys around 530am, dig for the elusive sandcrab, find 3...loose bait after 4 or 5 casts/drifts..put small pieces of shrimp on..1, i caught 1 in my first summer here..

the only place i've caught more than 1 was jigging for bait off live bottom right of surfside/GC. sabikis. 20' of water.

I wish it was more productive or i had more patience for it.....but the easy to get to beaches dont seem as productive, old timers say its due to beach re-nourishment. no sand/mole crabs.

i aint gonna launch a boat or walk more than 300yds to surf fish here, florida would be a different story. just not that into it.

[GobblerHntr]

my front teeth wont close together so that I can bite line so I don't fish. Sorry I can't help you here bog.

[BOGSTER]

The old man says the same regarding the mole crabs.
Since their decline,......no pompano.

I can't help it.
I will continue on my quest until atleast 2 the size of the one in that picture have been caught and consumed.

[Fish]

[Swamp Rat]

Find beaches that haven't been renourished.

[santee11]

gill nets just out of the breakers work well.

[mud ugh]

Capers/Bull Island

[SaltwaterGirl]

Bog try Little Capers next to St. Phillips (Ted Turner's island)...Just a thought.

[Fish]

I have two friends in the Myrtle Beach area that catch the crap out of em....and I'm talking about in places like 48th Ave.

Dig some sandfleas, hook em lightly through the shell with a small hook, on light line, add a couple of split shots, and just a dash of patience. What you're looking for is a water about chest deep inside the first break.

[WNM]

I've caught 'em on live skrimp under a cork in the surf before.

[BOGSTER]

My problem is finding the sand fleas. Like sprig said, when I have searched for them in the last few years(just surf fishing) I haven't been able to find them in any numbers.
Been a while since I actually stood on the beach anywhere in Horry county though.

I have two friends in the Myrtle Beach area that catch the crap out of em....and I'm talking about in places like 48th Ave.

Dig some sandfleas, hook em lightly through the shell with a small hook, on light line, add a couple of split shots, and just a dash of patience. What you're looking for is a water about chest deep inside the first break.

[Swamp Rat]

I had some around my feet on Edisto this past year.

The beach at Botany Bay may be a good option as well. Certainly no renourishment.

[BMAC_ducks]

Fish, Is that your boat in the first pic? Curious what kind is it. Or if anyone might know.

[Fish]

Hell's Bay

[Stripa Swipa]

I was lucky enough to be in Florida about the time they created a ban on inshore netting on the Gulf coast. One afternoon I had caught enough trout on clousers to lose interest so I tied on a Del Merkin Crab (the permit fly.) I thought that if I just twitched it on the bottom that maybe a red would pick it up but was just screwing around, really. Well, a big arse pompano picked it up. I couldn't believe it and figured it to be a fluke. But, I caught a few more that day and then made the fatal mistake. I went to the local fish'n shop and told the yocals what I'd done. They told me I was full of crap and obviously didn't know what a pompano was cause they are caught in the surf and in the spring...not in the bays in Nov. Well, suffice it to say, my spot was covered with Bubba's drowning shrimp within a few days and the pomps were getting hammered from then on. Now, the bays are full of pompano down there because of the positive effects from that legislation......but I feel like Paul Revere still.