The pompano have been running strong in the passes and near bridges in St. Pete Beach. A Doc’s Goofy Jig with a bright teaser is the ticket to catching these tasty fish. Jig along the bottom, with a sharp snap to lift the jig up, then let it settle to the bottom, raising a puff of sand (this attracts the pompano).  Eventually, when you go to snap the jig up, you’ll set the hook in a fiesty pompano. Early morning is the best time for a strong bite, but we’ve been getting them throughout the day. 15 a day seems to be the norm, although there are lots of fish just shy of legal size. By-catch includes ladyfish (lots), sea trout, lizard fish, grunts, bluefish and macks.

I spent a couple hours Sunday at the Merry Pier. There are still grouper around on the incoming tide, and the first few greenbacks just showed up. There has been a four foot barracuda lurking around the boats. And, finally, the first snapper have arriverd Here’s an 11″ mango:

This entry was posted on Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 4:22 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.