Page 131 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2023

An angler fights a big one while fishing the jetties at the edge of the Gulf. Pompano like to eat crustaceans and often feed right at the edge of the surf or near jetties, seawalls, breakwaters or other structure.
Pompano typically don’t receive much attention from most Mississippi fishermen. Occasionally, anglers catch them while fishing for redfish, speckled trout or sheepshead. However, these delicious relatives of hard-fighting jack crevalle provide incredible action on light tackle for anyone who knows how to catch the tastiest fish in the sea.
“To catch pompano, people really need to go out specifically to fish for pompano,” advises Robert Brodie with Team Brodie Charters in Biloxi. “They are pretty wild, aggressive little fish. They make fast runs and they jump. I’ve had them jump in the boat and jump over the boat.”
Most pompano average about one to two pounds. The all- tackle world record weighed 8.25 pounds. The Mississippi state record weighed just shy of five pounds. Pompano love to roam sandy beaches, often feeding right at the surf edge, making them an excellent species for anglers who enjoy wade fishing.
“Pompano are schooling fish, favoring beaches with a good surf and high salinity,” explains Dr. Bob Shipp, a marine biologist and author of Dr. Bob Shipp’s Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. “This is probably because their favorite food items are small, shelled animals living in the upper layers of sandy bottoms. Powerful jaw muscles crush the shells.”
Their favorite food, ghost shrimp burrow into the sand in the surf. These mostly small transparent crustaceans look something like a cross between crawfish and shrimp. They
Chandra Wright shows off a pompano she caught. Pompano like to feed on ghost shrimp.
measure about two to four inches long and only come out at night because practically everything eats them. Many people pop the head off a shrimp and peel off the shell to imitate the look and feel of a ghost shrimp.
When ghost shrimp spawn, their eggs turn bright orange. Pompano look for orange in the water. Therefore, many people use orange or red jigheads sweetened with shrimp to tempt pompano. Sand fleas, commonly called mole crabs or sand crabs, also make excellent pompano baits. Anglers can also use live shrimp, fiddler crabs or clams.
“Pompano don’t necessarily need live bait, but fresh bait,” Brodie says. “I’ve probably caught more pompano on fresh dead shrimp than anything else. I just use a small piece of shrimp or maybe a small live shrimp. When I’m fishing for pompano, I put a florescent red bead on the leader for added attraction.”
The waves pounding the beaches frequently create a washboard effect on the bottom. That action builds sandbars separated by troughs or gullies. Pompano habitually get into the gullies to hunt for prey. Anglers might also find them around sandy points, jetties, seawalls, breakwaters or other objects.
“A lot of bait accumulates in the little gullies between sandbars,” Brodie states. “Pompano love to roam the gullies along the beach looking for ghost shrimp and sand fleas. Sometimes, pompano go outside of the gullies in a little deeper water, maybe seven feet deep. Sometimes, I’ll run the boat in the shallows along the beach and pompano start jumping in the backwash. That’s a good way to locate them. When we start seeing a bunch jumping, we turn around and go fish for them.”
Sometimes, anglers catch a few pompano on artificial baits. Anglers might catch them on flies that mimic small crabs or shrimp. Pompano also hit soft-plastic shrimp imitations worked slowly along the bottom.
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