What are the Best Baits and Lures for Pompano Fishing?
The best baits for pompano are sand fleas and shrimp fished with a pompano rig. The best lures for pompano are pink or orange banana jigs or white and pink pompano feather jigs fished off of the beach or around inshore sand bars.
What are the best baits and lures for pompano fishing? Well if you ask 10 different pompano fishermen you will probably get at least 4 or 5 different answers.
BUT most would agree that some sort of banana jig or feather jig are the best lures. They would argue on what the best colors are but most would agree with those two lures.
The bottom line is that you will need to know the best baits and lures for pompano fishing in your area. My area of the world is the Treasure coast of Florida but pompano eat pretty much the same things wherever they are found.
Most pompano fishermen would also agree that a sand flea is the number one real bait for catching pompano.
Pompanos are one of the best tasting migratory fish that come rolling through Florida waters every winter. A pompano is very sensitive to changes in water temperatures and seems to prefer the low 60s to the mid 70s.
Pompano show up in the Treasure Coast of Florida around November and leave the area towards the end of April usually. This depends upon cold fronts and the severity of the Florida winters.
In other words, if it starts to get cold in October the fish will start to head South early. If the first really good cold fronts don't show up until December, then they will head South a little later.
The same cycle is true for the end of Winter. After a warm Winter the fish may head back up North in late March or Early April. Late cold fronts may prolong their stay until mid May.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about pompano fishing. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and learn the best baits and lures to catch more pompano.
The best baits for pompano are sand fleas and shrimp fished with a pompano rig. The best lures for pompano are pink or orange banana jigs or white and pink pompano feather jigs fished off of the beach or around inshore sand bars.
What are the best baits and lures for pompano fishing? Well if you ask 10 different pompano fishermen you will probably get at least 4 or 5 different answers.
BUT most would agree that some sort of banana jig or feather jig are the best lures. They would argue on what the best colors are but most would agree with those two lures.
The bottom line is that you will need to know the best baits and lures for pompano fishing in your area. My area of the world is the Treasure coast of Florida but pompano eat pretty much the same things wherever they are found.
Most pompano fishermen would also agree that a sand flea is the number one real bait for catching pompano.
Pompanos are one of the best tasting migratory fish that come rolling through Florida waters every winter. A pompano is very sensitive to changes in water temperatures and seems to prefer the low 60s to the mid 70s.
Pompano show up in the Treasure Coast of Florida around November and leave the area towards the end of April usually. This depends upon cold fronts and the severity of the Florida winters.
In other words, if it starts to get cold in October the fish will start to head South early. If the first really good cold fronts don't show up until December, then they will head South a little later.
The same cycle is true for the end of Winter. After a warm Winter the fish may head back up North in late March or Early April. Late cold fronts may prolong their stay until mid May.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about pompano fishing. Let's get started.
Watch the video below and learn the best baits and lures to catch more pompano.
Best baits and lures for pompano fishing--BEACH
Pompano can most easily be found along the beach which is evident by the hundreds of surf casting poles in rod holders when the pompano are running in large numbers. The best dead baits for pompano are sand fleas a.k.a. mole crabs.
These little crabs can be found in the beach sand as they catch plankton with there specialized legs. Chances are that if there are lots of sand fleas around the pompano will be around too. You can catch sand fleas very easily with a sand flea rake or with your hands once you find a group of them.
Recent beach re nourishment projects on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida has hurt the sand flea populations. During a re nourishment project sand is pumped onto the beach from offshore to increase the usable area of the beach for tourists.
This covers up or runs off all of the sand fleas on that beach. Guess what else is run off by the lack of sand fleas. Yep. The pompanos will avoid that beach for a couple of years after a beach re nourishment has occurred.
Okay. Let's get back to the best live baits to catch pompano. The sand flea is the best by far followed by the shrimp. If there are pompano around one of those two baits will catch them. Set yourself up with a few pompano rigs from the local bait and tackle shop and some 2 to 5 oz. sinkers and you are good to go.
The best dead bait for pompano is sand fleas, shrimp and clam strips. Local baits shops usually have all of these baits in their freezers for sale. Put one of these dead baits on your pompano rig and send it out into the surf. During high tides the pompano are closer to the beach. During low tides you will have to send your baits out as far as possible to catch pompanos in large numbers.
The best lures for catching pompano off of the beach are banana jigs. Send your jig out to where you think the pompano are hanging out and bounce it back to you on the sandy bottom and repeat as you walk down the beach. The best colors for me are pink and orange but light green and yellow work pretty well too.
I wrote another article about the best ways to fish for pompano during high tide and low tide. You can find that article by clicking here.
Another great lure to catch pompano off of the beach are scented imitation shrimp jigs with a 1/8 or 1/4 oz. pink or orange jig head. This lure works best on the higher tides because it is too light to cast very far. Don't forget to make a few casts parallel to the beach so that you can work the trough. Some keeper pompano can be caught within 2 or 3 feet from shore at high tide.
The video below shows you the best pompano fishing lures and how to modify them for better results.
Best baits and lures for pompano fishing--SAND BARS AND GRASS FLATS
I can catch a lot of my pompano from my kayak in the Indian River Lagoon. When I target pompano in the river I will look for a deep cut between two spoil islands or a cut between a sand bar and a grass flat. This is a good hunting ground for pompano to stage up waiting for shrimp and other crustaceans to be swept off of the grass flats during the outgoing tides.
During the incoming tides they will often move into the grass flats foraging for food. You can usually find them in the sandy pot holes or along the sandy channels in and around the grass flats. The sandy sides of the spoil islands is another great spot to find them on the higher tides.
They will be foraging the islands' beaches for crabs and shrimp as the tide rises. Their prey likes to hide in the sand and mud around the islands so you can find the pompano there too. Pompano like to move around a lot. The whole school will move together and the school might be huge or just a dozen fish or so.
So you might have to fish a lot of sandy spots to find some. Once you find them make sure to stay put until they move. Don't leave pompano to catch more pompano because you often won't be able to find the school again.
Pompano are on the move a lot so when you find a likely spot don't linger for too long without getting a bite. I usually will wait for 5 or 10 minutes and then I will move. They can be pretty hard to find on some days but when you do find them there are usually lots of them for you to catch.
The best live bait is sand fleas and shrimp for this environment too. You should use the same pompano rigs that you used on the beach. Often you will want to decrease the amount of lead that you use because the currents will have less strength than the waves on the beach.
The best dead baits are the same ones that you used on the beach. Use the same pompano rigs too.
The best lures are the same too. You will want to cast your jigs up current and bounce them on the bottom with a steady retrieve and repeat until you cover that casting area. Move 50 feet and repeat the process until you find the pompanos. Sometimes you can stay with the school for a while. Follow them until they lose you or you have your limit in the boat.
I wrote another article that covers how to catch a pompano in great detail. You can find that article here.
The video below shows you how to make your own pompano rigs for fishing.
Best bait and lures for pompano fishing--BRIDGES
Did you ever wonder what those guys and gals are doing on the bridges during the Winter and early Spring? They are obviously vertical jigging for something and they are shoulder to shoulder. What are they fishing for? Well those are pompano fishermen.
They are vertical jigging with banana jigs, like the ones I talked about earlier in this article or feather jigs for pompano. The lower bridges that are often on one side of major bridges that cross the waterways are a great spot to fish for pompano.
I wrote another article on this website all about the best lures for pompano fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The bridge pilings that are surrounded by a sandy bottom are great hunting spots for pompano. This means that they are great hunting spots for pompano fishermen.
This fishing technique is very simple to implement. You just drop your jig to the bottom and lift your rod tip up so that the lure is a foot or so off of the bottom. Then you just let it drop back down and repeat the process until you get a bite.
This is a great way to fish but the fishing often has lots of down time. When the schools of fish move under the bridge the bite can be extremely hot and heavy. BUT very quickly the fish will move on and then you will have to wait for another school to come moving through. That might be hours if at all.
You can use a piece of shrimp or a sand flea on a 1/0 circle hook, with enough weight to keep it on the bottom too. If you don't want to have to jig your arm off, then this is another good way to catch pompanos off of these bridges. Just drop your bait straight down and let the pompano hook themselves on the circle hook.
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Best gear for pompano fishing:
If you are going to be fishing for pompano all day you will definitely need to protect your eyes and skin from the sun's harmful rays. Polarized sunglasses are a must for pompano fishing off of the beach.
A top of the line pair of sunglasses will run about $250 and a lower end pair will run you about $25 with glass lenses. You can find super cheap ones with plastic lenses for about $5 at Walmart.
I have a pair of the expensive $250 polarized sunglasses and there is definitely an increase in performance and more durable construction. They were a birthday present and I am afraid to wear them a lot but they are definitely better quality than the cheaper ones. The frames are very tough and the glass lenses are scratch resistant.
Whatever price range you decide to go with you must wear polarized sunglasses or you can not sight fish for pompano in the backwash at the beach. The polarized lenses eliminate most of the glare on the surface of the water so that you can see under the surface.
The best color lenses for inshore and dirtier water scenarios are amber, rose and copper. If you are fishing super clean and clear water or you are fishing offshore a blue or a gray lens is best.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts to protect your skin from the sun's harmful rays. These shirts have built in sunscreen and are moisture wicking which means they evaporate your perspiration more efficiently keeping you cool on those hot days on the water.
Watch the video below and learn more good pompano lures to use.
Best tackle for pompano fishing:
The tackle that you will need for pompano fishing depends upon the conditions and where you are fishing for them. If you are fishing for them off of the beach at high tide then you can get away with a normal sized rod and reel. This is because they will often be within 10 or 15 feet of the beach.
If you are fishing for them off of the beach at the lower parts of the tide, then you will need a surf casting rod that is much longer than a normal rod. This is because you will have to get your bait out 50 or 60 yards to the sand bar.
If you are fishing for pompano around the sand bars inside some inlet somewhere then you will need another rod and reel combo. Let's get into more detail.
Let's assume that it is near the high end of the tide and you are fishing off of the beach. You can get away with a 4000 series rod filled with 20 pound braided line and a 7 to 8 foot medium/heavy rod.
This combo is great for the higher parts of the tide because the pompano may only be a few feet from the beach. This is my preferred outfit for pompano fishing around high tide. This is also the combo that I use when I am fishing for pompano from my kayak around the sand bars or grass flats inshore.
If the pompano are holding by the first sand bar at the beach, then you will need a surf casting rod that is at least 10 feet long. You might want one that is even 14 or 15 feet long if you want to be able to cast all the way to the sand bar at low tide. You can get away with the 4000 series reel with the 20 pound braided line. Just switch it from your small rod to the big one.
Watch the video below to find out how to find the pompano schools.
Conclusion:
I hope this article about the best baits and lures to catch a pompano taught you something. There are many different ways to catch the same species of fish and every fisherman has their go to favorites. You just have to figure out what you like the best and master that technique.
Pompano are one of Florida's most beloved snow birds. They don't cause any traffic congestion and they can give you a full day of fishing fun. The pompano come down during our cooler months and inundate our beaches, inlets and grass flats. They are very abundant during the Winter and early Spring.
You will have to figure out the best baits and lures for your region of the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean when you are targeting pompano.
Pompano are a delicious species of jack and are often mistaken for a permit but they are both really good to eat and fun to catch. You can tell when the schools are running the beach because there will be dozens of huge surf casting rods lining the beaches.
If you are ever in the Treasure Coast of Florida book a flats boat charter with me. We can target the pompano on the grass flats. It is an absolute blast to catch a pompano out on the flats or around the sandbars near inlet mouths.
I hope that this article helps you catch more pompano or at the very least helps you have more fun trying to catch them. Let's get some lines wet.
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