Pompano promise aplenty in Bay area

Pompano are one of the few fish that make it a point to let you know they're around. They often "skip" in the wake of a boat, and smart anglers know that if they run just off plane on the outside edge of a flat like the many that surround Tampa Bay, they'll sooner or later see one of these plate-shaped jacks bouncing across their wake, apparently fleeing the noise and disturbance created by the prop.

Where there's one pompano, there are usually a dozen, and it's game-on when a pompano angler sees one go airborne.

However, they're often around when they don't show themselves, too. Captain James Wisner of Tampa for years made a healthy income catching them by the dozens around the bridges that span the bay and delivering them alive in an aerated tank to Bern's, the famous eatery on South Howard.

And in spring and fall, lots of them run the beaches, often showing up just beyond the first bar next to the sand, where they skim along looking for crabs and shrimp.

Pompano in general are small fish of a pound or two, but they do reach larger size on occasion. Captain Sergio Atanes of Tampa not long ago guided 11-year-old Maxwell Stoeckel to a remarkable pompano that measured 22.4 inches to the fork and weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. To give you an idea of just how enormous that is for the species, the all-tackle world record is 8 pounds, 4 ounces.

Atanes, who hosts the Bay area's only Spanish-language fishing talk show from 9-10 a.m. Saturdays on 1300 AM radio, said that the fish hit an orange and white, quarter-ounce Silly Willy jig on the edge of the flats in Tampa Bay.

The Silly Willy and the similar Doc's Goofy Jig are famed pompano lures. They're simple banana jigs — a curved piece of lead wrapped around a long-shank hook — but for some reason pompano love them when they're bounced across the sand in short hops. They'll also grab small bucktail jigs and swimbaits, and fly-rodders catch them on lead-wrapped, bead-eye flies and crab imitations. Whatever the offering, the fish usually hit best if it's worked in a series of short, sharp twitches.

Anglers who fish for pompano seriously often resort to live bait, with fresh-cut shrimp the easiest to come by; a piece about the size of a man's thumbnail is just right for the small mouth of a 2-pound pomp.

Even better bait, but much harder to get since it's rarely found in bait shops, is the fiddler crab. James Wisner captures his around muddy tidal creeks on low tide, sometimes via a "fiddler roundup," which employs cardboard fences to herd the crabs into an open-mouthed bucket buried in the sand.

Some anglers prefer octopus or modified circle hooks to fish for pompano, since the design of these hooks tend to set themselves when the hard-hitting fish gulp down the bait and swim off. Hooks of size 1 and smaller are best, with just enough weight to hold them on bottom in the current.

Pompano are fast-moving and rarely stop swimming; they're built much like a jack crevalle, and display a similar amount of muscle when hooked, though they don't reach the large size of the jacks.

Because they're usually found in fairly clear water, light monofilament or fluorocarbon line is the best bet — 8-pound-test is adequate to handle them unless you hook up with a giant like young Maxwell.

When fishing around the bridge pilings on strong tide flows, much heavier gear is in order; at least 20-pound-test line and 2 to 3 ounces of weight are necessary to get the bait down close to the pilings where the fish feed. The Skyway, Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges all have pompano from spring through fall.

Most pompano pros scrape barnacles and oysters off the pilings to create a chum-line that draws the fish to the baits. This same chum is also attractive to sheepshead and black drum, so a mixed bag is common.

The size limit is 11 inches to the fork of the tail, the bag limit six daily.

Pompano are noted for their table qualities, but their flesh is slightly oily, which makes frying not the best option. Skinned, then baked or broiled and garnished with a squeeze of lime, they are outstanding.