Giant pompano delicacy
December 07, 2021
Cocoa Beach
1 photo

Trip Summary
Trip Summary
At last Pompano have finally have made their presence known here along the Space Coast. Among the pompano we’re also seeing black drum, whiting, Spanish mackerel, bluefish and sharks cruising the surf. Fishing near Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach saw an increasing number of black drum, pompano and whiting. Meanwhile central and southern Brevard county beaches including Indiatlantic, Melbourne Beach and Sebastian saw a larger influx of bluefish, whiting, Spanish mackerel and keeper pompano with many short pompano mixed in. All in all the surf fishing conditions finally cooperated with the abating weather of November in the rear view mirror there’s much to celebrate.
Consistency seemed to be increasingly difficult to come by in the week prior with many anglers being skunked or off the trail of the target species. Reading through all the reports on social media and talking directly with fellow anglers it seemed to be an uneven scenario for different groups of fisherman. While some had great luck with pompano and whiting, it seemed to leave twice as many scratching their heads about the lack of success. The fish are absolutely present in the waters and fooling them into biting maybe the issue to combat. We’ll go into this more in the following paragraph but the key is to vary your rigging and setups to find what’s working. Don’t stick with your same program if your not having luck and few others are.
Noting on the above mentioned variations in surf fishing get in the habit of experimenting with the variables that play into a productive day. Consider everything from water temperature to water clarity, to barometric pressure, tidal influence, bait on offer, presentation, bait scent, and much more. The reason being is wile some find tremendous success while others struggle especially in the prior week it has to do with these many variables that are involved in the fishing and surf fishing realm. So try different rigs, places, tides and baits to see what works best for you and adjust accordingly as the conditions change.
While the blue fish and Spanish mackerel have kept the spin casting anglers armed with spoons plenty busy it’s the pompano and whiting that we’ll focus on this week. One factor to note was the location of the fish whether it be near the shore or out on the sandbar. Our fishing clients produced well with many fish coming right at the shores edge while other tides and water conditions mandated casting out to **hidden content** plus yards. Observing these variations makes it all the more important to keep a constant pulse and stagger gear to achieve the best results. Once again the Fishbites crab and clam scent in the white, chartreuse and electric chicken worked best and these synthetic scents were matched with live or blanched sandfleas or clam.
In summary it’s an exciting time to be hit the beach for surf fishing, with the pristine weather on display and fish scouring the surf it’s a great combination for a way to spend time catching dinner. Nothing like enjoying the spoils of fresh pompano baked whole or blackened whiting tacos to share with family and friends. Or if it’s a rod your looking to bend the shark fishing charters continue to produce many blacktips and lemon sharks for shore bound anglers. The forecast looks like continuing beneficial weather patterns so there’s plenty of opportunity on hand to hit the shore for surf fishing. Get out there and have fun!