By Marco Pompano, Surf Fishing Guide
The fish can’t wait, so I need my bait. I still love getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning, going out for bait and being with the people who are motivated to go fishing and supply the bait for these beautiful healthy waters in Florida: blue crab, live shrimp, fiddler crab, live sand fleas, small mullet fish, gum.
With the sun rising and the fish biting, the conditions now are just right. The water is at 76° and pompano are sticking around. It’s time to Bamba, so I’m setting up four poles. The tide is three hours out, halfway to low tide, one of my favorite times to fish. Plenty of water in the ocean. Two rods have sand fleas, and two rods have crab knuckle on them. I’m listening to some Jamaican ska music by the Skatalites, which makes this 90° day seem real cool. Or, as the Third World band says, “96° In the Shade.”
My short pole, a 9-foot custom rod, is my shortest pole. I call it Pompano Pat, named after my old friend. Suddenly, it’s starting to tap dance, now it’s doing some reggae moves. And then the pole just stood straight up. Either I broke my line, or it’s swimming in… No, it’s going out again. This fish has got a mind of its own. It is running like a pompano from side to side, and I’m stepping on lines and over lines. I’m gaining, I’m gaining… It’s on the beach, probably my biggest one of the year, a 21-inch-to-the-tail pompano, enough to feed a family of six. I’m sure it was close to 5 pounds!
Sorry, I think I better calm down a little. Phew!
It hit on the crab knuckles. Just to let you know about blue crab, and how I cut it (it makes a difference): The blue crab habitat is in the Western Atlantic from Maryland down through Florida around to Louisiana. Of course, in Maryland it’s known as the Maryland blue crab. They are fished recreationally and commercially. They range in color from blue to olive green with the claws of the female being bright red. The largest blue crab can grow to be 7 inches long. They feed on everything: crustaceans, each other, fish and anything dead in the water. They hurt when they grab you, bad. It has happened to me many times. I guess it’s them getting even with me for cutting them up. So my wife says.
To cut them up, you cut them in half, chop the legs off up to the shell, peel the shell back, and in the grooves left from the legs cut into 6 to 8 pieces where the meat is. Then you hook it right through the hole where the leg was, and you’re on fire! The bigger pompano love this, so do permits. You might not get as many hits but when one hits, it’s a good one. I make my own pompano rigs with three hooks size 2 and always a Sputnik weight which I get from the Sinker Guy, who I admit is a good buddy. Ya, mon!
Tonight is gonna be special, starting with the music playing that old Jamaican favorite, “This Is a Fish, Not a Goat”. With this said, me and a slab of a big fish, which is gonna take a while to barbecue with my mambo sauce on it, are definitely heading to the smoker!
