MARCO ISLAND POMPANO by Joe Filice

Posted on February 17, 2024 by kelli

I have been all but absent in 2023. Physical issues and just life in general got in the way. So a month on Marco Island is just what the doctor ordered. We arrived on 2/3 and I fish strictly surf along Tiger Tail Beach. The first two days fishing produced 3 black drum each day, ranging from 15″ – 22″. All filleted and fried up for a delicious dinner.

Today, 2/17 I walked down the beach to where I believed the sand bar tailed off from the beach into deeper water. I baited a pompano rig with live sand fleas and 15 minutes later landed the pictured 16″ pompano. Great fight on light gear. It has been filleted and we will be heading to the Capri Fish House where they will cook up two platters with approximately 2lbs of fillets. Two more weeks of fishing left before we have to head back to the deep freeze.

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.