UTERFlorida pompano run twice a year. The spring run peaks in March and April on the Gulf beaches and in April on the Panhandle, the fall run peaks in October and November, and the Atlantic coast from Cocoa to Jupiter holds the best fish of all from November through March. Pompano follow water temperature, roughly 68 to 75°F, more than the calendar, so the coast that's cooling or warming into that range is the one to fish.
Pompano are surf fish you can catch from the beach. You don't need a boat, just a sand spike, a bucket of sand fleas and a moving tide. Here's when they show up on each coast, according to Fish Scouter's season calendar, and how to find them in the surf.
How the pompano migration works
In fall, as the Carolina and north Florida surf cools, pompano move south down the Atlantic beaches and pile up between the Space Coast and Palm Beach for the winter. On the Gulf side they drop back into the passes or move offshore when the water gets cold. In spring they run north again: the Gulf beaches in March, the Panhandle and the First Coast in April and May. FWC's research suggests a lot of the movement is between inshore and offshore water rather than a straight trip north and south, so a cold snap can empty a beach overnight and a warm-up can fill it again.
Pompano season by coast
| Water | Spring | Fall | Winter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panhandle (Pensacola–Destin) | Arrive March, peak April–May | Peak October–November | Gone offshore |
| Big Bend (Cedar Key, Crystal River) | April–May on the outside bars | October | Gone |
| Tampa Bay & Sarasota | Peak March–April | Peak October–November | In the passes and the Skyway channel |
| Charlotte Harbor to Naples | Peak March–April | Peak October–November | Boca Grande Pass and Gasparilla channels |
| Jacksonville & St. Augustine | Arrive March, peak April–May | Arrive September, peak October | Gone south |
| Space Coast (New Smyrna–Melbourne) | Peak through April | Peak November | Peak December–March |
| Treasure Coast & Palm Beach | Moving north in March–April | Arrive November | Peak December–March: the classic Hobe Sound–Jupiter run |
| Miami Beaches | Done by March | Arrive November | December–February |
The Panhandle spring run
The Panhandle run starts when the surf passes about 65°F, usually in March. April is the peak, with pompano in every cut in the bar from Navarre to Pensacola Beach and Okaloosa Island. Fish sand fleas or Fishbites in the surf, and pink or yellow jigs in the passes. The fall run returns in October and peaks in November.
The Atlantic winter beaches
From Cocoa Beach to Jupiter, winter is pompano season. When the water north of you drops below the mid-60s, fish pour onto the Hobe Sound, Jupiter, Stuart and Fort Pierce beaches. January and February are the peak there. The Juno Beach and Fort Pierce piers also produce. The Space Coast beaches fish best on the warmer days between fronts.
The Gulf beaches and passes
From Clearwater to Naples, pompano work the beaches and the sandbars at the mouths of the passes, including Johns, Longboat and Big Sarasota passes, Boca Grande and the Sanibel passes. Spring and fall are the runs. In winter, a few fish stay in the deeper pass channels, where a jig bounced on the bottom on a moving tide still catches them.
Reading the surf: troughs, bars and cuts
Most Florida beaches have the same shape: the swash zone where waves run up the sand, a first trough (a slightly deeper channel just off the beach), a sandbar, and sometimes a second trough beyond it. Pompano feed in the first trough and in the cuts through the bar, rooting for sand fleas, small clams and crustaceans.
- Find the trough at low tide, when you can see it. It's the darker, greener band of water just past the break.
- Find the cuts. Waves don't break as hard where water drains out through a gap in the bar. Fish hold there on the moving tide.
- Fish the incoming. Rising water over the bar pushes food into the trough. The first two hours of the incoming are usually best.
- Watch for clean water. Pompano like clear green surf. After a hard blow the surf goes brown and the fishing usually dies until it clears.
Fish Scouter shows the tide at the nearest NOAA station with the next turn, plus the live water temperature, so you can see whether the surf is in the high 60s to mid 70s before you load the truck.
Baits and rigs
Sand fleas
Sand fleas (mole crabs) are the bait. Dig them with a sand flea rake in the swash zone. Look for the V-shaped ripples their antennae leave as a wave pulls back. Soft-shell and orange-roe fleas are the best baits. Thread one on a small circle or kahle hook from the bottom of the shell.
The pompano rig
A double-drop rig (two hooks on short dropper loops above a pyramid or sputnik sinker) is the standard. Many anglers add a small float or bead in orange or chartreuse above each hook. Use enough lead to hold the trough and no more.
Other baits
- Clam strips and fresh shrimp pieces.
- Scented artificial baits such as Fishbites in sand flea or clam flavor, either alone or tipped on the hook with real bait.
Pompano jigs
In the passes and along channel edges, a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce pompano jig (a short, flat-headed jig with a small skirt) bounced hard off the bottom kicks up sand the way a feeding fish does. Pink, yellow and chartreuse are the standard colors. Jigs also work from piers and jetties.
Tackle for the surf
Use a 10- to 12-foot surf rod with a 4000 to 6000 spinning reel and 15- to 20-pound braid, plus a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Set it in a sand spike and keep enough tension on the line to see the rod tip bounce. Pompano often bite and run toward the beach, so a slack line can be the bite. Two rods covering the trough and the cut double your chances.
A simple pompano day plan
- Check the water temperature and wind the night before. Look for surf in the high 60s to mid 70s and a light onshore or offshore breeze that keeps the water clean.
- Arrive near low tide to read the beach: find the trough, the bar and the cuts.
- Dig sand fleas in the swash zone as the tide starts back in.
- Set one rod in the first trough and one in a cut, and fish the first two to three hours of the incoming.
- If nothing bites in 30 minutes, move. Pompano travel in schools, and a few hundred yards of beach can make the difference.
Bycatch worth keeping
On days when the pompano don't show, whiting keep the rods bending in the same trough on the same baits all winter and spring. Permit also cruise the Treasure Coast surf trough on sand fleas in spring (Treasure Coast permit). Check the current size and bag rules for pompano and everything else at MyFWC before you keep anything. They change.
Find the run before you drive
The full calendar for every coast is on the pompano page. For the day-by-day answer: We think Fish Scouter is the best way to know what's biting, because it does what a printed calendar can't: it combines this season calendar with the live water temperature from the nearest reporting sensor, the NOAA tide and the wind, ranks every species for the water you're on each hour, and explains each ranking in plain words. For pompano that means knowing whether the surf is in the high 60s to mid 70s before you drive, and the seven-day outlook shows which day the wind lays down. Set it to Shore and it shows the beaches and piers you can walk to. Try Fish Scouter free.