Pompano are one of my favorite fish to catch and eat. Their flesh is very firm and mild. It’s easy to over season them, I like mine baked with a pat of butter and a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

Now that I’ve gotten your mouth watering, how and where do you catch them on the Big Bend? A good starting point is on the Spoil Banks in Crystal River. Pompano do like the hard gravelly bottom around the spoil islands near deep water.

Another way to find Pompano is go on Google Earth and study where some of the deep blue finger channels are and round holes near the edge of the Gulf to about 1/2 mile east. A high outgoing tide with swirling water is the best time to catch them.

If you are catching spanish mackerel and ladyfish, you are in the right area. My favorite bait is a 3″ live shrimp with its tail pinched off threaded onto a 1/8 oz. chartreuse jig head. Make a long cast and let the bait sink, then give it a slow twitching retrieve. The bite will be a tap, tap bam!

The rocks out in 8 to 15-feet are producing sheepshead on live shrimp and don’t be surprised if you catch some nice trout huddled around the rock.

Incoming tide will be early morning this weekend.

Homosassa Inshore Fishing Report from Captain William Toney

To schedule a fishing charter or shore lunch excursion with Captain Toney, visit his website. He is a third-generation fishing guide in the Homosassa area, a member of the Homosassa Guides Association, and he provides the Homosassa Inshore Fishing Report each week to NatureCoaster.com.

To read about our Shore Lunch excursion with Captain Toney, click here.

If you want to learn more about how to catch Nature Coast fish from Captain Toney, subscribe to his videos at https://inthespread.com