How I Fish Pompano Around Tampa Bay

Pompano trip people up on the measuring board more than almost any other beach fish I talk about. They get measured by fork length, and that’s the tip of the snout with the mouth closed, straight back to the center of the fork in the tail. Not the tip of the longest tail ray, and not along the curve of the belly. I carry a board or a tape that shows fork length clearly, because a short fish on ice makes for a bad morning.

Here are the rules I fish under. A Florida pompano has to be 11 inches fork length, the bag is six per person per day, and the season is open year-round. You can take them with hook and line, a cast net, or a beach or haul seine, and that’s it. A treble hook with live or dead bait is illegal, and so is snatching. I checked all of that on MyFWC’s pompano and permit page on November 3, 2026, and I look again before I keep a fish, because rules move.

The fish I’m talking about is the Florida pompano, the silver beach fish that eats a jig in the trough.

When I fish pompano

Pompano are a cooler months fish around here, and winter into spring is the main window. Fishing Tampa Bay by Month points at February for good reason. Late fall can work too, once the water starts cooling off and a front has come through. A clean trough on a moving tide is what I want to be standing next to, whatever the month.

How I fish the trough

I look for the first trough behind the breakers, or any deeper cut that runs parallel to the beach. Moving water beats dead slack every time, so I check the tide before I pick a day, and How to Read Tides for Tampa Bay Fishing is how I do it. Then I cast parallel to the sand and work the jig slowly along the bottom. After a cool front the water usually clears up, and I like fishing a beach when I can see the color changes in the trough.

From a boat or a pass edge, I want sandy spoil and ledge edges with the tide running. I bounce the jig so it ticks the sand and kicks up a little puff, and I stay over clean sand. Heavy grass is the wrong neighborhood for this fish.

Jigs and sand fleas

My go-to is a goofy jig or a teardrop pompano jig in yellow, white, pink, or chartreuse. I run a quarter ounce to a half ounce depending on wind and current. When I want bait, it’s fresh sand fleas if I can rake or buy them, or live or fresh dead shrimp. A small piece of either on a light pompano rig or a double drop is how I soak bait while the jig works another spot. Two separate single hooks on a drop rig are fine. It’s the treble with bait that gets you in trouble.

The same jigs ride with me to any clean sand.

If you’re buying gear, these are the ones I send people to: pink and chartreuse goofy jigs, a wide sand flea rake for digging your own bait, and pre-tied double drop pompano rigs. The rest of what I recommend sits in the shop. A seven-foot light or light-medium spinning rod handles all of it, and Best Inshore Rod and Reel Combos for Tampa Bay will get you set up. For parking and access on the sand, Shore Fishing Tampa Bay has you covered. Polarized glasses help a lot with reading trough color.

Where I’d fish for pompano

I start with North Beach at Fort De Soto. A pink or chartreuse goofy jig and a sand flea in the trough is what I fish there, and that whole day lives in my Fort De Soto Fishing Guide.

Clearwater Pass and Clearwater Beach come next, with Sand Key running south of them. Local fishing reports have a pompano and trout bite on Clearwater Beach in winter and name Clearwater Pass for pompano in fall. Pick a stretch and walk until you find a cut that looks right.

Down at Bunces Pass and Pass-a-Grille, the reports name the Bunces Pass bridge and the Pass-a-Grille channel, and a half ounce jig with a teaser has outfished the other lures.

Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach are where I point you for the winter and spring run, and the by-month calendar says the same. When February comes around, that’s the drive I’d make.

Up north, the Dunedin Causeway channel has the best local record for pompano near Honeymoon. Anglers have caught them in the channel on jigs with teasers, parking along the causeway is free, and it opens at 5 a.m.

Honeymoon Island itself is a try-it spot. The state park lists pompano among its surf and pass catches, and the south end near Hurricane Pass on a moving tide is where I’d give it a shot. My Honeymoon Island Fishing Guide covers fees and access.

Before you keep one

Measure fork length, keep six or fewer, and look at MyFWC one more time before anything goes on ice. The full size and bag table is in 2026 Tampa Bay Fishing Regulations, and if you need license basics, the Beginner’s Guide covers them. Then go find some clean sand.