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So we went to the cape for an end of summer fishing, scalloping, beach trip. But of course the algae bloom nixed the scalloping. So we fished pretty hard for trout and your other normal flats fish but absolutely no luck. But We were able to boat 7 different species though. And the kids had a blast so I'll take it. The third day after being completely skunked we ran out to be bouy line and fished some bouys with pinfish. Picked up 2 lane snapper and 1 Black Sea bass. Then next day I spent the morning early by myself trying to find a redfish on topwater but all I could find was a really random African pompano! Go figure. Then later that morning we were heading across the bay and noticed some fish busting the surface. So we stopped and tossed out the Spanish rigs and bam, within 20 min we had 7 fish in the box. Then we ran over to some trout holes with no joy. Then while trolling motor-ing to the next spot my son is letting his gulp on a jig head troll along and he hooks into a Florida pompano. Again, random. So Later back at the house we see some mullet swimming by the dock and we toss the cast net and grab a really nice one. Perfect for the fryer. So last morning comes and while my son and I are running back to the state park to take the boat out we stop at a shark hole and pick up 2 really nice blacktip sharks. Probably the highlight of his trip. Both were prob 2.5-3ft long. I talked with a few guys on the way off the cape that when I told them I wasn't able to catch a single trout, they really acted very surprised. All they would say was that "yeah we've been catching some" . oh well. Guess I wasn't holding my mouth right!


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Those blacktips are an absolute favourite of mine!!!

Nice work on the pompano as well! Any time on the water, fish or not, is better than being stuck at the house!

Looks like a great trip and I'm sure the kids had fun and made some memories


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Nicely done captain! Nothing like watching kids have fun catching fish.

That's a great trip, Hardhead. Even with no trout or reds, got some good fish anyway and kids had fun.

Nice report, thanks for posting. Did you happen to get a pic of the African pompano? I've never heard of anyone catching one inshore. Quite a catch. Congrats

It was definitely a fun trip. We tried all colors of gulp, some under corks, some just on jigheads. Fished all depths 3-10 feet. Even used bull minnows and pinfish in same fashion. Nada on the trout. I did not get a pic of the African pompano. I know it sounds crazy and honestly if I had the id wrong I really want to know what the fish was. Pretty stupid of me not to get a pic. Description of it was that it looked exactly like the pompano my son caught, but with very little to no yellow on the belly( all silvery/white in color) and it had hard bony nodules on side of the tail portion kinda like a Spanish. I honestly thought it was just a regular pompano until I was looking at some fish id pics later that day. The bony tail is what got my attention.


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My bad not like a Spanish. The hard bony nodules were on the lateral of the tail.


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Sounds like you had fun regardless. Spaniards have saved many a trip. Thanks for sharing.

Here's are some fish id illustrations from the FWC site:
Pompano on top, African pompano lower left and permit lower right

Blue runner:
Jack crevalle:

ya never know what you may catch out there. I caught a permit out of Econfina a few years ago. I caught it at the end of Sept about 4 years ago, and still waiting on the next run of them. Did Robbie tell you about our scalloping trip this past weekend? He had an appointment w/ you Wednesday morning. See you soon

Hey redbelly, I was still fishing wed am so I think I missed him! Hope y'all did well on the scallops. Silver king, those are the pics I've been looking at. Hard to remember now. I don't remember it having a prominent forehead as the African pompano shows. Don't think it had as large a mouth as the blue runner and not as much yellow as the jack crevelle. But now I'm definitely leaning away from the African. Dang guys, my bad. Lesson learned. Always take pics! I'm thinking it was a blue runner.


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