Fort Pierce Inlet

Catching BONEFISH while jigging for pompano!

Happy New Year Gang!

Sorry for the long absence, but up until recently fishing has been infrequent for me. Not only has “life” gotten in the way, but this odd weather has kept the bite very sporadic. Cold fronts are a regular factor in the winter months, however this unseasonable heat has kept our local water temps into the mid to upper seventy degree range; not a good scenario for a winter pattern.

Pompano and sheepshead have been my favorite targets as of late. While the river pompano are still in a state of flux due to the flip-flopping water temps the sheepshead are quite predictable.

Find structure and you’ll find the sheepshead this time of year!

Hard structure holds sheepshead this time of year. Bridge pilings, rocks, docks, oyster mounds and hard bottom spoil islands are all holding convict fish. Small live shrimp and sand fleas are working well for me and my parties and most of the fish we’ve caught are of keeper size.

For pompano, Goofy-jigs tipped with fishbites or a standard three hook pompano surf-rig with fleas are working, though the hardheads and other bait stealing critters tend to abscond with too many of my hard earned fleas to spend a lot of time looking for them. I’ll continue scouting the IRL and tossing the jig until the pompano show up in force!

A couple of my favorite pompano spots near the inlet are holding numbers of bonefish… you heard me; bonefish! Kim (my wife) and I have caught quite a few “jigging” for pompano. How cool is that?

Spanish Mackerel are here in good numbers. Cast small spoons, jigs or “Gotcha” lures at them from the jetties or troll small spoons and lipped plugs for them from your boat. There’s plenty to go around once they show themselves.

Lastly, target our remaining tarpon along with our winter resident spinner and blacktip sharks on afternoon outgoing tides. They’re rolling and jumping across the mouth of the inlet when the current is strong. They’re blasting the black mullet as they swim back and forth through the inlet. Once these mullet migrate south this pattern will weaken and become more and more sporadic. Large top-water popping plugs are excellent lures to entice a trophy!