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From: Tiderunner
Date: 10/1/2025
Time: 6:59:07 PM
You may think that catching pompano is straight forward, and it is, but actually there are lots of other options to make it more fun.
First of all, the standard fare.
Keep it light: Seven-foot rod/reel combo, 8- to 12-pound test line, and remember, with their flat bodies, these fish fight hard.
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Many use a standard two-hook bottom rig, but many of the sharpies make their own rigs with long leaders for a more natural bait presentation. They also use orange beads on, or near, the hook, mimicking the color of sand flea eggs, which they relish.
Carolina rigs also give a good natural presentation of the bait as it rolls with the wave action.
Pompano have teeny, tiny mouths, so use No. 4 or No. 6 long shank hooks or even small-wire circle hooks. Also, Kahle or circle hooks provide a good alternative as the pompano hit hard and run, so circle hooks work well to let the pompano hook themselves. Let them run for a few seconds, they pick up the bait and run, then stop and eat.
The best baits?
Fresh shrimp, sand fleas (softies if you can find them) and bloodworms are the normal fare. By fresh shrimp, I mean eating shrimp, not frozen and thawed bait shrimp. They love the good stuff.
For less traditional options, Gulp! sells a sand flea. Bait and Fishbites has a sand flea flavor as well. The Fishbites bloodworm flavor strip is a great bait along with their shrimp and other flavors, which can be used alone or in tandem with fresh shrimp.
Now for some fun alternatives.
Pompano will also hit small spoons, little bucktails, shad darts, gold hook rigs with orange beads and speck rigs tipped with a small bit of shrimp, flies or small spoons and gold hooks with orange beads.
These are good choices for the artificial angler such as I, and they also have been known to take a GotCha plug as well. Be advised, that if you use these artificials, you often entice the bigger of the pompano. I hooked and landed a 2.5-pound pompano on a ¾-ounce gold Kastmaster fishing the point in Emerald Isle. When initially hooked, I could not figure out what it was until I landed the critter. I just knew it was running me all over the beach.
Finally, there are pompano jigs, either 1/8 or ¼-ounce, often pink or chartreuse, that are fished by casting them out, letting them hit the bottom and bouncing them slowly along the bottom on retrieval. Some anglers also add a teaser fly above the jig for added flash. The jig can be fished naked or tipped with a bit of shrimp or a strip of your favorite Fishbite bait. I have seen them used effectively at Bogue Pier recently and you also have the possibility of enticing a trout, drum or flounder to hit the jig as well.
Fishing Reports
We had the pompano blitz.
And I recently mentioned the fall king mackerel bite was heating up and should show up at the piers, and voilà, there they are with Bogue Pier and the Topsail piers lately catching multiple kings.
Bogue Pier had an exciting week with a bunch of kings caught up to 46 pounds. The fall king mackerel run is on. And the Spanish are still from the beach and Morehead Turning Basin to Cape Lookout.
Along with false albacore, the blues are getting bigger, too.
The blues and Spanish are even perking up the beach surf fishing action all the way down to the point in Emerald Isle. The answer … of course, as I already pointed out a few weeks ago … is bait. Silversides, bay anchovies and multiple mullets, big and small.
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The inside action is heating up too for reds, black drum and trout. Again, it’s the bait. Mullet, of course, but we are also having an epic shrimp season as well.
Did you see the video of the shrimp skipping along the surface of the water with the gulls picking them off? And the shrimp are big, many in the 10- to 20-count class.
It also sounds like the trout are making their way toward the inlets, giving hope for a fall ocean run of trout we haven’t seen in a few years. The catches of grays and specks is also going well in the turning basin.
The Neuse River action is also hot. The old drum bite is still holding up as we approach October and the specks, slot reds, striper and bluefish action is as well.
If you want some really good surf action, give Ocracoke a try for blues and slot to trophy reds from the beach on cut bait as they exit those back waters. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve always loved fall fishing whether its smallmouth bass in Michigan, stripers on Long Island, or specks and reds here in the Old North State.
According to Capt. Jeff Cronk, there are specks in the Emerald Isle area in the ICW and out toward the inlet. For you bottom-panfish anglers, the sea mullet are showing in Beaufort Inlet and the Turning Basin on shrimp and Fishbites.
By the way, early October will have some good “King Tide” action from October 6 to 12, around the new moon on Oct. 6 and the lunar perigee on Oct. 8. Cyclone wise, there is an Humberto, a major storm, and then Imelda this week. Remember Imelda’s 3,000 shoes?
Pier Fishing Updates
Oceanana Pier: As far as I can tell, the pier remains closed due to Hurricane Erin damage.
Bogue Pier reports the surf is alive with loads of bait, big and small, and predators, blues to 8 pounds, Spanish to 5 pounds and some 5-pound albies too. The pompano action continues to be blitz-like, of course, from the east side of the pier, some over 2 pounds. A 2-pound speck on a pompano jig and a few sea mullet are turning up, especially at night. How about that 46-pound king landed by Tony Decicco and six other kings this past week with two also pushing 30 pounds. Sounds like a fall king blitz.
Seaview Pier reports an excellent week with Spanish, blues, pompano, and a 38-pound king.
Surf City Pier reports mainly pompano, Spanish and blues and coolers of spots at night.
Jolly Roger Pier reports all sizes of baits galore, Spanish, blues, spots, croakers, the great red action continues and a bunch of 2-pound pompano. There have been several king strikes but no fish to the deck. They also released a big tarpon.
The glory of fall fishing in its wonderful variety.
Check the web sites Emerald Isle (emeraldisle-nc.org/), Atlantic Beach (atlanticbeach-nc.com/) and Indian Beach (indianbeach.org/) for details on beach driving. Remember that the sea turtle nesting and now hatching season lasts through October (eiseaturtlepatrol.org/).
Bogus Notes
1. Check me out at www.Facebook.com/Dr.Bogus and log on to my web site www.ncoif.com. I have lots of new articles and am making it better than ever.
2. Don’t forget a gift certificate for your favorite angler for my infamous “Totally Bogus Fishing Report” subscription.
3. I’m located at 118 Conch Ct. in “Sea Dunes,”,just off Coast Guard Rd., Emerald Isle, N.C. 28594. The mailing address is P.O. Box 5225, Emerald Isle, N.C. 28594. Please stop by at any time and say “Hi” or call 252-354-4905.