Biloxi trip

[rigdvr]

Finally made it out last Saturday. Fog was pretty intense and we couldnt see the first rigs until 25 yards of so away. Fished shallow for pompano and caught them so with plenty of day left we went south.

Fog broke at about the Mr. Gus and we made the run to an amberjack hole only to find 5 other boats fishing there...we picked a corner and motored up with diamond jigs and started hooking aj's near the bottom(160'). We had some issues keeping them hooked up and put 2 in the boat. Everyone onboard could tell I had an itchy trigger finger so they encouraged me to suit up but I was hesitant due to the # of boats motoring around the platform.

Well, I finally had enough and got in my wetsuit. I decided not to use a floatline b/c it would have been a disaster with all the boats around. My small gun, a Wong hybrid, has a reel so the next time we pulled up to the rig I slipped over making sure I stayed close to the legs so as not to get run over.

I had told the guys onboard that I might not get anything b/c we were hooking them so deep but on the first dive to 50' I saw them as I was returning to the surface(all that jigging took its toll on my breathhold) On the surface I relaxed knowing what would happen next. After making my way to 50' again I relaxed my body and waited. Within 30 seconds the amberjack parade was swimming around me. I squeezed the trigger and made a good shot but not a kill shot, and it was everything I could do to keep the fish out of the rig as I made my way to the surface.

After putting the fish in the boat, the guys wanted to try to jig our last one and then quickly decided they wanted me to fill out the limit with the spear. So I jumped back in and made one more dive, same drill, same result but a better shot. This one got nutted and the swim up was much nicer...think I'lll just do it that way everytime from now on

Final result, 3 dives, 2 aj's. Nothing big(31 and 29 lbs.) but this was the "meat" rig and thats what we got. Also, for a change, the fisherman around were not cussing me for getting in. They actually had more hookups after I shot the first fish than before I got in. I also took time to show a couple of guys how to properly work a diamond jig after watching them not get a hookup for an hour. They quickly limited out and thanked me as they left. Maybe, just maybe hunters will get a better rep around here.

Oh yeah, Is it legal to shoot pompano? If so whats the record? I saw some monsters swimming around on some shallow rigs. I also saw some monster snapper swim right up to me that will be nowhere to be found April 21st....

[ROCK BOTTOM]

rigdvr,

Kill the Pompano! I got two last year in MP41 at the end of the summer. I don't know for certain if it is legal, but nothing is sacred in Louisiana. Like my Momma always said, "If you can grill it, then you should kill it."

On the subject of jigging technique, how do you work 'em? I either use a very hard pump and wind at the beginning of the day, or after tiring a bit I just put the jig deep then put the rod in the holder and crank for three seconds, stop, then repeat. We had a dozen hookups Saturday but only boated two. My buddy had the drag too loose and threw thirty dollars of jigs over board. We struggled catching live bait. Fished the Seven Mile rigs out of South Pass in 400 to 650 fsw.

Zz

[bow tie klr]

I am pretty sure you can shoot pompano. I havent seen any in close in a while... I may have to venture out in the next week or two and burn some air!

[rigdvr]

as for the jigging...you gotta jerk it like you're 14 years old again! I even bend at the knees and almost jump off the deck. When you are miserable youre doing it right(as fast and hard as humanly possible). BTW just to clarify, these arent african pompano but the small ones.
heres a couple of pics from Sat...

[rigdvr]

.

[PatMyGreen]

Nice AJ! Thats a pretty cool pic of the rig in the looming out of the fog, too. Can't say I know about the law in La for shooting Pompano, but we aren't allowed to over here in Florida State waters. I don't see any federal regs on the gulf council web page though.
All in all sounds like a great day on the water.

[x-ring]

Don't know about LA but if I ever see one in TX waters it will get the shaft.

[bow tie klr]

Nice pics... Make you really appreciate radar. hehe

Nice fish. Oh Ok I was thinking you were seeing AP. so are your talking about what some people call look downs?

[rigdvr]

no, Im talking about real deal pompano. The ones those guys in Florida sit in beach chairs and soak sand fleas to catch. Sometimes during the summer they can be caught in the shallows around the islands. They look exactly like a minature permit. They congregate around certain rigs in early spring for spawning(dont bother asking ) and are some of the best eating fish out there. We catch them on small bucktail jigs called...pompano jigs!

I usually see some large african pompano later in the summer in my amberjack holes but none yet this year(not like Ive spent alot of time in the water yet though...)

All our shooting is done in federal waters so Im assuming trhey are legal. Cant find anything otherwise.

[KJNDIVER]

I dont know if its legal or not, but we pop em when we get the chance. Ma shah, dats sum good grub ya. Ca sest bon!

As for the Look Downs, I have always seen them and not knew what they were. Last year I decided to found out what kind of fish it was and researched it. The book Ifound said that it was excellent table fare. Is this true? Has anyone eaten them? I may have more items on the menu next time i go down if they are.

[rigdvr]

if lookdowns are good eating, I know some rigs where we can cure world hunger! They look to be in the jack family, similar to an african pomano maybe. Fillets wouldnt be very thick tough....

[lionfish]

yep, i've eaten em and they taste a lot like pompano, we even cooked them in an oiled parchment paper bag like FL pompano. if you want i'll post the recipe

Leo

[KJNDIVER]

Sure lets see it. Ill try anything once. Well, almost anything.

[LSUBigL]

Lookdowns are quite possibly the skinniest fish out there, and thus don't have very much meat. Pompano are a good bit thicker and can grow to decent size. They look like a permit but have yellow color on the bottow of the tail. The pompano that I've had are excellent, and I assume that the lookdowns are good too, but they are just so damn skinny!

I've caught pompano at rigs and also on the beach eating shrimp. My understanding of spearfishing is that you can spear anything that you can catch except redfish....but don't quote me on that.

[biggsy]

Originally posted by PatMyGreen
Nice AJ! Thats a pretty cool pic of the rig in the looming out of the fog, too. Can't say I know about the law in La for shooting Pompano, but we aren't allowed to over here in Florida State waters. I don't see any federal regs on the gulf council web page though.
All in all sounds like a great day on the water.

Yeah what he said! [IMG]http://dot-**********.com-1148220.namezero.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/arrow-up.gif[/IMG] That is a great pic.

biggsy