# Pomps upper coast?



## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Do any of you guys fish for Pomp's up here on the upper coast? I never seen a post about them up here.


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## fultonswimmer (Jul 3, 2008)

None so far this fall. Got some nice ones around Surfside last April but not nearly as plentiful as down towards Corpus area. There are some threads from previous posts and some pics if you search.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

I don't know where you're thinking about fishing, but in my few decades of fishing Bolivar peninsula, I've caught one Pomp there.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Mmmmm pompano! None around here to speak of that I know of, but when you find some pleases post. I've only caught them South of Corpus.


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## JOHNNYREB (Apr 20, 2006)

Hey.....yall get the big bull reds,we get the pomps....thats a fair trade!:tongue:


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

I guess it's go South Old Man.


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## spurgersalty (Jun 29, 2010)

troutless said:


> I guess it's go South Old Man.


lol.....I've caught what looked like baby pomps in the surf in my castnet at McFaddin


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

You can catch pomps here during late fall and early spring when the water is nice.....That's the problem!...The water is seldom nice that time of year on the upper coast.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

There are 1000 of pomps just offshore of High Island on the nearshore rigs, but over the year surf fishing the same areas I very seldom caught one. South of Matagorda and you will greatly increase your chances.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

There's a big story on Texas pompano in the November issue of Texas Saltwater Fishing magazine. Mostly middle and upper coast pompano. I just read it online, they posted it yesterday.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Trouthappy said:


> There's a big story on Texas pompano in the November issue of Texas Saltwater Fishing magazine. Mostly middle and upper coast pompano. I just read it online, they posted it yesterday.


Got a link? is a subscription needed?


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

I've caught a fair amount of pomps at surfside in late spring/early summer but never any other time. I don't really try to catch them, they just come along with the other fish I'm trying to catch, usually on sunny days in calm water.


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## fultonswimmer (Jul 3, 2008)

*Pomps*

*These were the largest I have ever caught. Spring at Surfside.*


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

I think that run of pompano last April and May at Surfside were due to them feeding on all those little mussels that were in the swash. I have never seen that before, but they also attracted tons of cownose rays that were so shallow their backs were out of the water. You could scoop them up in a dip net. We caught a pompano or two and their stomach were full of those little mussels.

Anyway, I caught some pompano in Matagorda one March when the water was nice.

I am always optomistic when it comes to something like this, and I am probably wrong a lot, but I have proven a couple of things to be true too.. However, when the water is right, which it seldom is - How many people do you see fishing for them like they do on PINS? That is, casting shrimp and fishbites as far as you can using a surfrod you would normally use for bullreds.

Gotta remember too that the structure, layout, water clarity, and so on changes a lot from beach to beach on the upper coast. I am sure some beaches will attract pomps more so than others.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

You have to be a subscriber to read it online, they upload it about 10 days before the magazine arrives in the stores. Doggett also has a nice long article on how _not _to lose that trophy trout when it hits. Anyway pompano like green water, and that's a pretty rare surf condition north of Galveston. Padre Island surf is _way_ different. The pompano we caught in September at POC were full of tiny little mussels, too. They couldn't pass up live shrimp, however.



Jolly Roger said:


> Got a link? is a subscription needed?


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## kweber (Sep 20, 2005)

yall referring to coquina clams?


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## fultonswimmer (Jul 3, 2008)

Coquina clams leave a distinctive butterfly like shell in various colors and down South they can be a pretty good indication that pomps might be in the waters. I see a lot of the shells around Quintana but the pomps do not like the conditions we have been experiencing in the surf lately.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

kweber said:


> yall referring to coquina clams?


I think that's what they were...They were about half the size of a bean.

When the swash would wash out, you could see thousands of them moving a little.


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## foxtrot (Oct 24, 2012)

They can be found. As jolly roger said they are thick at the rigs, but be persistent and they can be caught in the surf.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

I wouldn't say exactly thick at the rigs. I've dove many of them in that area and you might find a school of 15 or so, often inside a big platform where its tough to reach them, except by climbing on the rig. Best month for pompano at the rigs was always May and October, for us. Sometimes you might see only 1-2 pompano at a rig, wandering around through the sheepshead and spadefish. Yeah, there's probably thousands out there, but spread across many platforms and square miles of water.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

SeaLevelApparel said:


> They can be found. As jolly roger said they are thick at the rigs, but be persistent and they can be caught in the surf.


Had 100s of pomps chasing our baits to the boat when we fished nearshore rigs out of Sabine couple of weekends ago. We were targeting Ling so baits were oversized for Pomps. They are always thick out there in the fall and spring.


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## TheAnt (Jul 1, 2008)

I drove to the beach, Quintana/Bryan at 3:30 today and it was green, a bit of sand of course but beautiful. I planned on taking an expected mobile phone call but the signal was way too weak.

I caught a couple, both on shrimp this spring. One was off the second bar casting outward.

The other was a cast to the second bar in the brown, sandy wash. I also saw the crunched up mussels, clams or whatever in its stomach. These are the white things that like said before make the butterfly shape once eaten and open. What made it obvious that's what they were was the distinctive purple inside of the shell.

I theorize they hear the shells click and are attracted to it in the wash... beads anybody? I had the shrimp with a sliding barrel weight. Also as they crush the shells I figure the pompano make more "click"/break sounds.

I have wanted to target them but haven't had the chance to stay with it having lost a job in the spring. Sounds like it's time to go after 'em!

I WILL certainly check the article, thanks Trouthappy.

One thing I DO KNOW... they taste great on kingsford oak with a couple of Texas Hill Country mesquite sticks on the grill!



fultonswimmer said:


> Coquina clams leave a distinctive butterfly like shell in various colors and down South they can be a pretty good indication that pomps might be in the waters. I see a lot of the shells around Quintana but the pomps do not like the conditions we have been experiencing in the surf lately.


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## TheAnt (Jul 1, 2008)

*Some links on coquina clams*






http://scienceray.com/biology/marine-biology/coquina-clams/


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## Attkisson (Aug 3, 2013)

I have cough a lot of small ones around Galveston in the surf at the second bar


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## showtimesharkhunting (Jul 31, 2013)

I caught one about 3 weeks ago on the 2nd bar on West galveston beaches, had to look it up lol it was my first one to catch, the water was very green that day with little to no wind


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## SaltwaterTom (Jun 23, 2013)

Caught quite a few off the Galveston fishing pier in the late spring when the water was green. They were not the size I have caught off of Bob Hall, but still eating size. Like trout, it seems pomps don't like the dirty water we've had the last 6 weeks. If the green ever comes back to the beach, I'll bet they can be had in the third gut. Tip: pink shrimp fishbites, they can't resist it


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