Pompano Fishing Pier 2013 to 2022 "ONLY REPORTS"

[BEOWULF]

I imagine that the sewer pipe extends out into deeper water since people swim in that area. I hope so anyway!

Btw, the water actually was clean around the inlet too. It was only bad in between Anglins and Hillsboro Inlet, a couple hundred yards on both sides of the pier. I think you may be right with the stink hole theory. So where's the puking smiley when you need it?

[goodolmikey]

I fish every morning and you can see the dirty water coming out of the inlet and heading south at the out going tide,,, the nasty water is definitely coming out of the inlet, some mornings it looks like pepsi

[SaltLife27]

Tried going out here on thursday night around 7 and it was PACKED with people. There was a ton of people cast netting, hand lining, smoking weed, kids jumping off the pier into the water. As soon as I put my gear down I decided to pack up and leave.

I have great memories on this pier from years ago and its sad to see what it turned into. Without any kind of management its just a magnet for scum it seems like. Hopefully something changes soon

[goodolmikey]

I cant beleive you called all the people that fish there scum

[SaltLife27]

Where did I call all the people that fish there scum? I just said that the pier attracts more problem people than other piers that have management and charge to get on.

[goodolmikey]

Without any kind of management its just a magnet for scum it seems like. Hopefully something changes soon

thats where ,,, more good people out there then bad,, I have been on all the piers and they all have their problems... I cant remember a time I didnt smell weed while fishing any pier at night

[bulld0g62]

i didnt take it as him calling everyone scum. but the last time i fished pompano, as i was leaving i overheard someone on the T yelling at someone. they were threating to stab someone if they didnt give them their bait... thats ridiculous! after that incident i never bothered going back to pompano. now not everyone that fishes there is like that but it does seem like the crowd has gone downhill there.

[BEOWULF]

All piers tend to attract a disproportionate number of riff-raff, ornery-low-lifes, druggies, drunks, etc. Pompano's always been one of the worse, with or without management. Frankly I don't see much of a difference now.

Btw, not saying that we're all scum either, myself included!

So is anybody catching fish there???

[SaltLife27]

Without any kind of management its just a magnet for scum it seems like. Hopefully something changes soon

thats where ,,, more good people out there then bad,, I have been on all the piers and they all have their problems... I cant remember a time I didnt smell weed while fishing any pier at night

Im sorry if it sounded that way, maybe I worded it incorrectly. I definitely did not mean everyone there is because i've met several great and truly helpful people.


But anyways, I just saw a few blue runners caught and a ton of bait nothing else.

[BEOWULF]

Ok, file this under the "I had to try it" category, lol.

I saw some folks catching up Ribbon fish using those cool looking glowing bobbers at night. They were taking home stacks of them. It looked like alot of fun to do. I googled it, and turns out that these fishes are safe to eat.

Soooo, Thursday night I went out with my new $5 LED bobber and after 10 minutes of looking for the tiny batteries that dropped onto the pier, I finally got started. First drop, got a hit immediately, but it fell off. Next one, bam, on again, landed a 4 foot long sea monster that tried to bite me like a rattlesnake!

Now, as I'm de-hooking this weird thing, I watch my $5 bobber floating away into the distance being that it fell off while landing this fish.

Anyway, managed to land another one just free-lining a pilchard and that was it.

Cleaning these things was a bit-ch, ended up just removing the long dorsal and steaking them. Kinda turned my stomach though, such an ugly bugger!

Anyway, proceeded to fry in olive oil, and we were ready to taste. Guess what, it tasted great! Once you got past all the bones that is. But, IMHO, the bones makes this all not worth it, but it was an experience.

And speaking of bones, we found some odd oval-shaped bones with a sharp spine at each end inside these fish. they were in the mid body area, never seen anything like that. Anyone have any idea what those were???

So there you have it, my Ribbonfish adventure.

[kblue]

OK, here is the release of highly-classified confidential information regarding ribbon fish that are abundant in FL water but never caught even by the natives. There is no regulation, what so ever simply because even fishing regulators doesn't know much about them.

Ribbon fish has those weird oval-looking bones. I thought it was very strange first time when i saw them about 10 years ago while cooking one. Believe or not, ribbon fish is one of most popular ones in Asia. I have been fishing literally all over the world. I recently (only 3 years ago) found there is a huge population in FL water. Ribbon fish are coming to inlet or shoreline during fall for spawning like a few other fishes. In a good day, I filled up my cooler (about 50 fish) in 4 hours. They are active at night and their biting zone is 2 ~ 4 ft of top water. Tackle needs to be similar to one to Spanish mackerel rig with live bait. However, unlike mac., ribbon fish bites at night. So you will need some kind of glow stick or LED on top of bobber so that you can see fish bite. Also treble hook is recommended with wire. (ribbon fish teeth is worse than king mack).

For cooking, deep fry with skin is way to go. You need some technique to work on bones.
The way I do is 1) clean the fish, 2) cut out the long dorsal with scissor and cut it into 4 inch pieces ( probably 4 to 5 piece), 3) deep fry them, 4) "fillet" the meat out of bone, 5) eat them up !!!

Good Luck

JK in Fort Lauderdale

[cyril1974]

Believe or not, ribbon fish is one of most popular ones in Asia.

Really? I would have never guessed it was.

[Moose]

Believe or not, ribbon fish is one of most popular ones in Asia.

Really? I would have never guessed it was.

are blue runner popular too? i see them keeping big cooler fulls of chicken nugget blue runners all the time....and then they get pissed when i throw back a jack or mack with some size on it...

[PhishingPhanatic]

It is not true that there are no regulations on ribbon fish. The limit is 2 fish or 100 lbs, whichever is more. This is for all unregulated species.

[BEOWULF]

At least "those people" don't leave so-called "trash fish" to rot in the sun like some other people.

[BEOWULF]

who said "those people"?

Ok, it was actually just "they", referring to Asians (as usual on these type of threads).

As for a fishing report, yesterday late morning, totally dead and way too crowded for a weekday.

[Poseidon10/31]

Lol why they gotta be Asian?!?! If I was a dead broke immigrant I'd probably be eating boo-runnas or the like also. I bet anyone of us would love the dishes they prepare out of what we laugh at them for keeping. I'm just ignorant on how to cook certain fish and embarrassed to keep what I consider bait for my own dinner.

[BEOWULF]

Lol why they gotta be Asian?!?! If I was a dead broke immigrant I'd probably be eating boo-runnas or the like also. I bet anyone of us would love the dishes they prepare out of what we laugh at them for keeping. I'm just ignorant on how to cook certain fish and embarrassed to keep what I consider bait for my own dinner.

They don't have to be Asian, that's just the way it was going in the recent posts.

Btw, I not only like eating runners, I love it! Skinned and Filleted into four boneless "fingers" minus the dark middle strip, and fried in olive oil, delicious. I am a great fisherman too, totally capable of catching the prized species as well. They're very under-rated fish.

(Didn't care at all for dealing with all the bones in ribbon fish though, but it did taste great.)

[SaltLife27]

At least "those people" don't leave so-called "trash fish" to rot in the sun like some other people.

I hate this so much. During the mullet run there's always a ton of bluefish and macks roasting on the pier. Trash fish or not what is the purpose of killing it if you wont eat it or use as bait. Same goes for people that slam needle fish on the pier because they're "annoying".

Sorry for the rant lol

[Cannible]

I understand most fish, but all needle fish must die!!!!!!!

[kblue]

Kblue nothing like abusing the fact there are no restrictions on em eh? You wont have to worry soon about ribbons you guys will have em all fished out in the matter of a couple years what an ignorant post

This article saying 100 fish or more in a good night.
http://www.floridasportsman.com/2011/10 ... o_0502130/
And i know these people are catching whole school just for bait and to win tournament.
I am just catching them for food.

[kblue]

It is not true that there are no regulations on ribbon fish. The limit is 2 fish or 100 lbs, whichever is more. This is for all unregulated species.

I think you are talking about default bag limit, which is not well defined.
50 ribbon fish will weigh around 50 LB. For small fish, 100 LB ( not 2 fish) is applied.
Thus, 50 ribbon fish are legal.

I am happy to know there is regulation for ribbon fish.

[kblue]

Believe or not, ribbon fish is one of most popular ones in Asia.

Really? I would have never guessed it was.

Yes, absolutely. That's why i said confidential info, meaning you have no clue about it.

Now are you ready for this?
http://louisianafoods.com/index.php/201 ... nfish.html
It says "In fact, the Ribbonfish is one of the largest wild-caught fisheries on the planet."


A good news is my 50 fish is not part of this.

[BEOWULF]

I got these in the morning today. Otherwise it was pretty dead.

I was told these are not Blue Runners, and they actually did not have the darker flesh of runners. They tasted great too. Any ideas on the fish ID? I'm guessing Bar Jack??? The one on top was 21 inches, that's huge if it's a runner!

[swordfish]

Im no Jack expert, but looks like two tasty yellow jacks! Good catch.

-swordfish