# Nothing Short of Incredible Day



## Garbo

I went to the State Park Pier in Panama City Beach latethis afternoon, and took 1 rod, 1 Pomp Jig, a48qt Icechestand a bottle of water. 

I stood facingeast,overlooking about5ft ofwater andthe sand on the bottom. I had several people that were walking out on the pier stop and speak to me about what I had caught and what I was fishing for or what I hadbeen catching. After telling them I hadn't caught anything I had some cool conversations with each of them that chose to visit longer than just asking about the fishing.....I find most people tobe very interesting. After watching for more than an hour I saw a single, large fish coming in a little more shallow than I was standing on the State Park Pier, and I walked 20 or so steps toward the beach,to get a better shot at it. On my first shot, my jig landed what I would have thought to be perfect, just a little in front and on the deeper water side of the fish. The fish got interested and followed the jig as it slowly bounced time and time again on the sand bottom back to the pier. I thought surely I was going to fool the fish and be hooking it up, but the fish proved to be too curious and skeptical of the jig to commit to taking it as if it were the food that I was trying to make the jig out to be. After realizing that I was not going to get the fish to take my offering, I reeled the jig in as quickly as I could and hurried back the 20 or so steps back tothe icechest I was I was standing on when I first spotted the fish coming toward the pier. After I got back on top of the Icechest I looked for the fish and found it going toward deeper water and got another shot at it, this time landing the jig on the pier side, pastanddeeper than the path the fish was swimming. Again the fish turned and showed an interest in the jig by following it as it bounced on the sand bottom. It seemed like each and every tiny bounce the jig made was frozen in time as it took all I could do to slow the jig down enoughto match the response of the fish that was following it. After about the 10th bounce the Big Pompano took what she had mistaken to be something that would have been a great meal and I set the hook into a very nice Pompano. She was a very stong fish and her fight took me out to the end of the pier into deeper water. Well later, the fish finally tired from the constant pull of the 6lb line and came to the surface of the water. That is when I realized that I was not going to be able to reel or hand line the big pompano up to me and I was going to have to walk her to the beach, as there was noone with a net on the pier. I started the slow walk back toward the beach as I pulled the pompano with me as I made my way. When I finally got the fish to the shallow water below the pier, a couple walking down the beach below me,stopped to help me, by getting the fish out of the water and onto the beach. My day was made, and the 4.25lb Pompano was placed into the same48gt icechest that I used as my perch to gain a sight advantage to spot it coming, what an incredible day, incredible fish, and an incredible event to be a part of. 










Sight fishing for Pompano as they come down the beach is my favorite type of fishing that is available in our area. It is incredible how rewarding it is to see a pompano coming and make a cast to it after you see it, and try to fool it one on one, or Mano-Mano. It's adream, of days like I had the pleasure of experiencing today, and in a small way wish that I could have let her go to do it all over again. In my opinion the wholeevent builds up to a climax of the the split second the fish takes the jig which is the greatest part, and even the fight is downhill after that. Truly Awesome, and that is not a word that I use or take lightly in my vocabulary. 

Thanks for reading my ramble and listening to me share mypassion and thrillfor the greatest fishing we have access to, and I truly hope each of you get to experience the exact same feeling that I was blessed to have the good fortune of feeling this afternoon. 

I wish You, Good Light and Clear Water.


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## ironman172

Great read Curtis!! Thanks for sharing:toast


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## opus68

Thanks Garbo. Great report. Kinda reminded me of Hemmingway's description of trout fishing.


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## JoeyWelch

Very nice pomp Garbo and great story. Man I wish I could write like that. Congratulations.


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## on the rocks

That is truly an *AWESOME* story Curtis! Than you for sharing it with us. :bowdown


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## GENTLE WOLF

Nice fish. I think if you were to start writing books, I might just take up reading.


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## jim t

<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir=ltr>There is NOTHING better than sight fishing... 

A few years ago I was in the Bahamas on a 43' Tiara for 10 days of fishing. A couple of us decided to take a day off and hire an inshore guide to target bonefish. It was great, we both caught a couple smallfish using only a piece of cutconch for bait. 

Well we told the other guys on the trip and one afternoon we decided to take the 9' inflatable dinghy out to a famous local "island" near Grand Cay to hunt bones. I forget the name but it's famous for it's canals and bonefish.

There were FOUR of us on a 9 foot boat with a 15 HP motor slowly looking for the silver ghost. We cast at a bunch, hooked ONE!

A biggun took the bait and made that famous run on10 # powerpro on a lite though not ultralite spinner.Our fearless angler (the one of the four of us standing in a 9 foot dingy who got lucky that day) FREAKED, I mean literally FREAKEDwhen that bone ripped off half his spool in seconds. His reaction? I'll just GRAB the spool... That's right GRAB,... not thumb, not slightly increase the drag, but GRAB the top of the spool!!!

Well of course it popped the line.

By the way this guy is a pretty good fisherman... not as good as you and I mind you, but pretty good nonetheless. When asked WHY he grabbed the spool, his answer was... "Man, I FREAKED!!! That bugger (probably 6 pounds), just did something I've NEVER seen before"

THAT is whySIGHT FISHINGis so exciting!!!

Jim

PS... He been catching big dolphin from the fantail of the newest latest ship design. LCS-2 the USS Independance. A "Littoral Combat Ship" which means Close to Shore Combat Ship. He's a Navy Chief and acclaimed Rescue Swimmer.

No kidding, during slow times the ship will allow him to troll behind the ship.










</BLOCKQUOTE>


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## Ultralite

cool pic jim...

curtis, good report and i feel your passion for sight fishing...glad you got her in the cooler and thanks for sharing...

now, you told me the other day that you are gonna taketonya, dale and i pomp fishing in that beast of a boat you have...i'm calling in my cards man...let's go!


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## Splittine

Great report, next time Ill take up the invite.


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## A Salt Weapon

nice read


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## seanspots

".......and we will burn the images onto film......................." Walkers Cay "Garbo" Chronicles 2010.



Thanks for a nice read and really quite enjoyable.


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## Jason

Good story fer a great fish Curtis!!! That'd look good on the BGE!!!:toast


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## fishinknots

Never gets tired of reading a fishing story, especially a good one like this............


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## Garbo

I made an effort to relive this post yesterday. Looked for almost an hour late yesterday afternoon. 

Nadda, Zilch, Zero.....Nuttin. Still a little too early. 

Boy was it a Beautiful Day though. Clear Water, Blue Sky and Warm Air. 

I love this part of the world.


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## gbliz

good fish and story


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## Bigshamoo

Very impressive...NEWYORK #1 BEST SELLER!


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## amberjack

Nice read and good fish. Thanks for the picture. We went to Navarre the last 2 Sundays wihout a bite.


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## finfever61

Sight fishing is one of my favorites as well. Good Pomp stories always get me revved up for Cobia season!


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## grubZ850

WoW


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## grubZ850

Nice


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## Pier#r

One day soon Curtis, I hope you have the experience again :thumbup:


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## 69Viking

Great read and nice Pompano too!


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## thecalmbeforethestorm

anything happening out towards navarre or pensacola beach pier ?


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## sharkrider

*Nice pomp*

Looks like the season is starting,and if that's an indication of what's to come. I have the pomp jigs ready.

Definately a sweet fish--congrats Curtis


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## glenn

Great story man. The biggest pomp I ever caught was at St. Andrews on the gulf pier and I also had to drag it all the way to the beach and one of the rangers happened to be there and got it out of the water for me. I didn't have a fish scale but on my wifes scale in the camper it wieghed just over 5 lbs. We shared it with our camping friends next to us and all of us had more than enough to eat along with some good ole grits and hush puppies. I have never caught another pomp anywhere near that size.


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