Met up with my good friend, Byron, two of his daughters and two of their friends for an early morning pompano hunt. Left Shoreline Park 0630 headed for the beach. Sand Fleas in hand, we anchored off of Pensacola Beach and set our lines. The pompano bite was a little slow but we managed three nice fish, with only a few missed strikes.
One BIG hit really livened up the show. The fish made a short hard run, then immediately stopped, and wouldn't budge. Stingray! With nothing but 12lb line between us and the fish, our chances looked slim to actually land this guy. But with a little persuasion ( and a lot of pressure ) into the boat he came. Time for a short anatomy lesson of the ray, and a few quick pics, then back in the water he goes.
We decide to move to another section of beach in search of better pompano prospects and encounter a huge pod of dolphins playing around at the beach, just like we do! Everyone enjoyed the company as the dolphins swam alongside the boat, splashing as they came up for air. Again we anchor and in no time another big bite.
And again the fish makes a short run and stops. This ray turned out to be three to four times bigger than the first one!! What a challenge on light tackle! Once we had our photo op we released the ray, pulled anchor, and returned to the ramp to tell our tales to the rest of Byrons family and friends.
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