Pompano Rodeo - Scooter Free Diving

[ricki]

Photo from http://bit.ly/jMZXl

Pompano Rodeo - Not with a fishing pole but underwater scooter free diving. I haven't seen that many large schools of Pompano off here. I cruised into one of several hundred individuals, not as dense as the one shown above but still sizeable. I think it probably extended over an area of about 100 x 50 ft.. I found that if I circle...d submerged the Pompano would follow. Not really balling up but just trailing like a bunch of pilot fish. Even though I would set the throttle on high they didn't seem to be bothered or spooked by the noise. They would sometimes flicker off across the bottom scraping ectoparasites off. I wasn't carrying a camera unfortunately. For folks thinking about going out and scragging some, looks like spearing African Pompano has been banned in Florida. It was a fun experience, playing with a fish school. I've done similar things with Horseye jack, they really make tight turns though.