Pompano on Siesta Key Beach: Sand Fleas, Goofy Jigs, and Reading the Trough

Siesta Key's white quartz sand gets the postcards, but the trough that runs its whole length is what should interest you: from roughly October through December and again March through May, pompano run that first gut, often 10–30 yards off dry sand.

The surf program is simple and specific. Rake sand fleas from the swash zone at your feet, rig a two-hook pompano rig with small number 1 circle hooks, orange or yellow floats, and a 2–4 oz pyramid or Sputnik sinker, and cast to the edges of the darker water — the troughs and holes between beach and bar, not blindly to the horizon. Fresh-cut shrimp and Fishbites EZ Flea work when fleas are scarce.

A slightly stirred surf two or three days after a cold front beats flat-calm clear water, because churned sand uncovers the fleas pompano root for.

The other half of the Siesta fishery is the pass: drift the channel edges and bars of Big Sarasota Pass on a moving tide, bouncing a 3/8–1/2 oz Doc's Goofy Jig — yellow, pink, or chartreuse — along the bottom, with a teaser fly 18 inches above it. The jigging bite comes as the jig falls. Turtle Beach at the south end is the quieter surf option, and the reopened Midnight Pass now moves serious tidal water past it — check the tide tables and work the incoming.

Regulations for 2026: 11-inch fork-length minimum, six fish per person, open year-round; check at MyFWC, and know the difference between a pompano and a juvenile permit, which carries different rules. A 3000-class reel, 10 lb braid, and 20 lb fluorocarbon covers the jigging; go to a longer surf rod only if the bar sits far off the beach.