One of the coolest and prehistoric-looking fish, the African pompano, can be found in Florida’s offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Not only is it one of the best-tasting fish, but it is also one of the most elusive. This fish is found around the world in tropical climates, and in recent years, there has been a surge of African pompano catches in the Gulf, with angler Dave Miller playing a crucial role in one friend’s potential world record.
Although this winter has been characterized by poor weather, Miller and his crew took advantage of the small window of good weather on Friday, Feb. 9. They headed out on Miller’s 31-foot Contender, starting around the 45-mile mark and fishing for African pompano, or APs as they are commonly referred to.
Miller said that when looking for spots to fish, he looks for areas with lots of bait. However, when they started fishing, the anglers were confronted with an unexpected challenge. They discovered that whenever they hooked up a fish right at the bottom, it was often stolen by sharks. The anglers ended up losing several fish to these aggressive predators.
To combat the shark problem, the anglers decided to try fishing higher in the water column. African pompano tend to swim at different depths in the water column, so they decided to fish halfway down the water column using slow-pitch jigs and pinfish. This is when angler Dwight “DJ” Andress hooked into a large fish on his 6500 spinning reel with 50-pound braided line.
Miller said that Andress put a lot of heat on the fish during the fight. During the fight, Andress’ rod broke, but he continued fighting with only one guide on the rod before eventually losing the fish. Miller recalled, “This one [Andress’ fish] was screaming line, going down toward the bottom, but he kept heavy drag on it.”
After a 20- to 25-minute fight, the anglers finally saw the African pompano below. Behind it, however, was another shark looking to take advantage of a tired fish. Miller said, “There was a big shark coming up under him [Andress’ fish]. It was probably an 8-foot bull shark. Earlier, we lost one 12 feet under the boat and had a large head left when a shark got it.”
Despite the shark threat, Miller and his crew were able to bring the African pompano to the boat, celebrating their catch. This marked the beginning of a successful day of fishing, as they also caught several yellowtail snappers.
However, it wasn’t until they arrived at Marina Jacks the next day that they realized how special the African pompano was. At 45.2 pounds, the African pompano was just shy of the all-tackle world record. However, they discovered that their catch had broken the old record for the 50-pound line class.
“I had never seen an African pompano that big in person or on a forum,” Miller said. “I knew we had a world-class fish.”
Marina Jacks is a certified scale, and the anglers took the line off the reel that Andress was using and sent it in to the International Game Fish Association. The catch is currently pending certification, but it has the potential to become a new record.
Priyam Gera