I would rather sight fish than any other type of fishing I have ever done. There is something very special about picking out a target fish and then making the effort to catch that fish. The accomplishment reward is so much greater than blind castiing. I fish in the Keys as often as I can make the trip and Sight fishing there is a way of life for many guides and people that fish that area, and it is an awesome fishery. Sight fishing Pompano is as close to that type of fishing I have found in the panhandle, and it is pretty close.
One of the best things to do this time of year is to walk the beach East to West in the morning when you have a rising tide and a smooth Gulf, today would have been perfect. The fish will mostly be coming from the West and be pretty easyto see. Walking East to West you will have the sun behind you and your ability to see will be best. Your not looking for breaking fish, look for individual or pods/schools of fish, and look only as far as your visibilty allows you to look for individual fish. Pompano will be moving quickly and sparadic in their movements, as if they are searching for something and skitso in their nature. When you see one or a pod, cast a Pompano Jig (I hear Connor's in Pinkare the best), out in front of the fish, and as they approach the jig lightly bounce it on the bottom in a retreave that would make it look to be trying to escape the fish. Many times they will jump right on it and you set the hook and the fight is on, sometimes you will have fish that follow and are more difficult to fool into taking the jig, That is the fish that will make you want to come back, and will get you so caught up in sightfishing that you will loose your job (I have lost 6 jobs so far because of it and will loose some more). It is as fine of sportfishing as you can do, and I truly love seeing a hard to catch individual fish and fooling it, it is you and him, and when he wins that is O.K. stuff too. Use 4 to 8lb line and it is as good of sportfishing as I can find here.
Most people tend to think they will not be able to see the fish, and it is hard for some people. My wife loves to walk the beach with me and look for them, and years ago she couldn't see a Pompano until it was in the icechest. Here is what she done. She practiced by standingin front of a mirror and trained her eyes to see everything that was reflected in the mirror except her image. This worked. She spots fish as well as anyone now, and she gets off on seeing them before I do sometimes.