Editor’s Note: Captain Jeff Chambliss fishes out of SanRoc Cay Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama, for inshore pompano, speckled trout, redfish, flounder and sheepshead.

Question: Jeff, when do pompano show up inshore in this area?

Chambliss: The pompano will start moving in from Florida during March, and we’ll catch most of them around the jetties, the Perdido Pass Bridge and some of the deeper holes around the piers and inside the pass.

Question: If I just wanted to catch pompano, where would you take me, and how would we fish for them?

Chambliss: We’d fish the bridge first and then the jetties with pink pompano jigs on 8- to 12-pound-test line spinning tackle. The color pink is hard to beat for catching pompano. Our pompano will run from 1- to 3-1/2-pounds each. This year, the pompano actually began coming into our section of the Gulf Coast during February. I caught the first one at Berkhart Point inside the pass. We can catch three pompano per person, per day. Sometimes we can take a limit in no time and then catch and release pompano for 1 or 2 hours.

Question: Where will you find speckled trout this month, and how will you catch them?

Chambliss: We will fish with live shrimp and Berkley Gulp! jigs. The trout will be from Pensacola Pass to Perdido Pass and in Perdido Bay and the creeks. I prefer to fish around deep piers this month. Too, during March, some really good-sized trout will start moving into this region. They may weigh from 1- to 7-pounds each. On an average day, we usually can catch 15 speckled trout. Even if the speckled trout aren’t biting, we generally can catch sheepshead and redfish during March inshore.

Question: Are the big redfish that have been holding offshore moved out by March along this section of the Gulf Coast?

Chambliss: Generally they are, but we usually have plenty of slot reds 16- to 26-inches long concentrating inshore in this region in March. The tide dictates which fish we target. If the tide’s coming in, and the water isn’t rough, we’ll start the day fishing for pompano. But if there’s a chop on the water, we’ll probably target speckled trout. Last year, we caught a pompano that weighed almost 4 pounds and two speckled trout that weighed 6-1/2-pounds each. The trout were about 29-1/2-inches-long each. If they hadn’t spawned, they would have weighed more. The big trout are always here at Orange Beach, but they’re not always caught.

If you want to fish inshore this month with Captain Jeff Chambliss, call him at (251) 579-1209 or at (251) 981-2463, or email him at Chambliss@gulftel.com.