I have no idea if the pompano are biting right now but all up and down Topsail island you can find them. I would imagine the same goes for Emerald Isle/Atlantic Beach.
You have to experiment but remember you don't need to cast very far for pompano. Last year I was scooping for sand fleas with my kid's play beach net, right where the breakers hit the beach and churn up the sand - and I wound up scooping up a pompano the size of my hand! I never saw it, and I would never be able to do that again even if I had tried. But that goes to show how close they come up to shore.
Capt. Chris at East Coast Sports once told me that you can catch them with a circle hook and no weight, just sort of let it drift in the suds and current. It actually worked, it was almost like drifting salmon eggs for trout in the river.
You have to experiment but remember you don't need to cast very far for pompano. Last year I was scooping for sand fleas with my kid's play beach net, right where the breakers hit the beach and churn up the sand - and I wound up scooping up a pompano the size of my hand! I never saw it, and I would never be able to do that again even if I had tried. But that goes to show how close they come up to shore.
Capt. Chris at East Coast Sports once told me that you can catch them with a circle hook and no weight, just sort of let it drift in the suds and current. It actually worked, it was almost like drifting salmon eggs for trout in the river.