Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

[perna00]

I'm along the GA coast just south of Savannah. I went out with a friend that took me all the way into the sound opening with my boat and went down a creek to a fallen tree. He used a fiddler crab and pulled out a few sheepsheads about 16"-20" long. They looked fun to catch; although difficult, and tasted great to eat. I've went out a few more times by myself but no luck. I've been reading and they say they prefer more permanent structures and even in brakish water? I'd like to catch some but have not been successful yet. I've using a slip weight (.75-1 oz), a swivel, number 4 hook, and mono line. I've tried fiddlers, barnacles, and shrimp with no luck. I'd like to find another spot other than my 1/2 hour drive out to a fallen tree. Please give me some advice. My boat is about 20' long so I can probably go about 3-4 miles offshore to the first reef that I've heard can be good for sheepsheads but again, I've never caught one so....

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

Were you using live or dead shrimp? Live shrimp will catch them much better than dead. Sand fleas with the orange egg clutch on their bellies work well too.

I always catch them around dock, piers, and bridge pilings. Cast as close as you can to the pilings and let the bait sink to the bottom the reel/drag the shrimp very slowly on the bottom.

If a dock doesn't produce, move to another one until you find them.

 

[FlaCowboy]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

^^ What jig said...also try scraping barnicles from the bridge pilings with a straight hoe or shovel ect. while using small fiddler crabs.

 

[sasto]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

^^ What jig said...also try scraping barnicles from the bridge pilings with a straight hoe or shovel ect. while using small fiddler crabs.

Good advice. I dive boats regularly at a marina. Once I start to scrape the barnicles and oysters they come around by the dozens. I sometimes have them peck food off my wetsuit. Just last week one took a finger off my glove.....close call. Scrape them off a piling or other structure is the best way to attract them. A can of raw oysters will work also.....well not the can:facepalm:...but an oyster in it.

The boaters that fish, including myself, can catch a dozen or more using this method.

I can't eat fish, but I cook 'em. Seems the favorite way is for me to scale 'em, gut 'em. a couple slices across the meat on each side, apply olive oil and lemon juce, and cook them whole on the grill. The meat comes off the bone using a fork.

Good Luck!

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

+1. I've heard barnacles are a great bait too. You see them all over the place in the rivers here pecking away at the pilings. Here's a pic for all the non-local folks. They're some funky looking fish with almost mammalian teeth, hence the name "sheepshead", but they're very tasty as SASTO said.

 

[perna00]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

If you can catch them from a marina, I'm guessing they do travel inshore in salt/brackish water? I'm going to try again near a few local bridges and structures before I go offshore. Someone told me if the pier/post doesn't have barnacles on it, to leave it alone since sheepshead won't be there....is this true?

Thanks for the advice; I'm stubborn so I'm sure I'll catch some soon.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

Yeah, that's the general rule of thumb. As you can see by their teeth, their specialized feeders and the more barnacles and other little critters (crustaceans) around the pilings the better. They primarily in live salt water, but can often be found in brackish or ever fresh water (for short periods). Here in FL, they will often swim up into the spring fed rivers in the winter along with redfish and other marine species and munch away on the the barnacles and other crustaceans that can be found (blue crab, crayfish, etc... Lots of guys spear fish for them too. Their a good size target, easy to pick out thanks to their paint job and pretty tasty by all accounts. As you can see, setting a hook is not going to be the easiest thing in the world, so good luck. There may be some old tricks/rigs designed just for them, but I would think a live shrimp and/or a sand flea on a jig should do the trick. Be sure you have a good leader, I'm sure they can munch through mono if they eat barnacles for a living.

 

[perna00]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

That sounds like a plan. I'm going to give it a shot towards the end of the week at a few saltwater docks. I've seen the barnacles but never tried it because I thought it wasn't close enough to the sound. I think the guy that "gave me advice" when I took him out, gave me bad advice and didn't want to give away any secrets he found. I'll have to catch some and upload the pics for everyone that helped me out. Thanks again.

 

[FlaCowboy]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

perna, when you scrape the barnacles take some of whatever bait you use and cut some of them up into small chunks and throw that in as chum. Good luck to you and keep us posted.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

Kind of off topic...... :redface: but when I first read this I was thinking of the Sheepshead we catch while bass fishing and they can have 9 Lb + in size. No one here really eats them but, they are "fresh water drum" commonly called Sheapshead around here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_drum

Funny thing is that they are related to the salt water ones.... they eat the zebra mussels and love crayfish too.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

funky. never heard of a fresh water "sheepshead". We have lots of saltwater drums down here including Black Drum (get very large, but not so great to eat), Red Drum (aka "Redfish" as in balckened redfish, et. al. Not as big as black drums, but can still get well over 30 lbs. These are the ones every body goes nuts over. You can catch them in <6" or over 60', but most people pole around the flats and look for them tailing then sight cast to them. ), Speckled Sea Trout (aka. "yellow mouth", "gator trout" when very large, are smaller, spotted, toothy guys. Very fun and easy to catch. Also, yummy to eat) and several other species. They get their name because they'll grunt or "drum" when you take them out of the water.

Black Drum:



Red drum:



Speckled Trout:

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Anyone have some sheepshead catching advice to help me out?

You have to set the hook before the bite