Sheep mentality

Tired of waiting for those pesky kingfish to show up? Bored of not catching anything because the sea is too rough? Well, why not come closer to home and try for some sheepshead? The three piers on Anna Maria Island are all reporting good catches of these odd fish at the moment, so here's some advice on how to catch one from the good folk at eHow.com. For the full article click here

Step 1

Rig your rod & reel having 15-20 lb. monofilament or braided line. Tie on a swivel sinker or slip on an egg sinker. The weight will depend on the speed of the tidal current that you're in. Generally use a 3/4 oz. sinker. Add a 10-18 inch piece of fluorocarbon leader and tie on a sharp hook. Thick, long shanked, bait hooks work best, in a 1/0 or 2/0 size. Sea circle hooks are also pretty good.

Step 2

Locate dock or bridge pilings that are covered with barnacles or oysters. Areas that look like someone scraped the barnacles off are usually the best. You'll see barnacles or oysters on the pilings and then you'll spot a somewhat bare spot. That is where the barnacles or oysters are being eaten off by the sheepshead or someone is actually scraping them off to chum for sheepshead.

Step 3

Tie off or anchor in such a position that you can drop your line straight down next to the target piling. Be careful not to damage your vessel or the piling. Be aware of wind and current directions.

Step 4

Add your bait of choice: Fiddler crab, oyster, clam, or a piece of shrimp. Drop your line down to the bottom and reel in a little, just enough to get your bait off the bottom. Since Sheepshead are notorious bait stealers, you need to pay close attention to your line. You can steadily hold your rod horizontally and watch your rod tip for any movement or you can gently raise your rod tip every few seconds to see if you have resistance on the other end. Sometimes it will feel like you're hung on something, guess what?, it's probably a sheepshead.

If you're raising your rod tip, let's say, every 5 seconds and you get nothing and you check your bait and it's gone. Re-bait and do the same technique with adjusting your time to 4 or even 3 seconds.

Step 5

Once you have a fish hooked, reel in as quickly as possible. The sheepshead will instinctively make a run for the safety of the pilings or some other structure, the barnacle/ oyster covered structure will cut your line and leave you frustrated. Muscle the fish into open type areas to make it easier to get the fish into the vessel. Using a landing net is a good idea since the sheepshead are hard to hook really good. Use pliers to extract the hook, the sheepshead have powerful jaws and sharp teeth.

All good advice there. And if you're wondering how you'll know if you land a sheepshead, here's a picture (of a really big one!).

Tight lines!