# I wanna catch a sheephead!



## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

Last year I tried. Might of been the wrong time, wrong place, wrong bait. But it didn't happen. It seems like a lot of them get caught at Sykes, or at 3 Mile. So what's the secret? Lol, how do I become a sheephead whisperer.


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## tkh329 (Mar 14, 2012)

There is a ton of information already posted. Try starting with the search function and then if you still have questions, post 'em up! Good luck!


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## soup4smitty (Sep 13, 2014)

I too am trying to learn and plan to try more sheephead fishing starting the first of the year off sykes bridge. Here is a good thread with great info:

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f35/catching-sheepshead-black-drum-3987/

I am wondering about tides, time of day and peak month if anyone wants to add their personal experience.


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## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

thank you. I didn't really fish last December. So I didn't get to do much sheepheading.


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

You can catch them now at the bridges. At Bob Sikes walk out to the "triple piling" or even closer in. Fish right next to the pilings using Fiddler Crabs and pieces of Shrimp. If none are at one go to the next and so on. I hope to go soon myself and have caught them all the way till March.


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## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

I'll admit I didn't spend a whole lot of time going after them. But Id love to catch one this year.


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## Hawkseye (Feb 17, 2012)

They are one of the tastiest fish out there.


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## BananaTom (Feb 16, 2008)

Scrap the pilings. Make the barnacles come off. Awesome chum. I use a floor scraper


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## Jibber (Mar 29, 2014)

BananaTom said:


> Scrap the pilings. Make the barnacles come off. Awesome chum. I use a floor scraper


And fiddler crabs:thumbsup:


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## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

Never thought of using the barnacles.


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## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

It was early in the fall/ winter when we went out last year. You're out on a boar when you target them I'm guessing 



Ocean Master said:


> You can catch them now at the bridges. At Bob Sikes walk out to the "triple piling" or even closer in. Fish right next to the pilings using Fiddler Crabs and pieces of Shrimp. If none are at one go to the next and so on. I hope to go soon myself and have caught them all the way till March.


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

I have even used Clams from the grocery store when bait was hard to find.


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## ifish42 (Nov 26, 2013)

Ocean Master said:


> I have even used Clams from the grocery store when bait was hard to find.


How do you hook a clam?!?


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## tips n tails (Mar 2, 2011)

ifish42 said:


> How do you hook a clam?!?


You have to thread the meat on carefully. Sometimes I break up the shell and hook the foot, that's the part of the clam which is the toughest and will use it plus part of the shell. Sheeps can become tackle shy so sometimes you have to dead stick it but NOT too long otherwise they'll steal your bait. I usually don't down grade my leaders because they'll break you off more often than not or a deep hook set will result in them cutting your line with their teeth. So dead sticking works for me, you kinda have to listen for the bite. Pressure, tension, bump, slack, I don't care what it is, if you feel a difference that you didn't cause start reeling. I don't set the hook neither like bass fishing, just start reeling, MANY times I've pulled them up with the hook barely set in their lip/gum.


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## gileprice (Jul 25, 2016)

*Sheephead fishing*

I am a new member to the forum. Saw your question. You likely have got a great deal of info on how to catch the buck tooth bandit by now but I have fish for them for over 40 years and found them to be a great challenge. I exclusively use soft natural baits. My # 1 bait is oysters, second clams or mussels. I almost always catch my limit of real big fish and I catch them when no one else can. There is a real secret to using these soft baits.


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## old_skool (May 14, 2013)

I heard someone say one time that the trick to catching sheepshead is to set the hook right before they bite


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

Before i was in the wheelchair I would fill my jacket pockets with Fiddler Crabs and zip it up. At Bob Sikes I wouldn't start until I got to the Tripple Pilings. 

Drop at each piling and feel for the bite. Some will run with the bait but most just sit there and eat. You have to keep in contact with the bait so you can feel the bite. 

Ive caught 35 in one trip just walking the pilings. 

When no bait was available i would buy smoked Oysters and Clams in the can. I would thread the meat up the hook and sometimes use a rubber band. The kind used for kids braces.

When fishing this bait as soon as you feel something you drop the rod to them then up to set the hook. They just swallow the bait.

I like January thru March.


An electric knife is a must.


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## gileprice (Jul 25, 2016)

*A super way to catch Sheephead*

Sheepshead can be very challenging but like all fish when they are in the feeding frenzy you can catch them on just about anything, however I have not found them in the feeding frenzy mood to often over the past forty years. In my opinion nothing outperforms a fresh shucked oyster for getting the fish to bit and I do mean nothing. Trouble is, how do you keep a oyster on the hook and keep arguable the best bait stealing fish of all time form picking you clean?

The answer is: Check out the www.WrapFishingSystem.com and view the videos under
Wrap Fishing System in Action. Also Google WrapFishingSystem and follow to youtube videos. Food for thought, oysters are everywhere and free for the taking, so are clams and mussels.


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## spicer (Dec 24, 2014)

I have been fishing out at Sikes the last couple of weeks and have seen people using different methods. One guy who had a couple in his cooler was jigging, and another guy I say today seemed to have his stuff sitting on the bottom and was working more than one rod, but he was doing something right as he had a few keepers in his bucket along with a flounder.

My question is about technique. Am I correct in assuming that when fishing a carolina rig you are jigging it up and down at the pilings or it being sent to the bottom to wait for the fish to come by? Or is the technique something else?


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Sheepshead secret: You have to set the hook right before they bite.


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## dan111213 (Jun 29, 2011)

Friday morning at Bob Sykes Gulf Breeze side around 730am I will be there with my cart and tackle. I will stop and get some fiddlers and fresh dead shrimp at GBB&T. If you show up then make sure that you have what you need and you will leave with some sheepshead. I usually do pretty well until I run out of bait. I use braided line around the structure because they like to eat and try to go back under the pilings so I lock down my drag and dare them to try to break my line or rod. They are convicts so I always say that they are on death row and will be executed the day I show up and I have their last meal. They get a stay of execution if they are under 12 inches.


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## troygem (Jul 27, 2015)

Yesterday and the day before there were a bunch caught at Navarre Beach Pier so I was told. Somebody using ghost shrimp was catching them hand over fist. They must have been full by the time I got there. We saw them all over the place but they wouldn't touch our live shrimp, no matter how close we put it under their noses. Anybody know where to get ghost shrimp?


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## JQbigrig (Nov 9, 2016)

troygem said:


> yesterday and the day before there were a bunch caught at navarre beach pier so i was told. Somebody using ghost shrimp was catching them hand over fist. They must have been full by the time i got there. We saw them all over the place but they wouldn't touch our live shrimp, no matter how close we put it under their noses. Anybody know where to get ghost shrimp?


there's some pretty good videos on youtube on how to catch your own ghost shrimp, i haven't tried it but i will one day. You gotta make a sucker thing that scoops em out of the sand, it looks pretty easy actually


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## gileprice (Jul 25, 2016)

Move the bait up and down a few feet slowly abut every 30 seconds, barnacles that sheepshead dislodge often fall to the bottom, the fish follows them down and eats them, the up and down motions in a way mimics that. Check out WrapFishingSystem.com if you want to catch sheepshead


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