It’s that time of year again, the Sheepshead are moving in. Anglers aboard the Reelin’ & Chillin’ have caught plenty around docks in the Sarasota Bay area. Inshore Redfish, Sheepshead, and Ladyfish have tightened lines. Offshore Little Tunny, Mangrove Snapper, and Key West Grunts have made it to the livewell. A couple fish tails enjoyed aboard the Reelin’ & Chillin’: Pat and Rose Bryne, with son Stewart, and daughter-in-law Liz had a fast, exciting start before things slowed down during the rest of the day. First cast to a dock in north Sarasota Bay Liz was fighting a twenty-seven inch Redfish. She did manage to get it to the boat, a great battle using only ten-pound test line. Later that afternoon Stewart landed a nice twenty-four inch Red. Donald Roupe, daughter-in-law Kim, and grandson George had a great Sheepshead run. Donald started with a Jack Crevalle to get things rolling; then he picked up a nice Sheepshead, Kim and George also caught several Sheepshead. We released several smaller fish, ending up with five nice ones in the livewell. A nice bag of skinless/boneless fillets was sent home with this crew to enjoy for dinner. Captain's Tip - Going for Sheepshead Go small on the bait when fishing for Sheepshead; they need to munch once or twice and then swallow. If the bait is too large they will have only part in their mouth when you set the hook; it just pulls the bait off the hook, you come up empty.

Here are a couple options that work for me: If I’m specifically targeting Sheepshead I will use an Arkie jig head—1/8th-ounce unpainted. I use twenty-pound test mono leader tied to my ten-pound test line from the reel. Take a regular to small size shrimp, pinch the tail off, thread the shrimp on starting at the tail—you want the jig head at the tail, and the hook coming out under the shrimp’s belly. The hook barb end should be hidden in the legs. The Arkie jib has a gold hook that matches the shrimp’s leg color. Many times I’m still targeting reds this time of year, my standard rig is ten-pound test from the reel, twenty-pound test mono leader about twenty-four inches in length, a #4 split shot eighteen inches from the hook on the leader, and a #4 MUTU Owner Circle hook. When I run into Sheepies I don’t want to take the time to re-rig; what I do is buy select shrimp for Reds, and regular to small shrimp for the Sheepshead. When I run into Sheepshead I just use the smaller shrimp, run the hook through the head starting underneath and coming up through the top of the head. The hook point should be pointing the same direction as the barb on the shrimps head. This method works great fooling the Sheepshead; the hook is buried in the head of the shrimp; just make sure the shrimp is small. You will be amazed at the size of fish you can catch on such a small bait. Tight lines & good times, Capt. Terry Frankford Reelin & Chillin Charters Inc. www.charterfishingsarasota.com 941-228-7802 terry.frankford@verizon.net