Fishing Report 1/15/11 – Sheepshead

Published January 15, 2011 | By larry

Jan. 15, 11 – Port Orange, Fl., mid-day

M.F.= 1:15 pm +/-

Temp.: 37-63 deg. (mid 50 while fishing)

wind: N @ 5 to 14mph, gust to – mph

pressure: 30.22

hunidity: avg-74% (48-100%)

rain: 0

sunny

This trip did not actually include my kayak as its a little to cold for that so my dad and I took his rig out Saturday to a spot where he has been catching a limit of sheepshead off some docks at ponce Inlet.

After we caught some bait we headed for Dad’s hot spot at the Inlet. The water was really clear and you could see the bottom in 5ft of water. With my polarized glasses I could see a few sheepshead feeding on the piles. I actually sight fished one nice fish off an inner pile with a small, med.wt. jig rod & 30 wt. spinning reel tipped with a whole small crab. As soon as he saw the crab flutter down alongside the pile he inhaled it and the fight was on to get him out before he got me around a pile. Don’t let one get any slack or he’s gone!

I was mainly using a 7′ med.heavy rod with an okuma 65 spinning reel with 20 lb. mono. and 30lb leader. That rig is a little heavy for the fish we were catching but you can run into a lot bigger sheepshead and some large drum which put up a little more fight than the sheepshead.

It is a good idea to bring along a down sized rig as a backup. Sheepshead can be shy to bite and sometimes require some lighter line and leader.

The tide was just barely going out when we got there so we had to fish thru a slack tide but still managed to pickup a fish or two. Once the tide did start in it was going against a pretty good north wind and never really flowed very strong.

The moon was visible but at about the 9:00 position when we started fishing and I felt like we were really in between the bite. By the time the moon was getting about right we’d had about all we could stand. The temp was in the 50’s but in the shade of a boat house and a 10-15 mph north wind it was

c o l d! Earlier that morning, by the time we had caught our bait I had worked up some heat and was thinking about shedding my long johns….I wouldn’t have made it very long had I done that. I had brought some insulated bibs and a jacket but left them in the truck……I sure could have used them!

I did catch one of the largest dog fish I have seen in a while, under a shallow dock. I guess they like crab also.

Actually, as I’m writing this I have two meals worth of this catch cooking on the grill. I burned down a little blackjack, spiced the fillets with some seasoned salt and blackening seasoning, sprayed them with some olive oil and on the grill they went. They are about as good as it gets like this and a healthy way to eat.