As the weather begins to warm the fishing season is really starting to take off. April is one of my favorite months to get out to the Charleston Jetties or one of my favorite pilings and try for some big Sheepshead. Note: I encourage you to check with local Coast Guard officials before fishing the bridges or port pilings. This time of year the fish are moving back in from the nearshore reefs and after the swim they show up inshore with voracious appetites.
Catching Sheepshead is a lot like tying into a monster fresh water bream, and as a matter of fact many of the old timers still use cane poles to catch these delightful tasting sport fish. Due to their unique feeding method of crushing their prey and literally sucking out the contents a Sheepshead can be extremely hard to feel while they are taking your bait and as matter of fact even the expert anglers will admit that they feed more fish than they catch.
Several techniques and the appropriate tackle will help ensure that you catch your fare share of Sheepshead. Provided herein are just a few recommendations that will help you improve your hook up ratio:
- Anchoring – Since Sheepshead are structure based fish, you want to be as close to the structure as possible without potentially putting yourself and your boat in harms way. Also it is a lot easier to feel these fish if you are fishing right on top of them rather than attempting to cast over to them. When fishing pilings when possible anchor the boat up-tide and up-wind of piling. As you drift back to the piling tighten the anchor line so the boat is resting parallel to the pilings. If necessary use a light weight stern anchor to pull the boat toward the piling or to hold the boat off of the pilings if the wind is pushing perpendicular to the tide. When anchoring at the jetties the wind will determine if you fish on the inside of the rocks or outside. Set the anchor up tide and ensure that you are on the down wind side of the rocks. Once the anchor is set the tide should pull the boat pa