sheepshead ?

[gforce]

what is the best setup for this fish?

[gforce]

jig & worm?

 

floating? sinkin'?

[PickerelHunter]

Don't know what the best thing to use is, but I've caught my fair share while bass fishing with inline spinners

[chickenhawk]

tie a roller skate to the end of your line.....should manage a couple s***heads lol......i imagine just about any old dew worm sitting on bottom would work just fine

[jonnybass]

I get them on cleos when I'm casting for salmon.

[OhioFisherman]

Anything a smallie will eat with the exception of surface lures, never got one on a surface lure and their mouths don`t have a good location for surface feeding. Tubes work, jig and pigs, crankbaits, just about any live bait. Ball head jig with a piece of worm, just about anything. They also love crawfish.

 

Don`t know if they actually school, but I have caught more than I wanted in certain areas. They seem to prefer the same types of bottom as smallies, rocky bottoms, rip rap along causeways and bridges, current doesn`t bother them too much but an eddy or any current break is a better spot to try.

 

They get pretty good size, up to around 20 pounds, sort of a bull dog fighter, down and deep.

[Marko]

Sinker + hook + worms or minnows should do the trick.

[Rich]

Worm on bottom.

[natemr2]

I think they will take just about anything, but the big boys seem to have a liking for orange, we have caught them on salmon gear out in 100 ft of water and then at the river mouth in the same day, for shore fishing I have unfortuatly got quite a few while fishing for wallys with minnows.

[kickingfrog]

Lake Nippising is the only place I have caught them. Typically it's when we're fishing for walleye in the spring/ early summer. I can't remember a time when we've got them on a minnow, it's either worm/jig, worm/crawler harness or jig/grub. That might also say something about which presentations we use in the areas that the drum are in at that time of year on Nippissing. One year it was the guy using a blue crawler harness that was the only one catching 'em, another year it was orange. Most other years though, colour didn't seem to make as much of a difference. For what that's worth? That's for someone else to decide.

 

Lots of fun on the walleye gear.

Edited April 4, 2008 by kickingfrog

[Headhunter]

I'd ask Terry! LOL! Well, unfortunately, I've caught them on just about everything when trolling... from my expereince, if you really really want to catch a big one, I'd put on any crank bait you like, trolling and in my mind picture a 32 inch Pickereye attaching it... that should pretty much guarantee you hooking a big old "Water Goat"!

Someone lookin to make some soup?!

HH

[Ramble]

I've caught them on mosty orange or yellow worm harnesses.

 

-R

[irishfield]

Bomber A at 1.4MPH..

 

 

Man.. he sure looks happy !

[Headhunter]

LOL Wayne! I knew I should have taken that Bomber away from him two years ago!

HH

Edited April 4, 2008 by Headhunter

[The Urban Fisherman]

1) Small silver (Orland) inline spinner

2) Silver xrap - slowly cranked back rather than slashing it

3) Live Shiner under a float.

 

The live shiner works best, but the problem with that is sometimes they get hooked

deep and as I'm assuming you aren't keeping them you'll want to at least pinch the

barb.

 

Cheers,

UF

[pikehunter]

Go walleye fishing...

 

Or go bass fishing, like in this picture. Never targeted them but somedays I just can't keep them off the hook and they help to fill in an otherwise unproductive day.

[Billy Bob]

I NEVER heard of anyone ever wanting to target them. This is a new one for me, however we have all caught more of these fish then we ever want to admit

 

Fishing Lake Erie for walleye we catch our fair share of sheephead better know here as shitheads, sewer trout, galvanized pike, Buffalo fish and a few other crazy names I have heard them referred to over the years. One thing I know is if you do catch quite of few more than anyone else on the boat that day you will be called the "King Sheppard" for a while

 

BTW you can't go wrong with worms on anything.

[Cory]

How is it that Whopper has not posted on this thread. Is he holding out all of his secrets?

[OhioFisherman]

I have seen Phil(whopper) holding them, he is a pro!

[ccmtcanada]

Caught this guy with a small spinner bait casting from shore....a Jumla to be exact....

 

[lunkerbasshunter]

i got into a school of 2 pound smallies last summer on nipissing and then WHAM big hit and big fight! I thought i had a 6 or 7 pound smallie on. that was until the sheaphead surfaced and i wanted to cry.

 

great fight though

 

cheers!

[wacky tambaqui]

i got into a school of 2 pound smallies last summer on nipissing and then WHAM big hit and big fight! I thought i had a 6 or 7 pound smallie on. that was until the sheaphead surfaced and i wanted to cry.

 

great fight though

 

cheers!

 

Worms will work every time. Sh**heads are absolutely psycho when you hook up on them. I've caught them by happenstance while fishing for bass and 'eyes in the West Arm.

 

OTOH I tried cooking one up using a recipe that a fishing lodge owner swore by. What a disappointment. My kitchen stank like Hell and I couldn't feed pigs with it, let alone my cat. Blechhh!

 

I did recover the otoliths from inside the head. They have an interesting-looking marking that looks like the letter "L".

[pikehunter]

I did recover the otoliths from inside the head. They have an interesting-looking marking that looks like the letter "L".

 

My Grandfather used to say they had a stone for a brain. Of course no, but that was what he claimed after cutting ones head open. This is from a guy that ate fried goats brains He was a character.

[Terry]

well it was not a bomber that's my secret sheephead lure

but Joe did tell me to get rid of it and use real walleye lures

 

 

Edited April 5, 2008 by Terry

[Golfisher]

If it fights so sell as everyone seems to agree, and you are fishing for the sport of it rather than for fish fries (as when you are targetting big largies in a hot summer day), why all this disdain for sheephead? Just curious, as I've never caught one.