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Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 10:15 am
by John21:6
I've got a list of fish that make me mad because I can't seem to find or catch them. Sheepshead had been on the list for nearly 3 years, but they finally came off the list on Saturday when we put eight of them in the cooler.

The largest sheepshead was 21" long and the shortest was about 16 or 17" inches in length. We caught them using dropper rigs and size 1 hooks baited with live shrimp that we had cut in half. Most of what I've read about fishing with live shrimp for sheepshead is that the tails make better baits than the heads, but most of my fish were caught with the shrimp heads. We caught the fish on a wreck offshore.

The teeth on these fish are amazing. One of the fish had a perfect set of choppers that seem like you could just cut them out and use them as dentures. Another one had buck teeth giving it a face only a mother could love.

My wife says that sheepshead taste as good as grouper, which might mean she will let me off the hook from her honey-do list while I'm out catching more of them.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 12:36 pm
by Badfish
Glad to hear they are finally out there. Good report.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 3:10 pm
by geofish
Cool, how deep was the wreck?

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 4:23 pm
by Srbenda
And cleaning them? Huge ribcage...

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 4:48 pm
by John21:6
Srbenda wrote:And cleaning them? Huge ribcage...
I am by no means an expert at cleaning fish. Had to learn the hard way just to use a fillet glove.

However, I learned to clean sheepshead by watching youtube. One of the best videos I've found showed that there is a seam or flap of skin right where the dorsal fin meets the body of a sheepshead. As directed in the video, I begin the fillet cut by inserting the knife between the flap of skin and the dorsal fin about two-thirds the length of the body of the fish and work from the tail to the head. Getting around the rib cage was difficult for me. Made a lot of cuts, which took a lot of time. Out of the five fish I cleaned, I mangled three, did an okay job on one, and a good job on another.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 8:32 pm
by geofish
I'm trying to post photos for the sheepshead-jedi, but my PhotoBucket password isn't working (couldn't be that I don't remember right . . . ).
For now, I can post links to the photos in my Google-Drive
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qQ3hB ... 4UWiG6QbV-
https://drive.google.com/open?id=13PrIN ... _VZxYcHulr
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TMbet ... 9moXr5BKrg
That first one has a face only a sheepshead mother could love
geofish

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 17th, 2020, 10:03 pm
by StMarksAngler
Srbenda wrote:And cleaning them? Huge ribcage...
Unless I'm desperate, I usually throw sheepies back because I loathe cleaning them. They're delicious but I never target them, just pick lots up as bycatch when surf fishing for pompano.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 18th, 2020, 7:34 am
by cotton
I just don’t understand all the fuss about cleaning sheepshead. Its just a big bluegill with a tough skin. Sure I wouldn’t want to clean 50.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 18th, 2020, 6:57 pm
by geofish
That's one fish that I just scale and remove head, guts & tail rather than trying to filet. A few vertical slices on each side to let it cook evenly, and then bake (with a few orange slices on top)
Delicious, and the meat falls off the bones once it's baked. Skin actually adds a little flavor.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 27th, 2020, 8:34 pm
by Red Beard
From working at a fish market I picked up on cleaning different species. At the very top where the dorsal fin is, runs a seam all the way down the spine that will give you access without cutting through scales.

Slide the knife down the seam to get going. And proceed to fillet as normal. Once you have that fillet free with only the ribs still attached.

Flip the fish over place your thumb inside pushing down on the ribs and pull the tail up and away. This motion will snap the ribs and free the fillet off with just the skin to be removed.

This technique works on almost all fish, keeps your blade sharp and cuts down on waste.

(Hope this may help if this information was needed, just haven’t seen YouTube folks use this method)


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Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 28th, 2020, 9:02 am
by STMU
Red Beard wrote: Flip the fish over place your thumb inside pushing down on the ribs and pull the tail up and away. This motion will snap the ribs and free the fillet off with just the skin to be removed.

This technique works on almost all fish, keeps your blade sharp and cuts down on waste.
YEP!!!! Do this. Redfish, Sheepshead, Cobia, Snapper, Grouper...anything with big bones. You'll never have to touch a knife to ribs ever again. Works every time, super easy, and you don't miss any meat.

Afterward, if you flip the knife over and run it under the backside of the ribs and score the belly meat just below the ribs you can peel the ribcage off like a banana. You definitely get more meat that way, especially from the belly with bigger fish.

Only fish I don't do this method on are trout, Spanish and maybe smaller end slot reds.

Re: Finally--Learning to Catch Sheepshead

Posted: March 28th, 2020, 4:30 pm
by StMarksAngler
STMU wrote: Only fish I don't do this method on are trout, Spanish and maybe smaller end slot reds.
This method works probably best on mackerel of any fish. I mean, it's the best method for practically all fish, but flawless for mackerel.