Steinhatchee sheeps on the reef

[flatsbroke22]

The girlfriend and I stayed the weekend at Good Times with all intentions of targeting sheepshead on Saturday morning if the weather man's predictions were right and he was spot on for once. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise and little to no wind. Headed over to Sea Hag for shrimp and lucky enough I got the last four dozen they had. Headed out of the channel and into flat seas and thank goodness for that. I'm on a brand new lower unit and just started the break in, so it was a long slow ride out. After anchoring on three or four spots yielding a coupl Sheeps on each spot. We finally hit the honey hole bringing in two at a time on the first drop. Picked up four more before running out of shrimp Left them biting but had no choice. All but two were good size weighing around 4lbs. a piece. Happy to catch what we did but would've liked to see how many we could've caught. Bet I get to the shrimp a lot earlier next time. Lol We headed to flats at around noon and had lunch and then tried our luck at trout and reds. Trout did not cooperate but did manage one mid slot red. Headed to the hill and had the fished cleaned cause I hate cleaning sheepies. Great weekend to be on the water.

[trout fisher]

I don't enjoy cleaning them either. I sho do love to eat 'em though. Good trip.

[silverking]

Thanks for the report. We used to wear the sheepies out on the jetties in Pensacola Pass when I lived over there. Strong fighter and tasty meal. I'd take a square of cardboard and cut slits on each end to wrap pre-tied rigs for quick changes whenever I'd eventually get hung up in the rocks. The rig consisted of a small light-wire J-hook tied to 20# leader about 2 feet long with a small barrel swivel on the other end. A light egg sinker (1/8 to 3/8, depending on the current) on the running line completed the set-up. And yes Bman, I did use live shrimp back in those days.

A good serrated filet knife will handle the big chore of getting through those scales and tough skin. Then a regular flexible straight blade can take care of the rest.

[jsaunders]

Glad you got a few. We stayed at Good Times too. We decided to stay inshore and not make the trek to the reef on Saturday. We ended up with 2 reds, 8 trout, and 4 flounder. Caught a bazillion 14.5 inchers to get to the 8 slots.