BigBendFishing.Net

Decided to give sheephead fishing at the steinhatchee reef a try. Daniel, my son and I in my boat. And a neighbor Mike and his sons in his boat. I got some tips from Breambusterand was looking forward wearing them out. Stopped at Wilson's for shrimp and we were leaving the canal at 1st light. The weather man was a little off on the 1' seas called for it was close stacked 2' to 3'. Even with early start we were the 3rd and 4th boat there. The rough conditions made it hard to get set up and my boy a little green. Shortly therafter it looked like scallop season out there. With boats driting through anchored boats and people setting up within 6' of you. Our 2 boats caught 2 in 2 hours and I only saw maybe 6 pulled in near us. Maybe it was the conditions or just us but we decided to go trout fishing. Between us we ended up with 7 trout ,2 sheeps ,1 flounder ,1 blue ,1 spanish , and 1 flounder. Another person I know was down with his wife and they caught their limit at Spring Warrior on bottom. It was a fun day on the water covering about 40 miles.

everyone we talked to at Keaton Friday night said the sheephead had all left Steihatchee reef-
we gave Big Bend Reef a try and managed 9 good one-

Even though its a public number I was surprise how close people anchored to us after we pulled in the first fish.
One guy even said, "wW weren't cathing anything - saw ya'll get one so we came over here." He was about 15 yards from us.

Redfin wrote:everyone we talked to at Keaton Friday night said the sheephead had all left Steihatchee reef-
we gave Big Bend Reef a try and managed 9 good one-

Even though its a public number I was surprise how close people anchored to us after we pulled in the first fish.
One guy even said, "wW weren't cathing anything - saw ya'll get one so we came over here." He was about 15 yards from us.

Wish I had got that info. I would have just slept later and went trout fishing only. As far as people getting on top of you, gotta love people's lack of respect for others. Is forum picture processor down? I can't get it to work.

Redfin wrote:everyone we talked to at Keaton Friday night said the sheephead had all left Steihatchee reef

They're more than likely gone to that ice filled pond in the sky.

Gotta love sheepshead & scallop season.

Yeah, I think all of the public numbers have been thouroughly picked over the last couple of weekends. My buddy was on the steinhatchee reef Saturday, but left when it got overcrowded to head to a "secret spot" only a few miles away. He had a cooler full of sheepshead and blackfish in only a couple of hours on the private hole, without a single bite on the reef.

Reel Cowboy wrote: They're more than likely gone to that ice filled pond in the sky.
Gotta love sheepshead & scallop season.

Yeah, it looked like it was already scallop season up around Spring Warrior this weekend. I guess it's time to start fishing on weeKdays only again for a while. I like to avoid the weekend armada.

Forgot to mention the water temp was 64-67 degrees.

red_yakker wrote:Yeah, it looked like it was already scallop season up around Spring Warrior this weekend. I guess it's time to start fishing on weekdays only again for a while. I like to avoid the weekend armada.

You ain't wrong there. Every rock had at least 6 boats on it.
I wish weekdays were an option for me but being 100 miles from the coast kinda screws that up.

red_yakker wrote:Yeah, it looked like it was already scallop season up around Spring Warrior this weekend. I guess it's time to start fishing on weeKdays only again for a while. I like to avoid the weekend armada.

I saw those boats and changed direction to find to a more secluded location. Managed to find 2 trout over 5#s and a 26" red. Despite some early morning rock bumping and boat pulling I had good time fishing with TC again.