Sheepshead are here and biting!

Inshore fishing with Dave

I was able to get on a decent sheepshead bite using oysters for bait at the Hwy 79 bridge in Panama City. The sheepshead should be showing up in droves from now until mid-March. The best method I have found for devestating the sheephead (8 fish+ per hour) is to get a bag of oysters, bring a hammer, bring a brick and smash each oyster to smitherienes. Throw the shell, and meat overboard pulverized. Then shuck one and eat it. Throw the shells overboard.  Last, but not least, shuck one, hang it on your small hook, above your 1/2 oz. lead, rest your lead on the bottom, and hold your breath. I tell people to prop the rod against the side of the boat and watch the rod tip. You can almost feel the bite.  It feels like a butterfly landed on the tip of your rod. Set the hook.

Don’t get discouraged, as good anglers catch about one out of every five that bite. Sheepshead are good to eat, and fight like a giant bream. When you get them fired up under your boat, you can load a cooler to the brim in about 2 hours on an average Sheepshead rally.  They are either there and biting or not.  You will know pretty quick.  Fish a moving tide.  It does not matter if it is incoming, or outgoing, it just has to be moving.

About Dave Barron
Capt. David Barron was born and raised on the Choctawhatchee Bay and started charter fishing in 1990. He currently works on the inland waterways throughout the U.S. for Blessey Marine as a steersman.

“Catching big fish for people is what I enjoy doing. That is it for me. I am here basically 10 days a month, and my clients are mostly local.  We go after trophy fish while I am here.  It gives me an advantage because it is still just as exciting for me to get on a good bite with big fish as it is for the people.  I get a little carried away sometimes. It might be after dark when we get home.”

You may contact David at (850) 419-0831 or email him at davidrbarron@earthlink.net.