![]() ![]() Keep in mind the sheep will bite towards the side that the larger claw is located on to get the sweet meat, or to attempt to grab the claw only, so having the hook on that side with the claw (although it can be tricky to not get nipped when inserting it) will be to your advantage. Then push the hook up puncturing the middle of the top shell of the crab. When baiting the hook (a SSW All-Purpose hook size 3/0 is great for larger sheep and 2/0 is good for smaller fish) with a fiddler crab, put the hook tip into the bottom side of crab in between where the legs are located on either side. Photo by Virginia Institute of Marine Science Sheepshead Fishing Bait Sheepshead have a mouthful of rather massive teeth, used for crushing shell. You can use any of these for bait to catch one, the most common bait being the fiddler crab. The diet of a sheepshead consists not only of barnacles and mussels, but also fiddler crabs, blue crabs, hermit crabs, mud crabs, shrimp, clams, and sand fleas. Other things to look for when searching the Bay for sheepshead are signs of life such as spadefish, tautog, or trigger fish feeding, and mussels fixed on structures such as pilings or docks. So once you find them it will probably be a good place to look again and again. As you probably already know, once the barnacle becomes an adult, it doesn’t move. So where would you find a sheepshead in the Chesapeake Bay? Any of the islands of the CBBT will usually be holding them, the High Rise, and various inshore wrecks such as the Big D, the Anglo African, and the Santore, just to name a few. ![]() If you look for areas that have barnacles, the sheep are going to be close by. So a good baseline temp to start targeting them in the Bay is about 75 degrees. As the water continues to warm, then the sheep bite will finally pick up and you will start to see more consistent action. Once the eggs are released, they float near the surface and hatch within a day or two (24 to 40 hours). Their spawning doesn’t usually start until the water temp reaches around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and they prefer water with high salinity. Sheepshead spawn in various places including the mouths of channel passes and jetties. Sheepshead basically travel with the drum, like groupies mainly in search of two things: food and spawning. Every year, with the initial black drum catches, a few monster sheep are reported as being caught. They start coming into the Chesapeake Bay around the same time between April and May. Unlike fish like tautog which stay pretty much in the same area, the angler who craves a sheepshead must wait patiently for their return each year. The author with a chunky sheepshead, caught at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. So if you haven’t before caught a sheepshead not only are you in for a thrilling fight, you will probably be hooked on this species for the rest of your life. Many anglers over the years have asked me “what does a sheepshead feel like when it fights?” and my answer has not changed in over a decade of catching them: The fight of a sheepshead is like the combination of a big red drum and a spadefish on steroids. Sheepshead pound for pound is one of the best-fighting fish in the Chesapeake Bay. I have often felt that this fish should come with a warning label because they are so addicting. While I can’t promise you the “perfect” formula for catching a sheepshead - or a “criminal” as some folks call them thanks to their striped jumpsuits - I can promise you this much: if you do the work eventually you will be rewarded. ![]()
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