Sheephead are a fish found all along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf Coast. They use their well formed barb to crush the shells of crustaceans, small mollusks, barnacles and other sea life found around buoys, piers, docks, rocks, shallow wrecks, seawalls, jetties, oyster bars and breakwaters. Convict-striped fish running from 1-5 pounds are the norm although sheephead in excess of 10 pounds are not all that rare.

These gregarious shallow water, inshore denizens usually are caught using a small hook baited with a small fiddler crab, a sand flea or some small pieces of shrimp. They will put up a fight but they are also elusive and very adept at stealing bait from a hook.

Fishing at night with a light in the water from a pier or dock is my favorite way to catch these striped bandits. I like to use fiddler crabs of sand fleas but I also use small bits of frozen shrimp as well. Cyalume sticks as, a disposable chemo-photo lights, are the easiest way to do this. Once you break the glass tube inside of the Cyalume stick the two chemicals mix to provide a nice glowing light for up to 12 hours. Submerge these lights about 2-6 feet below the surface on a line with a 1 oz lead weight on the line works very well. We usually suspend 2 or 3 of these lights, spaced about 6 feet apart, when fishing for sheephead and then fish between them.

Many times if you listen you can hear the sheephead feeding on barnacles that cluster on the pilings of a dock or pier. I like to drop my bait straight down about 3-5 feet below the surface, close to a piling and wait for the vibration of the line indicating a nibble by a sheephead. My preference is for a hand-line but I also like to use an ultra-light spin-cast rig as well.

Kids like to fish for these great fish and do well once they have been shown the basics. My kids learned at an early age and still enjoy fishing for these striped fighters.

Copyright © 2008 Donald R Houston, PhD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the author's consent.

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