It was kind of a bad weekend for fishing in Florida. ( You wont here me say that to often!) The strongest cold front of this winter blew through and has slowed things down considerably. There is some action taking place though. I talked with B&B Tackle, near Cape Coral, this morning and they say that the sheepshead are still biting along the bridge. Everything else has been pretty slow he says. From my experience, this is usually the case. When the weather turns nasty and cold in the winter you can always catch sheepshead. Bridges or docks with barnacle encrusted pylons in4+ft. of water, with a good tidal flow, will usually produce these tasty striped fighters. A medium action rod with a sensitive tip is needed to feel there delicate bite. I like to use a #6 long shank hook tied to 2ft. of 20lb. leader to keep them from chewing through my line or cutting me off on the pylons. They eat mostly barnacles so I will bring a garden hoe or flat head shovel with me and scrape some barnacles into a bucket. I then load my hook up with them and scrape more barnacles off into the water to start a feeding frenzy. Then you just drop your line straight down along the pylon. When you feel a light tap on your line, set the hook. Sheepshead are great bait thieves so you will loose more then you catch. Pieces of fresh shrimp are also a good bait, but all of the serious sheepshead fishermen I know use blood worms. Few bait shops carry blood worms but they may be able to tell you where to dig some from around mangrove roots. For more information contact our friends at;
B&B Tackle
239-283-8302
4530 Pine Island Rd. NW
Matlacha, FL 33993
