March is a month that denotes a season of transition. The old adage, “It comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb” is true. The winds and temperatures jump up and down like a kid on a trampoline, but eventually exhaust themselves. If you’re a weekender locked into a Saturday sheepshead trip, you are likely to be disappointed if you have a small boat.
Sheepshead spawn heavily in March. I believe most of the secret spawning locations have been wiki-leaked. Local charts and tackle shops will certainly direct you toward the flotilla(s). As for tackle, simple trout gear, a knocker rig with the lightest egg sinker and shrimp or fiddler crabs for bait. The bite of a sheepshead is the equivalent of a peck on a wire from a distant chicken.
The most important issue is anchoring. You must anchor close to where the fish are milling around. Missing accurate anchoring by ten feet, may be the difference between watching people catch fish, or them watching you.
Sheepshead fishing is the perfect recipe for the melt down of humanity. First, the frustration of not being able to capitalize on the pecks from distant chickens, and, if using live shrimp, realizing each peck cost a quarter or more. The boat can be losing over a dollar per minute on the dark side of a strong sheepshead bite. Second, people, on other boats, are fishing tightly together, and that never works out well over the short term, much less the long. Pretty soon, somebody is going to perceive some invisible line has been breached, and words, possibly sinkers, will be thrown between boats. The fun has now ended over the reckless pursuit of some silly fish, who are aren’t the least bit aware of what is going on above their heads, and, it is just a fish!
The take home lesson: Fishing is supposed to be fun. Be neighborly and enjoy the good time together.
Furthermore, the weekdays are less crowded, and generally more enjoyable.
Brian Smith | BIG BEND CHARTERS
Facebook @bigbendcharters
CaptBrian@bellsouth.net
877.852.3474 | 352.210.3050