Sheepshead are the hot ticket for patient anglers fishing inside the Port during the Month of January. Expect your live crab baits to get a lot of play when fishing near docks and rocky outcroppings. Live fiddler crabs are always a great choice for bait for sheepshead, but can be hard to find or buy at many of the bait shops at this time of the year. If you can find them try rigging these small crabs on a #1 to 2/0 hook and short piece of 20-30 pound test Sufix fluorocarbon leader. One of the best ways to rig the crabs and still keep them alive is to pull off one of there rear legs and insert the hook through this opening and out the top of the crabs shell. I’ve actually put an instructional rigging video on my web site www.finelinefishiingcharters.com to show you how it’s done.
If crabs do become scarce you can often find your own around rocks along many of the shorelines in the Port Canaveral and Banana River area. Sand fleas, and cut oyster are two other bait options if crabs can not be readily found. Pompano are another fish that love eating sand fleas. They can be found inside the Port and along the beaches outside the Port on most calm days this month. Cut shrimp or clam can also be used for these fish. Using either of these baits to “tip” a pompano jig is a good idea and will increase your catch numbers on most days. When fishing the surf for pompano, work the first two hours of daylight and the upper portion of the incoming tide for best results. Whiting and bluefish should also be found along the beaches near Port Canaveral this month.
[easy-social-share]