# Convicts for cousins!



## Riplukelee (May 8, 2016)

Cousins from Atl came down for a graduation. Wanted to see if I could put them on some fish during few short hours after graduation and before nightfall Saturday. We found them slowly but surely until the incoming tide got rolling and then they started fighting back. Countless hooked and lost at the boat and six never turned (took drag and broke/cut off braid. All in all eleven keepers with the smallest at 14". Beautiful day on the water! Shady(hint hint) a breeze, and no bugs! Also, one fat ugly puffer fish graced us with his mug! Didn't know they came this far inshore?


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## Riplukelee (May 8, 2016)

*Puffer fish*

Ugly!!!


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## Riplukelee (May 8, 2016)

*1st convixt*

Cousin Andrew's first sheepshead! Now he's "hooked!"


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## Sawbones (May 8, 2016)

Good job!


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## Bass105 (May 9, 2016)

Great report.  He is going to be hooked for life.  Gonna be a good fish fry.


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## shallowminded (May 9, 2016)

Way to deliver under pressure!  Sounds like a great day.


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## mose (May 9, 2016)

Nice! What bait were you using?


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## brown518 (May 9, 2016)

That is a nice pile of fish. You have some studs in there too!


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## GunnSmokeer (May 9, 2016)

why does the one sheepshead / convict fish in the close-up photo with your cousin look so different from the others shown laying on their sides for the pic of all the fish y'all caught?

The single-fish photo shows the black stripes as being pure black with well-defined borders where they meet the silver scales on the rest of the body. 

But the "group photo" of the many fish on the ground show a much lighter shade of gray, not black, for the stripes, and no clear border. They seem to just melt into the silverish body.  

Is this a camera thing, related to the conditions of the photography, or was one fish truly different from the others?


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## sea trout (May 9, 2016)

Fine sheepshead mess man!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!


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## sea trout (May 9, 2016)

GunnSmokeer said:


> why does the one sheepshead / convict fish in the close-up photo with your cousin look so different from the others shown laying on their sides for the pic of all the fish y'all caught?
> 
> The single-fish photo shows the black stripes as being pure black with well-defined borders where they meet the silver scales on the rest of the body.
> 
> ...



Because they are dead


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## trippcasey (May 9, 2016)

GunnSmokeer said:


> why does the one sheepshead / convict fish in the close-up photo with your cousin look so different from the others shown laying on their sides for the pic of all the fish y'all caught?
> 
> The single-fish photo shows the black stripes as being pure black with well-defined borders where they meet the silver scales on the rest of the body.
> 
> ...



They do that when they die it seems. I dont cull mine in a live-well, and by the time I get them home to clean them they have lost a lot of their color. I dont know why, but they do that.


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## trippcasey (May 9, 2016)

Great catch man!


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## Riplukelee (May 9, 2016)

It may be because they are dead. But the closeup pic was takin right after he caught the fish in broad daylight ... The other pic was taken when we made it back to the house (about 9) obviously it was dark by then


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## Riplukelee (May 9, 2016)

We were using fiddlers for bait.


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## tsharp (May 9, 2016)

Nice catch!


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## Bream Pole (May 9, 2016)

Great post.  Thanks.  Love the smile on "cousins" face.  I've caught one sheepshead in my life and used over 100 fiddlers to do that.


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## trippcasey (May 10, 2016)

paddler said:


> Great post.  Thanks.  Love the smile on "cousins" face.  I've caught one sheepshead in my life and used over 100 fiddlers to do that.



I know the feeling. They are by far the best bait thieves in the business. Fitting that we call them convicts I guess. It takes a lot of patience and work to get the hang of nailing them consistently, and still it is less than 50% catch rate per bait in the water for me. Way less.


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## Riplukelee (May 10, 2016)

Between my dad, brother, and myself we've got a decent handle on the technique as far as hooking them. I'd probably consider hook type the most important change we've made. We get consistent hook ups just gotta figure out what strength leader we can get away with.


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## Huntsman.45 (May 10, 2016)

Riplukelee said:


> Between my dad, brother, and myself we've got a decent handle on the technique as far as hooking them. I'd probably consider hook type the most important change we've made. We get consistent hook ups just gotta figure out what strength leader we can get away with.



Riplukelee, next time you come down hwy thirty slow down so I can follow you!!  Ya'll certainly have them convicts dialed in.  I think I saw you passing by my work place on Hwy 21 last week.


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## shallowminded (May 11, 2016)

Riplukelee said:


> I'd probably consider hook type the most important change we've made.



So which one do you think works best for you? I don't have them in front of me but I have been using a small circle.


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