# Pier/bridge fishing for sheepshead



## Khondker (Oct 10, 2019)

Want to go sheepshead fishing from pier/bridge at the end of November or beginning of December. Looking for suggestions for some good  pier/bridge fishing locations in Georgia, South Carolina or Florida. My understanding is that time of the year all the bait stealers are gone and once I drop my shrimp by the pier/bridge pilling, awaiting sheepshead will have a  chance to take the  bait.
Thanks in advance.


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## mdgreco191 (Oct 12, 2019)

Khondker said:


> Want to go sheepshead fishing from pier/bridge at the end of November or beginning of December. Looking for suggestions for some good  pier/bridge fishing locations in Georgia, South Carolina or Florida. My understanding is that time of the year all the bait stealers are gone and once I drop my shrimp by the pier/bridge pilling, awaiting sheepshead will have a  chance to take the  bait.
> Thanks in advance.



Focus on pylons covered in oysters, mussels, and barnacles all over them. Drop down a fiddler crab and crank him a few inches off botttom. Until you get the hang of it they will steal a lot of fiddlers from you. 

Chumming the water with crushed oysters helps a lot too.


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## Anvil Head (Oct 14, 2019)

Watch your line and keep it tight! If it "blinks", twitches or suddenly goes slack - set hard and steer away from the structure as much as possible. Just remember they don't have hands!


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## charlie81 (Oct 14, 2019)

Can you use raw oysters (the kind in the plastic tub) from the grocery store for bait? I’ve heard oysters were good but I have no idea where/how to find them in the water.


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## mdgreco191 (Oct 15, 2019)

Oysters will work, but they tend to lure in other bait stealers though.  Fiddlers and whole mussels are the best for sheeps in my opinion.


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## Big7 (Oct 15, 2019)

And... If you carry a roofing or tile scraper you can start a frenzy by scraping the barnicals off the pillar post'. 

Raw chunks of Blue Crab works good. Crack them up so there is a little shell in with every bite of meat.

Fiddler Crab and Sand Fleas are usually plentiful on the beach and rock piles.

Sheep's Head are fine, very fine eating.?


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## Khondker (Oct 15, 2019)

Is Panama City Beach piers are good for winter sheepshead fishing?


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## mdgreco191 (Oct 15, 2019)

Khondker said:


> Is Panama City Beach piers are good for winter sheepshead fishing?



Never fished that pier, but if the pylons are covered in barnacles and oysters sheeps will stop by from time to time to pick at them.


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## Snookpimpin (Oct 15, 2019)

get a good filet knife


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## charlie81 (Oct 15, 2019)

The only fiddler crabs I seems to find are about 3/4” long. Seems like they wouldn’t be big enough.


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## Dustin Pate (Oct 15, 2019)

Khondker said:


> Is Panama City Beach piers are good for winter sheepshead fishing?



Yes, there were already some hanging around 2 weeks ago. Gulf Shores holds a bunch also. Those fellows over there tend to use the "silver cricket" to catch the majority of theirs. The silver cricket is a snatch hook.


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## bassboy1 (Oct 15, 2019)

Dustin Pate said:


> Yes, there were already some hanging around 2 weeks ago. Gulf Shores holds a bunch also. Those fellows over there tend to use the "silver cricket" to catch the majority of theirs. The silver cricket is a snatch hook.


The Alaskan dry fly...


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## mdgreco191 (Oct 16, 2019)

charlie81 said:


> The only fiddler crabs I seems to find are about 3/4” long. Seems like they wouldn’t be big enough.



They will work.


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## notnksnemor (Oct 21, 2019)

Snookpimpin said:


> get a good filet knife




^^^^This^^^^

Like filleting a rhino.


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## Anvil Head (Oct 22, 2019)

They can be difficult for sure. Found the easiest way for me is to descale and half-slab fillet like you would do a large flounder. Slit down the lateral line then fillet out to the fins - middle to top, middle to bottom. That way you're not trying to ride those large bumpy backbones and still get most of the meat.  And....don't forget to keep the chins or throats, lot of meat right there.


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## nkbigdog (Nov 5, 2019)

I have always slayed with sand fleas down in the keys growing up.


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## Uptonongood (Dec 17, 2019)

Rig your line with heavy enough slip sinker above a strong snap swivel to keep your hook within 10 inches of the piling, wreck or structure you fishing. Use a 12 inch leader and a #1 hook below the swivel. Hook a light colored fidler crab (the black ones aren’t good baits for some reason), lower your sinker to the bottom Keeping it right next to the structure, raise your rod tip very slowly for about two feet. If you feel resistance that evolves into a soft tug and not a hang up, strike upward very sharply. If you miss the fish, check and see if you lost your fiddler crab.  If its missing, you missed the sheephead bite. If your crab is still there, it wasn’t a sheephead bite.

If you don’t get a bite near bottom, reel up a couple of feet and start the slow “rod raising“ again.  Continue fishing higher in the water column. Then try the opposite side of the structure. If nothing tugs back or you haven’t lost a fiddler  after 10 minutes, go to another piling or structure.

Note: the slip sinker helps you to unsnag you hook if you hang the piling by lowering The sinker a foot below the snag and flipping it up and down. You can finesse the hook free.

Remember, if your losing fiddlers, the sheephead are getting them. You can also catch sheephead using small shrimp by threading the hook from tail to head with the hook barb in the head. Most of the time sheephead go for the head of the shrimp. Fiddlers or small black mussels plucked from piling or riprap are the best baits.

Sheephead are great sport, fight like brutes and are great eating.  Good luck!


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