When weather didn’t cooperate, Palmetto captain found ‘monster sheepshead’ in Tampa Bay
When the weather doesn’t allow Capt. John Gunter to get his clients into the Gulf this time of year, he knows Tampa Bay is a great backup option.
A yearly event is happening and it makes for some unique fishing that won’t last much longer.
“My clients booked a nearshore trip for some hogfish, but Mother Nature didn’t care to turn the fan off,” the veteran, Palmetto-based captain explained. “So we improvised and stayed inside the bay. I’d say they did pretty good catching some monster sheepshead.”
Sheepshead are becoming a more common catch and will be over the next few weeks. They take to nearshore and shallow structures to group up and spawn, meaning massive schools can be found together.
Gunter finds them on Tampa Bay structures like rock piles, reefs, bridges and wrecks. On both Thursday and Friday, Gunter took his clients into the bay instead of offshore where windy conditions persisted. Their limits of sheepshead, eight per person, were caught.
“The spawn bite is on and will be until the beginning of March. It’s about the only time of year we can go out and get a limit of sheepshead, and many of them are big,” Gunter explained.
Often undervalued as table fare, sheepshead are great eating. Their diet consists of crustaceans and barnacles, which means Gunter uses shrimp and crabs when targeting them around the bay.
“I rip up shrimp into pieces and have fiddler crabs with me as well. I rig them on Sheepballs, which are weighted 1/2-ounce to 3/4-ounce and have a small strong hook you need for sheepshead. Fishing smaller baits, they bite the hook easier and when they’re spawning, they seem to be more aggressive. It’s better if you can find them in the sand next to the structure, and that’s when it’s best,” Gunter said.
“Later in the season, they seem to like crabs better, like late February and early March. I tell people to drop the bait right to the bottom and leave it on the bottom and they’ll find it. Some reefs are as shallow as 10 feet. Or in the middle of the bay, we’ll find them in 35 feet of water. It’s fun fishing.”
And sheepshead provide a chance for captains like Gunter to get out even when the weather isn’t great. On southerly wind days, he can stay on the south side of the bay. After a front, protected areas like the Manatee River even hold sheepshead right now.
“As long as we’re still getting fronts coming through, they’ll stay schooled up,” Gunter said. “It’s a great time of year and when the weather warms up, we’ll be on a great spring bite for almost any species people want to target.”
