Anglers anticipate full moon, arrival of sheepshead

Anna Maria Island anglers who like to target sheepshead are hoping to see the arrival of the popular fish in the weeks to come. 

With a full moon occurring on February 24, anticipations are high that we should see the volume of sheepshead we are used to seeing this time of year. 

As of the past few weeks, sheepshead are being caught although they seem to not be as abundant as prior years, which has some anglers wondering where they are.

Spots that are good indicators of how many fish are present in our waters are the Rod & Reel Pier, the Anna Maria City Pier and the Bradenton Beach pier have yet to see the masses of sheepies arrive. 

It’s possible that herds of sheepies are still in the Gulf in deeper waters, although from personal experience I haven’t seen the numbers yet. 

Areas such as 1-mile and 3-mile reefs should have respectable numbers of fish present, but the bite is mediocre at best. The same applies around Egmont Key and it’s artificial reefs. There’s a few around but hardly in targetable numbers. Although this causes some anxiety among those of us who love catching sheepshead, I don’t believe there is cause for alarm, just yet. 

I’ve seen several seasons where the sheepshead bite came late and lasted into the middle or end of March. Maybe that’s what happening this year. I guess only time will tell. 

So don’t lose hope and don’t give up on the hunt just yet. Stay vigilant and with a little luck we should see the arrival of sheepshead in the next few weeks.

On my own Just Reel charters, I am venturing into the Gulf of Mexico on days when the seas are calm. In depths of 40-50 feet, I’m finding plenty of action while working structure such as ledges and reefs. Mangrove snapper, Key West grunts, and porgies are the most predominant catches with the most rewarding catches being hogfish. I’m also seeing a few sheepies out there as well as a variety of grouper including red, gag and scamp.

Moving inshore, spotted seatrout are starting to show on some of the deeper sand holes on the edges of the grass flats. 

Casting live shrimp into the holes is yielding plenty of trout as well as some welcome guests like pompano. Fishing rocks and docks is yielding black drum, redfish and sheepies with an occasional flounder being reeled up. Live shrimp are working best as bait as of this week and as long as the cold fronts keep coming, I expect shrimp will be the date of choice for the next few weeks.