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Fall Fishing Season in the River
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Its officially Fall fishing season in the river. The October Full moon has come and past, and the Sheepshead are fattening up for a cold Winter in the St. Johns.
The Flounder were fun while the season lasted but the closure is on us and we’re locked out until December 1st. You can still get out and hunt for a big girl just to break a PB(catch and release). The bigger fish are definitely still around. The good news is you’ll see a lot less smaller fish. Quality mats are definitely in the area.
Back to the real story, Sheepshead. Every year like clockwork, right around the second half of October(sometimes later), arguably the biggest wave of Sheepshead start pouring into the rivers of NE Florida. They start off on the smaller side and pick up in size as we near January. Imo, those are the best eating fish. The schoolies around a pound on up to 3 or so pounds are a dime a dozen and taste amazing.
You’ll find that the bigger fish in October and November tend to stay around the inlet. The smaller Sheep filter into the river and quickly inhabit the various rock piles and docks from the inlet to Trout River. The denser populations will usually hang on the more easterly parts of that range.
Right now, I’m catching mine on Fiddler crabs via a Carolina Rig(also called a Fishfinder Rig). I find it easier to catch them with this kind of rig while the water temperature is above 63 degrees. Once temps drop below that, you may as well retire your Carolina Rig tackle and get comfortable fishing Sheepshead jigs. You’ll be fishing jigs well into late March until the water gets back over that 63 degree mark again.
Fishing a jig for Sheepshead when the water is that cold is MUCH harder to do and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start getting comfortable with the style now while the bite is more noticeable. But once that water temp gets down, the bite is so subtle that you almost have to watch the rod tip to detect it.
Years ago, one of my clients told me a story that really resonated with me. He was an underwater bridge inspector. Every so often the state sent him out to survey the pilings and aprons of our bridges for weaknesses such as stress cracks and whatnot. The year that the new Sisters Creek Bridge was wrapping up construction, he was sent down to do a final inspection on the site. This was in February that year. Water temperatures were in the mid to high 50’s. He told me the sheepshead were schooled up all over the pilings and motionless. So motionless in fact that they would just hover in place and as he would approach the piles, the fish wouldn’t move away from him. He had to literally brush them away with his hand so he could see the concrete. They were so cold that they didn’t run from him. As he was wrapping up his work he looked for the biggest fish he could find, grabbed it with his bare hands, and took the fish up to the work boat. He got a 12 pound monster, by hand, and it didn’t even struggle. That’s how affected these animals are by water at that temperature.
Now picture a Carolina Rig moving up and down near the bottom. Imagine the boat rolling over the ground swell combined with your own movements of the rod. That bait moves way too much for a Sheepshead that’s so cold it’s barely dormant. Your bait has to be completely still. The only way to achieve that level of stillness is either by a knocker rig, or a jig. That’s with it resting on the bottom. And that’s exactly what you have to do. Dead stick it. This goes against everything we know about fishing structure with a jig but in this case, you have to let it sit. Sheepshead in those water temperatures just can not chase a bait down. Its not happening. They just don’t have the energy to do so. You have to make it so easy for them that they can’t say no to it. Even though they’re so lethargic, they’re actually starving. They will eat, they just don’t have it in them to pursue a resisting meal. That’s what fishing for Sheepshead in the Winter boils down to.
If you’re not getting bit, it’s not always because they’re not around. It can be completely the fault of your presentation. Water temperature matters big time. Especially for Sheepshead and Trout.
For now though, the water temperature is sitting nice and warm around 71 degrees. And they’re feisty.
Rigging is super easy. I tie Carolina Rigs with a 1.5once egg weight, and a 1/0 to 2/0 Owner Mosquito Hook.
As far as Sheepshead jigs go, the more basic, the better. Recreating the wheel only benefits the person selling it. If it’s already round, it serves you well, it’s cheap, you don’t need to spend double or even triple the money on a shinier wheel — especially if you’re gonna blow through wheels like crazy. A basic unpainted sheepshead jig is all you’ll ever need. At the end of the day, they want what’s on the jig. The jig itself is irrelevant. I haven’t found a generic sheepshead jig that doesn’t catch Sheepshead. They all work.
My next Write-up will be about fishing artificial lures. Tight Lines…
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