Coastal Georgia Offshore - Spring Time Sheepshead
Capt. TJ Cheek
March 13, 2010
St. Simons Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – 03/13/2010
This entire month has been a battle with cold weather, fresh water run-off and big tides here on the Georgia Coast. Every time it rains north of here, the fresh water rivers dump it all into the Atlantic around Jekyll Island Georgia and St. Simons Island Georgia.
Just so happens, this is where we do all our fishing! Well, first off, fresh water by the gazillions of tons is bad enough… Then, hope that fresh rain water warms up. Not happening any time soon, that's for sure. Rain water is cold, and the weather isn't warm yet, so we're stuck with it for a couple of more weeks from inshore up to 10 miles offshore.
So, we make the best of a bad situation. We go offshore. Even with Red Snapper fishing closed, we still have a few tricks in the bag. And, I don't want to catch small fish, so we resort to catching HUGE sheepshead spawning on the offshore reefs.
Sheepshead eat just about as well as Snapper and the definitely fight just as good or maybe even harder than a Snapper.
The bait used is quite different and harder to come by, the fiddler crab. Most people have heard of this type of fishing, but it's mainly done on fishing piers and the backwater with live shrimp or fresh cut shrimp.
If you have never been offshore on the reefs for Sheepshead, Georgia is the place to do it. The fish can exceed 10 pounds and on light casting tackle, it's quite challenging no matter the anglers skill level.
The slightest tap of the rod tip and you're almost too late on the hook set. They're challenging to feel on the bite and challenging to catch as well. If you thought you felt something, that was him… Sheepshead earn their stripes honestly. They're thieves… hence their offshore name, "Reef Bandits".
Reef Bandits stack up heavy on the nearshore reefs off Coastal Georgia in 30-60 ft. of water on wrecks, hard bottom outcroppings and other structure. The larger spawning sheepshead pile in during late March and early April. We suggest you limit your catch, not catch your limit on these big, hard fighting females. They're carrying the eggs, so we like to keep only enough to eat and we send the rest back down to fight another day.
Georgia is unique in the Sheepshead fishery. I haven't fished too many places where the offshore reefs are covered with them like Georgia. We are fortunate to have such a good fishery off our small coast. In this event of fresh water intruding into our normal fishing patterns, we can normally alternate to another species and please our customers and have a BIG TIME doing it…. Fish hard, and have fun!
May the wind be at your back, and your coolers be full!
Capt. Richie Lott
http://www.richielottoutdoors.com
St. Simons Island Fishing Forecast:
As the water temperature warms, the inshore and offshore fishing will only get better into April and May 2010.
Target Species:
Sheepshead
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