Fishing report: Sheepshead best bet in local waters
With snook season closed until March and colder water temperatures the norm, Sheepshead are the best bet in local inshore waters, according to Steve Hess, owner and operator of Saltwater Pro Shop on San Carlos Island.
“The bottom line is sheepshead – everyone is fishing for sheepshead,” Hess says. “I saw some 18-inchers last week, a handful of fourteens and a heck of a lot of twelves.”
Hess said that most sheepshead have been landed from the Hurricane Pass Bridge, but he has had reports that under the Matanzas Pass Bridge has also been productive.
“I had a couple of guys fish the San Carlos side under Matanzas and they were killing sheepshead there,” he said, “and they said nobody else was fishing for them. Matanzas might be a little ace in the hole.”
Hess said while fishing for grouper with a 3-ounce weight he landed a 35-inch snook.
“I thought I’d finally got that grouper that I’ve been putting braces in his mouth,” he said, adding that he released the snook unharmed.
Gag grouper
Gag grouper fishing has been very productive but most have come up just short of keeper size, Hess said.
“There’s been a lot of 18 to 20 inchers being caught,” he said, adding that gag grouper must be 22 inches to keep. “Everything right now is coming up just short, but the gags are everywhere.”
Red grouper
Hess said he caught an 18-inch red grouper off of Hurricane Pass Bridge.
“That was the biggest in shore red grouper I’ve caught,” he said, adding that the fish was caught using a frozen sardine with a three-ounce weight on a knocker rig fishing on the bottom.
Trout
Trout have been productive either on a popping cork or jigs with gold shrimp.
“A lot of guys are hitting them near Hell Peckney and some those islands near there,” he said.
Bunche Beach, which had been active has quieted down, Hess said, “but there’s still sheepshead over there and a few nice snapper. There were not a lot of people who fished Bunche last week.”
Redfish
Red fishing has been very quiet lately, Hess said, but one angler has been successful in Hurricane Bay near the northern islands.
Hess said snook, though out season, are plentiful locally.
“You can catch snook day and night,” he said, “but you can’t keep them. But for people who have never caught a big snook it’s fun.”
Hess said for anglers who want to fish for a meal, off shore is the best bet.
Steve Hess is the owner of Saltwater Pro Shop at 10051 San Carlos Blvd. in the Beach Plaza Shopping Center. For more fishing information, call him at 463-0717.