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Fishing report: snook season ends, sheepshead abundant

3 min read

With a productive snook season now history local anglers are lining up for sheepshead, according to Steve Hess, owner and operator of Saltwater Pro Shop on San Carlos Island.

“Hurricane Pass Bridge has been stacked up with people for sheepshead – the pass is full of sheepshead,” Hess said. “They’ve caught some pretty nice ones under Matanzas Pass Bridge too.”

Hess said a good way to fish for sheepshead is to scrape barnacles off of pilings or other underwater structures and crush them for chum.

“You can either use a piece of oyster shell or fiddler crab – everything’s working good right now,” he said.

As for rigging, Hess suggests using either a jig with small shrimp or fiddler crab or using a small split shot with a size 2 circle hook.

“I caught some nice ones last week,” he said, “and a couple of guys came in with 18-inchers from Hurricane.”

Sheepshead must be 12 inches to be harvested, Hess said, adding that he recommends not keeping any fish under 14 inches.

“I won’t filet a sheepshead unless it’s at least 14 inches,” he said.

Anglers are allowed to keep 15 fish per person, per day, Hess added.

Mangrove snapper

Mangrove snappers are also plentiful in Matanzas Pass off boat docks.

“We were pitching toward all of the docks and we were catching them everywhere,” he said, adding that a good bet for mangrove snapper is free-lining live shrimp with a 1.0 or 2.0 circle hook. Hess said he had good luck on incoming, slack and outgoing tides. “We were just pounding them. I don’t think many people are fishing for them right now so there are some nice mang’s out there right now.”

Redfish

Redfish are still plentiful locally, Hess said.

“They’re still catching reds off the points in Hurricane Pass,” he said, adding that either free-lining shrimp or adding a small weight works. “And that’s all on an incoming tide right now.”

Bunche Beach continues to be a hot spot for a variety of fish, Hess said.

Flounder, gag grouper

“It’s kind of a mixed bag in the grass flats and creek openings,” he said. “Guys are catching flounder, gag grouper – everything.”

Hess says if anglers are targeting gag grouper they should use either a frozen sardine or pin fish. “You can catch small gags out there all day with little shrimp, but if you want to get the bigger ones, you need to step up on your bait for the gag grouper.”

Large gag grouper have also been landed from the catwalk under the Matanzas Pass Bridge near the pilings.

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.