Champlain Islander

I was just wondering how you all fish for sheepshead. Lately there have been a ton of them off the end of my dock and they don't seem to want anything I throw. They are clearly feeding off the bottom and I did catch a 10 pounder with a bass tube on 4 pound test and a UL spin outfit. it was a great fight and made me want to catch more but they don't seem interested. I tried some chunks of hotdogs, worms and even a minnow but they swim right by. I guess I better net some crawfish and try that. They fight like crazy on light line and I would like to catch a bunch. When I was a kid we used to catch them in the river quite often with night crawlers on the bottom but these Lake Champlain drum don't seem interested. When I was a kid I had quite a collection of the lucky stones they have on the sides of their head. They are about the size of a quarter to a half dollar, are pure white and have a big L etched into the side for those who haven't seen them.

121553

CI, is that the same kind of sheepshead that is white and black striped? If it is I use to fish for these in nc and fla along the piers using fiddler crabs. They have horse teeth and feed on barnnacles around the pilings and bite quik. You just have to set the hook before they bite.

Bobby

Lanse couche couche

I used to catch them in the Mississippi on worms. If that won't work, then i would go with small pieces of crawfish tail or bait shrimp. My favorite rig was about a quarter ounce bullet weight held about 6 inches to a foot over the hook with a split shot weight. I used fairly small hooks, well below a 1/0.

Another thought would be to try freshwater clams if you have them in the lake. In Louisiana, drum are called clam breakers in French because they allegedly crack open freshwater clams shell for the meat.

Knightia

Must be fussy sheepheads. Always caught them on worms( now& then a lure)

Use to catch them a lot back in ny- in lake erie , ontario, niagara river.

Was down south more recently when someone( i kinda knew)asked if i had caught anything & i said a bigsheephead- they looked at me like i was a crazy yankee- but i did remember there proper name Drum & they then understood what i ment.

Champlain Islander

No 121 those are salt waterdrum which are always along the jetties and their teeth do look a lot like horse teeth.
Lanse I'll try the clams too since we have them here. We have a bunch of zebra muscles here on the rocks and I suspect that is what they are eating. If so then a small chunk of clam might just work.

Rebel Hog

CI, this is a Florida Sheepshead...
http://www.centralfloridafishingreport.com/FishProfile/50.html
http://www.fish4fun.com/sheepshead.htm


This is the type of hooks I use..with an 18in wire leader...
http://www.shootnhunt.com/catalog/JM/hooks/mustad/sheepshead_hooks/


Type of bait I use...
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAZ_enUS274US274&q=Fiddler+Crabs &um=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&r esnum=1&ct=title

Champlain Islander

This is a fresh water drum (aka sheepshead)

world record is somewhere around 55 pounds but the ones around here are usually between 5 and 25 pounds. The lucky stones are on each side of the head just above the gill covers. When you take sheepshead out of the water they croak.

MarquetteMagnum

always wanted to make a neckalace out of those stones.

Champlain Islander

Yup they are pretty cool. When I was a kid fishing the river we used to collect them. I even tried to eat the fish them but from what I recall they weren't all that good.

Lanse couche couche

I eat them quite a bit. Not the best, but far from the worst. I had neighbors who claimed they were trash fish and would never keep them. But when i would serve them fried drum along with other kinds of fish, they didn't know the difference.