Inlet Convicts!

After spending the day with friends over at the Florida Sportsman Expo, we made plans to get Tim and Tammy on their first ever Sheepshead. We hit the ramp around 9am and quickly made wakes for the Inlet. Conditions were less than favorable at first and the Sheepshead were not cooperating. We started on the South row (inside) and right away you could see that the water clarity was pretty poor. We gave it a shot anyways. Nothing worth mentioning wanted to partake and soon we and headed across the Inlet over to the North rocks. The water clarity on the North row was very good. we were able to see a good 10-15 feet down. We weren't there long and Tammy hooks up to her first fish (real fish anyways). We got it in the net and immediately, everyone got excited! Finally, a good sign. After that, it was pretty much one after the other. Lots of smaller fish around. We probably released a dozen shorts along with half a million Blennies and Sea Bass. We did manage to herd up 13 keepers. Today was a classic case of an incorrect weather forecast. Weather was semi rough in the morning however, it went slick calm around 12pm. Sometimes it pays off to take a chance and look for yourself. Today was no exception 

Today we were using medium action spinning tackle. The rigs we were dropping were Carolina Rigs consisting of 1 to 1.5oz Egg weights, 2/0 Owner Mosquito Hooks and 25lb leader material (Flouro or Mono, it doesn't matter). Bait was the ole trusty Fiddler Crab. We just drop the bait to the bottom and raise it back up about 6 inches or so and let it suspend. every 6 seconds or so, I slowly drop it back down till I feel the weight tap the rocks and lift it back up 6 inches off the bottom. Rinse and repeat. Essentially, your looking for any sign of weight or tension on the "lift". When you get that sensation of weight on the end of the line, send the hook home! That's how it goes down most of the time. A lot of the time you'll feel them tapping the bait and when that happens, I'll give about 2 seconds and set the hook.  Some prefer to set the hook right away after feeling the first tap, do what works for you.