It’s one of those fish with a crazy set of almost bizarre teeth.
But not the razor sharp stuff like shark and wahoo – even trout and bluefish – sport around in their mouths.
No, these are thick, extremely tough teeth designed to feed off the stuff growing on navigational structures, rocks, piers and bridge pilings – especially those along the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel.
Those teeth are set in an extremely powerful set of jaws.
Tautog likely are the most popular of these hard-toothed critters. But over the last 10 years, the reputation of sheepshead has gained a ton of momentum.
These large, roundish and largely flat fish can put up a real fight. And when they keep you in the pilings, snapping off is a distinct possibility. That’s why many anglers wait for a slack tide to go after them.
Rocks and pilings are their favorite places because they hold lots of growth like barnacles, crabs and oysters. That might be why small sand fiddler crabs and pieces of blue crab are top baits.
The folks at Lynnhaven Marine have seen plenty of them – grayish in color with dark vertical stripes up and down each side – coolers full.
Sheepies, while known for their fight, are equally popular for their taste. Grilled, fried or baked, their firm white meat is a delight.
For years, sheepshead were one of those fish people caught every now and then, but really didn’t know how and with what to target them. Kind of like the early days of spadefish, when the species was high in numbers but nobody knew at first that they ate jellyfish. That problem solved, spadefish are one of the area favorites.
Anglers who were fishing for black drum around the southern portions of the Easter Shore started to encounter sheepshead as they migrated into the area and headed to the CBBT.
It didn’t take long for anglers to develop methods of attack and now the fishery also is one of the area’s most popular.
Sheepshead topping 10 pounds are not uncommon.
Yeah, there are a lot of different species available this time of year – we’re at peak season for sure – but if you wanna stay close to port, bring some tasty fish home for dinner, and basically have a good time, give sheepies a try.
You might just get hooked.
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