Captiva Fishing, Sheepshead, January 26!

Sanibel Fishing Charters, January 26, 2022: Sheepshead, Catch & Release!

Red Tide/Algae & Daily Salt Water Quality Update Here.

Blue-Green Algae & Daily Fresh Water Quality Update Here.

Captiva Fishing: Please Click For Rates & To Book A Captiva Fishing Charter Or Call 239-472-8658.

Sanibel Island Fishing Charters, January 26, 2022

Please Click To Rent Homes Direct From Captiva Homeowners; No VRBO Booking Fees.

Vote Water For Florida’s Future!

Captiva Fishing Guide Report: January 26: Sheepshead, Catch & Release, Captain Joe’s Charters – a lot of good fish have moved into the gulf, bay, and passes – redfish, sheepshead, black drum, snapper, snook, and seatrout are currently present.

Redfish & snook are regulated as catch & release at this time.

Already seeing some positive impact.  Some very nice big redfish and snook around, more big redfish than snook.

The Caloosahatchee freshwater releases are also not an issue right now, but still a huge long-term problem.

Extremely frustrating.  We need wholesale changes in the Florida state government.  It is not a Republican or Democrat issue – it is a Big Sugar control everyone issue.  It is stunning how we continue to let the sugar industry and the agriculture north of Lake Okeechobee to damage the water and all of Florida.

Please click here to Book A Charter or call 239-472-8658.

We’re located in Castaways Marina, Santiva, Sanibel Island, just before the Blind Pass bridge to Captiva Island.

Turner Beach, the beach adjoining Blind Pass, is frequently covered with a bounty of shells from Olives to Fighting Whelks to the more common Conchs.

The fishing is also renowned for sharks in the summer, tailing redfish on the bayside flats and snook under and off the Blind Pass bridge. Because Turner Beach faces Westward, the sunsets are spectacular and a popular viewing point for residents and visitors alike.

Some nice redfish around; for more information just see recent fishing reports, background on any species, and other recent fishing, water quality reports, and information.

March 1, Sanibel Island Fishing Charters & Sanibel Island Fishing Charters: Sheepshead, Catch & Release.

Please also visit the Sanibel, Fort Myers, Florida Fishing Report and Cuban Fishing sites. Sanibel Island Fishing Charters: Better water moving north of Sanibel up through Captiva & North Captiva.

Please click here to Book A Charter or call 239-472-8658 and here for Live Sanibel Traffic Cams.

Archosargus probatocephalus, the sheepshead, is a marine fish that grows to 76 cm (30 in), but commonly reaches 30 to 50 cm (10 to 20 in). It is deep and compressed in body shape, with five or six dark bars on the side of the body over a gray background. It has sharp dorsal spines. Its diet consists of oysters, clams, and other bivalves, and barnacles, fiddler crabs, and other crustaceans.^[1] It has a hard mouth, with several rows of stubby teeth – the frontal ones roughly resembling human teeth – which help crush the shells of prey.^[2]

The sheepshead is found in coastal waters along the western Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to Brazil, but the greatest concentration is around southwest Florida.^[3] Although the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, in New York City, was named after the fish,^[4] it is now rarely found that far north.

As sheepshead feed on bivalves and crustaceans,^[1] successful baits include shrimp, sand fleas (mole crabs), clams, fiddler crabs, and mussels.^[5] Sheepshead have a knack for stealing bait, so a small hook is necessary.^[5]Locating sheepshead with a boat is not difficult: Fishermen look for rocky bottoms or places with obstructions, jetties, and the pilings of bridges and piers.^[5] The average weight of a sheepshead is 1.4 to 1.8 kg (3 to 4 lb), but some individuals reach the range of 4.5 to 6.8 kg (10 to 15 lb).^[5] Please see more information here.

Sheepshead: Archosargus probatocephalus

“NEW: At the February meeting, FWC moved forward with a draft proposal to reduce the recreational daily bag limit from 15 to 5 fish per person and to create a recreational vessel limit of 50 during March and April. The draft proposal also included extending state regulations into federal waters. This proposal will be brought back in April for a final public hearing.

View the February Commission meeting presentation on this topic.

Share your input or comments at MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.

Windy, Tough Fishing, Sheepshead, Catch & Release, Sanibel Island Fishing Charters & Captiva Island Fishing Charters, Sanibel Island, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. 

Florida Regulations: 

Regulations	Gulf State Waters	Atlantic State Waters
Size Limit	12”
Daily Bag Limit	15 per person

 

Gear Requirements:

• Legal Gear: hook and line, cast net, seine, spear or gig
• Illegal Gear: Harvest prohibited by or with the use of any multiple hook in conjunction with live or dead natural bait; Snatching prohibited

  

State Waters Harvest Seasons

Habitat and Fishing Tips:  Sheepshead are commonly found in brackish water river mouths, bays, estuaries, and tidal creeks and especially near oyster bars, buoys, channel markers, piers and bridge piles where food is plentiful. Sheepshead feed primarily on crustaceans, mollusks, barnacles and small fish.

Anglers typically use light to medium weight spinning tackle with shrimp, sand fleas or small crabs as bait. Using their specially adapted (human-like) incisors and crushing molars, sheepshead can be difficult to hook and have an uncanny ability to clean a hook without you knowing anything happened.

When targeting sheepshead, it is very important to keep your line tight and be ready for the bite because you often get one, and only one, chance to set the hook. The food quality of sheepshead is very good, and they are one of the only fish that can smile back at you during the picture!

Can oysters and barnacles be used as bait or chum for sheepshead?  Oysters and barnacles are very, very different when it comes to regulations.

Oysters have closed seasons, bag limits, size limits and can only be legally harvested in specific shellfish harvesting areas that are classified as “approved” or “conditionally approved” and in the “open” status. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Aquaculture manages these shellfish harvesting areas.

Barnacles, on the other hand, do not have size limits or specified bag limits, which means that you can harvest up to 100 pounds per person per day with a recreational saltwater fishing license and you can use them to chum sheepshead. You can also simply scrape them off bridge piles and allow them to sink and attract sheepshead. Do not scrape barnacles from private docks or other private structures without permission of the property owner.

State Record:  15 lb 2 oz, caught near Homosassa.”  Please see more information here.

Please click here to Book A Charter or call 239-472-8658 and here for Live Sanibel Traffic Cams.  Sheepshead, North Captiva, Sunday, March 25, Captiva Island Fishing Charters, Sheepshead, click here for College Of Fishing Hats & Apparel.

For Sanibel Island Fishing Charters, we’re located in Castaways Marina, Santiva, Sanibel Island, just before the Blind Pass bridge to Captiva Island.

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Fair winds and following seas!

Captain Joey Burnsed, Sanibel Island Fishing Charters, ~ please click calendar or call 239-472-8658 to book a Sanibel & Captiva Islands, Boca Grande or Fort Myers fishing guide trip or shelling charter.