# Sheepshead rig



## NCGUY (May 14, 2010)

What is the best Sheepshead Rig? The one I hear about must look like a drop shot rig for freshwater.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Ive always used a carolina style rig


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

That is what I do.....I keep the line taught and lift it ever so slightly off the bottom and back down. When you feel that resistance I set the hook


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

There will also be two taps. If you feel one set the hook. After two your bait is gone. And experiment with different depths


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

braid mainline to 3-4ft of fluoro tippet carolina rigged w/2-3oz egg sinker (for pier fishing) then 6-8" of fluoro leader to j-hook...i like owner mosquito in 1 or 1/0 for fiddlers...this hook will occasionally get straightened out on the big ones but thin wire and penetrates well, super sharp. i like to keep the bait on the bottom...u get black & red drum as a byproduct this way...


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

What? No River Rigs?


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## NCGUY (May 14, 2010)

Here's my question. If I use a carolina rig then how am I supposed to feel the bait being taken when the weight is above the bait? I thought that If I made a two loop dropper rig with smaller loops about 2 inches and the weight below that then when the fish takes the bait into his mouth I will be abe to feel it ever so slightly and set the hook. What do you guys think. Y'all have been doing this a lot longer than I have.


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## RobinsonFam1 (Jul 2, 2007)

the fish will feel the weight too fast and youll have a harder time getting a good hook up. they are hard enough to hook as it is until you get a feel for it.


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## NCGUY (May 14, 2010)

So I do a carolina rig and keep the weight just off the bottom. How am I supposed to know. I guess thats the real trick isn't it??


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

I use drop rigs for them if I'm fishing a bridge. I like to use a bronze or black 1/0 Kahle hook, with a 1/2" diameter "fuzz ball" (from the craft section) soaked in shrimp juice. Add a shrimp or sand flea teaser. They grab the bait, and hold onto the fuzz ball. Odd trick, but true.

Don't get the ones with the mylar strands woven in. Just solid colors. Yellow, orange, green.

Of course, in the surf, a pompano type rig with shrimp, (worst choice) clams, (best choice) or sand fleas works good.


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

NCGUY said:


> So I do a carolina rig and keep the weight just off the bottom. How am I supposed to know. I guess thats the real trick isn't it??


Haven't seen them for years, but the best weights I ever saw for catching sheepshead in current, were flat, oval shape. You can feel them "planing" in the water when they are in the zone... That way, you know you aren't lying on the bottom.

Anybody else use them, or know where to get them? They work VERY well.


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## NCGUY (May 14, 2010)

I should be fishing from a pier, so Do I still use the dropper loop rig


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## RobinsonFam1 (Jul 2, 2007)

NCGUY said:


> So I do a carolina rig and keep the weight just off the bottom. How am I supposed to know. I guess thats the real trick isn't it??


yes. drop the rig to the bottom then lift it so you feel the weight and the bait can swing free below it. no more than 12" between bait and weight. like said before....slowly lift tip up and down every few seconds but dont jig the bait. if the bait is constantly moving up and down youll prolly never get bit, it needs to sit still. make sense? all youre doing is feeling for pressure and re-present the bait while raising and lowering.

if you dont get a bite within about 30 seconds then move to other side of piling or a different one.

HTH!


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

My 2c from watching them while fishing for them in very clear water...the big ones (8-10lbs) are "smart" as far fish go. Even with fluoro, etc. a sinker that is moving around the piling will drive them off...don't tell me i am the only one who gets all excited at seeing a 10lb fish swimming around the pilings and then tries to ever so carefully and stealthily drop a flea/crab down next to it...never works, they ditch that piling. They also seem to avoid a piling when a sinker that is being jigged up and down. I have taken to fishing on the bottom and relying on a very short leader (6")...this usually lets me feel the fish and set the hook. I think changing every 30sec is too quick...I have noticed when I drop a rig down they will vacate that area and it takes several minutes for them to come back...i usually leave my bait alone for at least 5 minutes.

This is all based on my experience pier fishing for them in very clear water...in water that is stirred up or early in the season or with small fish prob doesn't matter, they get easier to catch. The big ones are hard though. That fish can also live forever out of water on ice...don't ever put your fingers near a sheepshead's mouth in the cooler until you are absolutely sure it is dead.


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

I only ever catch those big boys (8+ lbs) in the surf. Lots of up to about 3 or 4 lbs on pilings... But you are damn shore right about them things taking forever to die. Black drum are worse, but they ain't got such a set of chompers.


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