# Sheepshead with no boat near Nags Head?



## hawkman (Jun 16, 2014)

Taking my son fishing this weekend around Nags Head. He'd like to try for Sheepshead and so would I. No boat so our current ideas include:

"Little Bridge" (Melvin DaniElse)
Jennettes pier
south end of Oregon Inlet Bonner bridge

Never fished the little bridge.
Never caught anything at Jennettes!
Don't know if you can fish from shore close to the new/old Bonner bridge if demolition is still under way. If not, I thought maybe from the rip rap on the ocean side a little ways out from bridge.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Little Bridge is a nerve-wracking place to fish with all the traffic flying by. You have to cross the highway to fish the North Side which is way more than I would want to risk with a child. The Drivers in that stretch of highway are seeking maximum speed in both directions all it takes is one guy with something hanging too far out to the side of of his pickup and you can be just a memory.

Sheepshead on the piers like to eat mussels and barnacles off the pilings, so you hang your bait right down the pilings. Most people I have been around that do it a lot use live-bait 4xxx hooks and Flouro. 

Rocks on South side Oregon Inlet especially with a strong outgoing tide is another place I would not want to be with a child. The current rips out of the Inlet on the Low. 



Do not think you can get near the bridge at this time.

For Sheepshead I would go to Rodanthe over Jennettes, but if Jennettes is more convenient it does have a few fish in the Aquariums to look at an the Pier Riff Raff are non existent.


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## hawkman (Jun 16, 2014)

Thanks for the throw reply, Garbo.

I have thought that about that little bridge and the heavy traffic. The walkways are protected from the road, correct? So if I stayed on the what is it, south side, we should be safe. however the allure of fishing that bridge is low compared to the beach to me.

I should add that my son is 12 years old and almost 5 foot 7. I'm a cautious and protective dad but I'm not dealing with a small child, fwiw.

I actually considered that if the current was strong along those rocks south of Oregon inlet, that we would wear life vests. Interesting that you mention that about the current because when I showed my son on Google maps that spot, a place he's been before to see, the first thing he mentioned was the current.

Why rodanthe over Jennette's? I've never fish rhodanthe but I know it's about half the length of Jeanette's. can you get straight down to the pilings easier? I would assume you have, therefore, more variety a fishing habitat since the length of Jeanette's would offer more depth but I could be wrong. I'm certainly no fishing or Pier expert! Not sure why one would have riff Raff and not the other. I'm assuming because Jeanette's is a little more touristy and maybe state-owned?

By the way, do I need to have my own peernet if I go to the pier? I hate to drop 30 bucks plus for something I will maybe use once a year, especially when I have other things to purchase right now. 

My guess is will leave to arrive at the beach around 5 or 5:30 in the morning, fish a little on the beach somewhere and catch sand fleas. We'll check out the southside of Oregon inlet to see for ourselves and then we'll hit one or two piers...


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

AT the Little Bridge the Walkways have a concrete wall between you and traffic. You switch sides depending on the tide flow. I fished there a couple of times in the last 50 years so that is how much I like it there. It is noisy.

Water is generally warmer at Rodanthe, so they hang out there all summer.

SW wind which is the predominant wind in the Summer blows the surface water offshore in Nags Head which creates an up welling on the Nags Head Beaches and the Labrador Current cools the water into the 60's and sometimes the high 50's North of the Oregon Inlet in the middle of summer.

Riff Raff prefer to drink to excess and do drugs where there are not full time Security and Security Cameras like on Jennettes.

There are pier nets on all the Piers. Make sure on is near you as the Sheepshead and big ones especially will not wait until someone retrieves a net for you.

Sheepshead prefer warmer water.

On calm days on Rodanthe I have heard the Sheepshead chomping and crunching on the barnacles at times if they are real thick.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

I was 12 years old in 1966 and spent summers on Kitty Hawk pier until I was in high school. My Parents would drop me off at the pier and let me fish by myself, I was the only fisherman in the family. Times were different back then, the OBX was not crowded and neither were the Piers and beaches. I caught a lot of fish back then, doubt I would be a fisherman if I had to start out in this day and age. A few older Men took pity on me and showed me how to fish the Piers.

Sheepshead fishing on a pier you pretty much have to spend your time bent over the rail with your rod pointed straight down by the piling. A friend of mine back in the day who caught hundreds of large sheepshead used a heaver and straight 50 pound test with the drag locked down. Once he got the Sheepshead flopping on the surface unless it was a Giant, he would flip it up on the deck with his Heaver.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Fishing the rocks at Oregon Inlet is going to require a lot of patience and lead as you are going to get hung in the rocks a lot. If you are away from the rocks in the sand you might not get into the Sheepshead. Most of the fellas I knew who fished Oregon Inlet for Sheepshead would climb down from the catwalk and fish straight down the concrete. 

I pretty much only fish for Big Drum now. Drum fishing is better now than it was back in the day on the OBX anyway.


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## Shortrod (Apr 7, 2020)

The most interesting way I’ve ever seen sheepshead caught was watching an older fella with a cane pole. It was on a jetty in the Florida panhandle with big granite rocks similar to Oregon inlet. He had 40-50 lb mono with a Carolina rig and meticulously bounced it around the rocks without getting hung. Might be worth a try if you can find a heavy duty bream buster. I’m no sheepshead fisherman


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

Just past Little Bridge is the boat ramp near Pirate's Cove that has a large pier. Never really see anyone sheeping there but wouldn't be surprised if you pull one up on a fiddler crab under the pier.


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## hawkman (Jun 16, 2014)

greg12345 said:


> Just past Little Bridge is the boat ramp near Pirate's Cove that has a large pier. Never really see anyone sheeping there but wouldn't be surprised if you pull one up on a fiddler crab under the pier.


I thought about that. A guy I met at OI mentioned seeing someone get a big sheep there. I checked it out with the family on Sunday. Just a drive-by. Will try it sometime.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

I read the NC Department of Transportation has permanently closed off the North side of Little Bridge to Fishing. Too many accidents and near misses of pedestrians.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm sure there are big sheeps at that boat ramp pier. Probably some around little bridge as well, i have caught nice ones before even in shallow water. Little bridge is a trout game for me, only in the fall when I'm down there and crowds thin out. And then it is only when I can't get out in my yak b/c of wind that I fish it. Fishing it during peak summer season, especially trying to cross that street, seem crazy to me.


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## hawkman (Jun 16, 2014)

Garboman said:


> I read the NC Department of Transportation has permanently closed off the North side of Little Bridge to Fishing. Too many accidents and near misses of pedestrians.





greg12345 said:


> ...Fishing it during peak summer season, especially trying to cross that street, seem crazy to me.


It's a rough crossing to me. Terrible for kids. Solid concrete walls make shorter people invisible before they cross out into the roadway. No shoulder. No bueno.


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