# Sheepshead in Maryland?



## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

I usually go to Florida to catch these bait stealers, so I was a little surprised to hear they can be caught here in MD. My guess is that they can be caught on any type of crab. I use fiddlers while fishing if Florida, but Bev tells me that sandfleas work up here. Has anyone caught a sheepshead before? Anyone want to share their exerience?

Also, I checked the Fisheries website and could not find a minimum size or creel limit for these fish. Does anyone know what the regs are on this fish.

These fish make great sashimi! Ummm!


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

I have not seen Sheepshead caught in the bay itself. But have seen the caught out in OC and IRI. I also read some threads from other forums where they were targeting tog, using sandfleas, and ended up catching a nice sheepshead.

Sorry, FB, don't have answers to your other questions.


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## GhostCrab (Sep 5, 2006)

Well at SeaGull (CBBT) I hear they are being pulled up. I talked to a local and he mentioned it. It's not too far from MD.


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## justinfisch01 (Feb 19, 2006)

some one caught one 10+ lbs from the inlet just the other day. Its posted on Oyster bay's photo gallery


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## GhostCrab (Sep 5, 2006)

Here it is... http://oysterbaytackle.com/gallery07/gary_morningstar.jpg


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

I've seen sheepshead caught in the bay, but they are very few and very far between. The last one I saw a pic of was caught by a kid fishing with shrimp for croaker. There'd probably be more out in the ocean. 

However, consider this: sheepies and tog occupy the same ecological niche, that is, they both live around heavy structure and eat primarily crustaceans. Therefore, trying to target sheepshead specifically here would probably result in tog most of the time. Not that that's a bad thing. Since sheepshead are a bit more of a warm water species and tog are a bit more of a cold water species, they tend to be a bit separated. Most of the time, the sheepshead don't get really numerous until somewhere on the CBBT, OBX and south.


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

Yea i think your best bet would be to fish the pilings around the cbbt or oc inlet area. Fiddlers work well also but sandfleas i think are cheaper. 
There is no creel or size limit i beleive right now but i hear they are gunna start soon.
Also the ones that come this north arent the samller ones u get down south, these fish can be in the mid teens.
Good luck


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Oops! Should have posted this earlier, but looks like they have already passed regs on sheepshead. The minimum size on sheepshead is 14" and creel is 5 fish. Basically same regs as tog.


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

Hey where did u find those regs. In MD i couldn't find any and VA i only got 4/person no size limit.


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## gwaud (Apr 14, 2003)

they are being caught at the bulkhead and inlet in OC and the IRI. sandfleas are doing the bulk of the catching. the guy at skips bait and tackle in ocean city suppose to be a sheepshead expert.


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

dha123 said:


> Hey where did u find those regs. In MD i couldn't find any and VA i only got 4/person no size limit.



Here's a link to the site.

http://www.ocean-city.com/fishing/size.shtml


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

If that site is true then its about time. but everywhere else i checked has no limit.
even this past coastal-fisherman http://coastal-fisherman.com/issues/current/July4thP2.pdf 
says no limit (page 4)


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

dha123 said:


> If that site is true then its about time. but everywhere else i checked has no limit.
> even this past coastal-fisherman http://coastal-fisherman.com/issues/current/July4thP2.pdf
> says no limit (page 4)


Hmmm.... Very true. I looked all over the DNR site, but didn't find anything either.


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## fishhead (Oct 18, 2004)

Sheepshead record link below. 

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/recreational/tournament/staterecords/sheepsheadstrec.html


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