Equipment

Equipment needed to get started fishing for sheepshead is minimal. Here’s a list:

• Sixteen- to 20-foot telescoping crappie pole

• Spinning reel with a good drag system if you have a crappie pole made to hold a reel

• Three feet of 30-pound monofilament

• Split shot or other crimp-on lead weight

• 1/0 or 2/0 live bait hook

• A good pair of polarized sunglasses

• A long-handle dip net

• A bucket (see fiddler sidebar)

• A small hand shovel (see fiddler sidebar)

Kyle Perry Perry started out with a 16-foot-5-inch, B’n’M Black Widow crappie pole, but has since switched to a crappie pole sporting a spinning reel with a good drag system that allows him to play out larger sheepshead or the occasional black drum.

“For the person just starting out,” Perry said, “find a local store that has a telescoping pole, a 16- to 20-footer, rig it up with a 3-foot, 30- to 40-pound monofilament leader tied to the little eyelet on the end of the pole and rig it up with a split shot or some sort of crimp on weight about 5 or 6 inches above a 1/0 or 2/0 bait-holder hook.

“Don’t use light wire hooks. You want to use a hook that’s somewhat stout. Not too thick to where it’s very noticeable, but it’s got to be somewhat strong. You don’t want to use light-wire cricket hooks or something like that.”

The exact hook size he uses is dictated by his bait.

“It depends on the size of the fiddler crabs you’re using,” Perry said. “Sometimes you’ll come across fiddler crabs that are pretty good size; in that case, I’ll use a 2/0 because the hook is still small enough that you can’t tell it from the bait. If I have small fiddler crabs, I’ll use a 1/0.”

Perry now uses a 16-foot Uncle Buck’s Deluxe Crappie Pole with an Okuma Avenger spinning reel spooled with 30-pound Big Game. The main line is tied to a barrel swivel that has a 3-foot leader with a 1/0 or 2/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook on the business end. A small split shot is crimped on the leader about 6-inches above the hook.