The California sheephead is one of my favorite critters of the sea. They definitely have a personality, and are curious, friendly and colorful.
These fish start out as females, which are all red. As they mature, they turn into males and turn black at both ends. They remain red in the middle section.
They seem to have a social structure based upon size, so it is common that larger sheephead in the vicinity will be caught first, possibly because they are most aggressive.
We are blessed to have great populations of these well-managed fish both along our mainland coast and around the Channel Islands. Divers enjoy them, and anglers fish for them because they provide for a great family meal for anglers and their lucky family members.
The secret to catching sheephead is to understand their curious feeding habits. These fish love crustaceans, though they will eat a variety of other foods in a pinch. By studying the hard mouth, protruding canine-like teeth and powerful jaws of these reef dwellers, it is apparent that they are well-suited for crunching crustaceans and pulling them off rocky reefs.
The way to target big goats is to bring along the right baits. That means leaving the anchovies and sardines in the bait box for later use with other species. Baits that hungry sheephead cannot resist include crushed mussels and clams, whole rock crabs, pelagic red crabs, sand crabs and shrimp. Of all of these, shrimp is the best bait. When none of these baits is available, they will happily eat squid strips.
Capt. David Bacon holds a male California sheephead caught in waters off Santa Barbara. (Courtesy photo)
Ideal habitat for these red and black baddies is a rugged rocky reef zone, at depths ranging from 10 feet to better than 160 feet. Many of the islands of the SoCal Bight are surrounded by perfect habitat for sheephead.
Some productive areas include the entire west end of Santa Cruz Island, rocky areas off of the front and back sides of Santa Rosa Island, the rocky structure off of the west side of San Miguel Island, the backside of Catalina Island, and the west end of San Nicolas Island. These areas are perfect homes for crustaceans, so sheephead will be actively foraging.
I have secret spots where I have put my charter passengers onto sheephead on many outings. I remember two scientists who chartered me because I have a reputation for catching sheephead. They wanted to catch a bunch, take measurements, make notations and release them. So, I took them to my best spot, and within a few hours, they had caught and released 24 sheephead up to about 22 pounds.
It was a fun day, and those scientists were hooting and hollering like excited kids!
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
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Captain’s Log: California Sheephead Are Fascinating and Tasty Local Fish - Noozhawk
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